ALLEA Provides Expert Advice to the European Commission’s Public Consultation on Plants Produced by New Genomic Techniques

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Today ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, responded to the European Commission’s public consultation on plants produced by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs).

After providing feedback on the Commission’s roadmap in October 2021, ALLEA welcomes the opportunity to share more detailed input from the scientific community on the challenges related to the current regulatory system, as well as our vision for possible ways forward.

In its response, ALLEA stresses that the 2018 European Court of Justice decision “is a major setback for the development of useful new crops, including those with optimised traits to mitigate climate change and provide high-quality food for a growing population. The length and cost of the current authorisation process for NGTs is disproportional to the potential risks and makes it, except for major industrial players, de facto impossible to bring NGT seeds to our farmers”.

ALLEA states that “any future risk assessment framework should be science-based, considering not only potential risks but also the full spectrum of expected benefits to environment and society” and shares the Commission’s view that plants obtained by NGTs have the potential to contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal and in particular to the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. 

“We must take into account the unique challenges farmers are faced with in different regions and different sectors, as well as how our food systems continue to be affected by societal and geopolitical developments. Ultimately, farmers are best positioned to respond to these challenges, and they should be provided with broadest possible spectrum of technologies and seeds to support them”.

ALLEA also acknowledges the importance of providing clarity on when seeds and products are created using NGTs. “[…] farmers, producers and consumers should have a free choice to decide if they use or buy seeds and products created using NGTs. Transparent documentation will be important to guarantee autonomy and trust throughout our food systems.”

The response to the European Commission’s consultation reemphasizes key elements from the 2020 ALLEA report Genome Editing for Crop Improvement, which is based on expert discussions during the joint ALLEA and Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) symposium on the topic, as well as further work together with Re-Imagine Europa.

Cross-Cutting Activity on Science Communication Conference

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The Final Conference on 23 June will take stock of current trends and best practices on how to communicate science to policymakers and citizens, and how to include science communication activities within collaborative, interdisciplinary research programmes. The conference will present the results of the CCA on Science Communication and explore practical solutions for integrating science communication more broadly within the European eco-system of science and innovation.

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Public Attitudes and Trust in Europe – Analysing Country Level Differences

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PERITIA invites researchers, policymakers, and media representatives to the presentation of results from survey data on public attitudes towards national governments, science, and media across six European countries: Germany, the UK, Ireland, Poland, Italy, and Norway.

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The Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors

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On 15 June 2022, ALLEA co-organised the online conference ‘The Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors.’ The event brought together key stakeholders in Europe to address the impact of the war in Ukraine to the country’s academic and scientific sectors.

The conference was organised jointly by ALLEA and Science for Ukraine, Kristiania University College and the International Science Council (ISC). Invited guests included members of the higher education and research sectors, relevant government bodies, funding and donor agencies, and humanitarian organisations. The event also sought to serve as a platform for Ukrainian voices, with many Ukrainian scientists and institutions participating actively throughout the conference and in the subsequent breakout sessions.

The conference was opened with a presentation from the Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science, Serhiy Shkarlet, who outlined the current challenges and prospects facing the Ukrainian academic sector. Minister Shkarlet emphasised the importance of renovating the Ukrainian higher education system and preventing a brain-drain, which could have a long-term detrimental impact on Ukrainian science.

Minister Shkarlet’s presentation was followed by a roundtable discussion composed of Ukrainian displaced scholars who remained in the country, as well as early-career Ukrainian scientists, European and global scientific institutions, NGOs, and the international humanitarian sector. The main topics of discussion included how to best support scientists who stayed in Ukraine, and the importance of finding a balance between short- and long-term strategies. Also covered in the discussion were the immediate needs of Ukraine’s higher education sector, which include critical equipment to continue operations, and technical support to digitalise the education system and transition to an online presence with opportunities for distance learning, joint degrees and affiliations, all of which are needed to remain active through the war.

ALLEA was represented by its Vice President, Professor Luke Drury, who introduced ALLEA’s response to support Ukraine. These include the newly established European Fund for Displaced Scientists (EFDS), which recently launched its call for applications for Funding Line 1, and ALLEA’s participation in drafting a 10-point Action Plan to support the Ukrainian academic system.

The round table was followed by four breakout sessions which aimed to identify solutions and recommendations pertaining to ongoing support and rebuilding of Ukraine, including existing support initiatives, short- and long-term interventions, and lessons learned to respond to similar situations in other regions of the world.

ALLEA Welcomes Council Conclusions on Research Assessment and Open Science

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ALLEA welcomes the adoption of the Conclusions on Research Assessment and Implementation of Open Science by the Council of the European Union on 10 June. See ALLEA’s full response here.

The Conclusions are in agreement with points that ALLEA has made over the years, in particular on the necessity of appropriately implementing and rewarding open science practices and the development of research assessment criteria that follow principles of excellence, research integrity and trustworthy science.

At the same time, ALLEA continues to stress that it matters how we open knowledge, as the push for Open Access publishing has also paved the way for various unethical publishing practices. The inappropriate use of journal- and publication-based metrics in funding, hiring and promotion decisions has been one of the obstacles in the transition to a more open science, and furthermore fails to recognize and reward the diverse set of competencies, activities, and outputs needed for our research ecosystem to flourish.

ALLEA therefore welcomes the principles set out in the Conclusion for designing novel approaches to research assessment, with particular weight on recognizing (1) the critical role for peer review in research assessment and (2) the importance of integrity and ethics in developing criteria focused on quality and impact. 

ALLEA underscores that the described reforms are urgently needed and require concerted efforts from the international academic community, supported by infrastructures for exchanging best practices as well as the necessary financial resources to implement these. 

Read ALLEA’s full response

ALLEA Signs 10-Point Action Plan to Support Ukrainian Academic System

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Following a meeting of representatives from various scientific institutions on 2 June 2022 at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, a 10-point Action Plan has been unveiled to help Ukrainian science, both during and after the war.

The main goal of the meeting was to inform relevant stakeholders about ongoing schemes to support the Ukrainian academic system and the members of the scientific community that have been impacted by the war, as well as to coordinate the use of resources in order to allocate them more efficiently.

The Action Plan takes into consideration means to maintain the Ukrainian academic system operating throughout the duration of the war, as well as provisions for the recovery of a post-war Ukraine.

The Action Plan was signed by ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno, and by representatives from the the Polish Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the US Academy of Sciences, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the Royal Society of the United Kingdom.

Read the 10-point Action Plan