Was the recently scraped role of European chief scientific adviser (CSA) position, held by Anne Glover, doomed to fail from the outset? Clearly it was a role that was under resourced and not clearly defined, at no fault of Glover’s, who was clearly full of the right stuff coming from the post of chief scientist in Scotland. And what role did the lobbying by a coalition of NGOs—including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth—who called for the post to be scrapped? Without an easily identifiable and contactable figurehead, the exact mechanisms by which science policy-makers use evidence – or not – remain as mysterious and opaque as ever. The debate goes further than the question of whether Europe needs a single science advisor or a series of science advisors for every single discipline. It raises the question as to how in concrete terms the evidence-base can weave its way more systematically through the policy-making process. Read more […]
Today’s societies face several challenges, ranging from healthy aging to climate change and security, for which there are no straightforward solutions. These challenges are reflected in the European Commission’s seven Grand Challenges, which constitute the focus of European research policy. Throughout the research and innovation (R&I) landscape, people are working to meet these challenges. Read more […]
The role of research and innovation in society is increasingly being questioned. In the past few decades, this trend has been exacerbated by controversies around the acceptability of some technologies, such as GMOs, synthetic biology or nanotechnologies. Or even by the decrease in young people choosing science and technological careers. In response, research and innovation scholars, policy makers, scientists and engineers, teachers, civil society organisations as well as industry and business representatives have started to work together on RRI to better incorporate societal values, needs and expectations in research and innovation. The trouble is that it is such a new field that there are no real established ways to go about implementing RRI. Hence, the project RRI Tools set out to identify various practices in the field of RRI as a means to recognise best practice and best tools and share them widely. Read more […]
It’s a familiar refrain to both research practitioners and policy-makers in the UK and across Europe: “we’re great at science; but poor at innovation”. Read more […]
The next EU research funding programme, Horizon 2020 will maintain the core principals of its predecessor Framework 7. The proposed future programme will fund excellent science (€24.6 bn), industrial leadership (€17.9 bn) and societal challenges (€31.7 bn). It also includes consolidated and revised funding guidelines as the EC continues to strive for simplified funding applications, reporting and auditing. The proposal for Horizon 2020 was presented to the European Commission on 30 November 2011. Read more […]
Following an online naming competition, the next round of EC Framework funding is going to be called ”Horizon 2020”. Three names were shortlisted. Horizon 2020 received 3,055 votes against, 2,785 for Imagine 2020, and 2,478 for Discover 2020. In total, 8,318 votes were received. The full name being put forward this year as part of the legislative proposal for the new programme is ”Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation”. Read more […]
She received two Nobel Prizes, has served as an inspirational figure to countless women (and men) in science, and has a Continent-wide fellowship program named after her to promote the brightest scientific minds and innovations. The Marie Curie Fellowships, administered by the EU, are so prestigious that recipients regularly gush about its virtue as a career game-changer. Only 8% of applicants receive fellowships each year, but this low rate of acceptance does not deter scholars; on the contrary, says Jordi Curell Gotor, who oversees the Marie Curie Fellowships as Director Lifelong learning, higher education and international affairs, DG Education and Culture, European Commission. The number of applications continues to rise annually. So far, 50,000 researchers from 120 nations have received these prestigious grants since the program’s inception in 1996. Read more […]
