Interview with Prof. Tavernarakis, new Vice President of ERC
Prof. Tavernarakis narrates his ambitions and challenges in his new role as Vice-President ERC and the perspectives for research in Europe. Read more [...]
Tag Archives: European Research Council
Can you trust a robot?
Prof. Hirche and her team are using artificial intelligence to develop advanced robotic systems that can work alongside humans in a safe and intuitive manner. Read more [...]
What can robots learn from ants?
By ERC=Science² A robot swarm might sound like
something from a sinister science fiction movie. But in the real world, a swarm
of robots could do a lot of good. They could clear a beach of garbage, retrieve
plastic from the ocean or build a habitable Read more [...]
Can robots have a delicate touch?
By ERC=Science² Swiss researchers visit a watch-making school, to teach robots think like a craftsman.
Could robots put Swiss watchmakers out of business? Not for a long time. In fact, robots really struggle to emulate the kind of delicate, fine-tuned Read more [...]
Tracking the movement of all plastic litter in the ocean is crucial
At the end of October the European Parliament approved EU’s plans to ban, by 2021, throwaway plastics, which make up over 70% of the marine litter. This is part of the newly launched EU’s plastics strategy and of speeding up global action on marine Read more [...]
UK scientists’ loss of influence to be felt at home and across Europe
Brexit keeps resounding in the many aspects that its implications may have for European research. In this opinion piece, Thomas König, Austrian social scientist, who was previously scientific advisor to former ERC president Helga Nowotny, examines the consequences of the predicted fall of influence of British scientists on the future of European science. He believes the consequences of Brexit are likely to be felt, not only in UK science itself, but also at the level of pan-European research endeavours, such as ERC-backed activities. This shows that scientists are not sheltered from the vagaries of politics when policies emanating from the popular vote forces them to defend their interests. Read more [...]
Do we need a European Innovation Council?
As plans are underway to establish yet another instrument to support innovation in Europe, dubbed the European Innovation Council (EIC), entrepreneurs and research-based organisations have questioned the proposal. The determination that Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas has shown in developing the concept, begs for further questioning concerning the details of the implementation of the proposed EIC. In this article, EuroScientist investigates whether those closely involved in innovation believe EIC is a good idea. Read more [...]
Overcoming unconscious gender bias in science evaluation
Never thought of being gender biased when performing evaluations? Scientists often consider themselves to be rational and objective. But a growing batch of literature suggests the opposite. Particularly, when it comes to evaluating research. Male and female scientists alike tend to implicitly undervalue women’s scientific accomplishments. A 2012 EU-report, identifies unconscious bias in assessing excellence as one of the major problems women face in science. Read more [...]
Maciej Żylicz: Creating an inspiring environment for scientists in Poland
Maciej Żylicz is an outstanding Polish molecular biologist with an international career, currently based at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. He is also president of the Foundation for Polish Science, which is a non-profit funding agency, which is the largest source of science funding in Poland outside of the state budget. In an exclusive podcast interview to EuroScientist, he shares his views on the future of Polish science policy. Read more [...]
How to make a decrease look like an increase
Accounting and working with budget numbers isn’t always that boring as it appears to be, especially if it’s spiced up with marketing. Presentation matters and can make reality more shining (or more gloomy) than it actually is. Read more [...]
European science policy and research risk
Basic research is intrinsically risky: looking at the history of science one may find many examples of unexpected discoveries as well as of many ideas that were assumed true at a certain point in time while later they were proven wrong. Among the first Read more [...]
How to balance a European research ecosystem with its national parts
Researchers across France, Spain and Italy are orchestrating a wave of national protests, which will culminate on the 17th and 18th October 2014 in their respective capitals. Their objective is to highlight how Europe’s knowledge economy is being undermined by a lack of investment in research, amongst other factors. European national research systems are struggling; that much is beyond doubt. The question is how to balance national versus EU research support and how the EU can drive rehabilitation of national research systems. Another question is whether the increased focus on excellence-based funding is really necessary. This debate is now fully open. Read more [...]
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