October 2023

CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti Awarded ALLEA’s 2023 Madame de Staël Prize

24. October 2023/in ALLEA News, Madame de Staël Prize /by Joséphine Dusol

ALLEA is proud to announce that particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti has been awarded the 2023 Madame de Staël Prize for European Values in recognition of her remarkable scientific achievements and her exemplary leadership as Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

“I am deeply grateful to ALLEA for this prestigious award, and truly honoured to receive it in the context of my work as the Director-General of CERN, one of Europe’s greatest achievements from the perspective of scientific excellence, societal impact and international collaboration, as well as for the values of diversity, inclusion and open science that it embraces and promotes,” said Fabiola Gianotti about her nomination.

The selection committee felt that Gianotti’s efforts in pursuing CERN’s mission of bringing European nations together and her commitment to fostering an environment in which research can flourish beyond national boundaries were both outstanding in their own right, as well as complementary to ALLEA’s own mission of facilitating scientific collaboration across borders and disciplines.

“The jury wholeheartedly agreed to award Fabiola Gianotti with the 2023 Madame de Staël Prize, as recognition of her outstanding scientific work in particle physics and, most notably, her exemplary achievements in shaping a truly collaborative research community at CERN. Under her directorship, CERN has evolved to become a research environment in which European values such as cultural diversity, borderless collaboration, and equal opportunities are central and essentially contribute to achieving the highest scientific standards,” said Antonio Loprieno, President of ALLEA and chair of the Madame de Staël Prize Selection Committee.

ALLEA Addresses Dangerous and Exploitative Predatory Publishing Practices during International Open Access Week

Over the past two decades, open access publishing has rapidly grown into a global industry, making scholarly publications readily available to researchers, policymakers, and the general public. While this has generally been seen as a positive development, the predominant “Gold” open access route has also given rise to unforeseen challenges.

On the occasion of International Open Access Week 2023, ALLEA is contributing to the discourse around “Community over Commercialization” through the publication of a statement issued by the Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics, with Professor László Fésüs (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) as principal author, ‘Curbing Predatory Practices in Open Access Publishing‘.

The statement is both a set of guidelines and an appeal to the broader research community to collectively identify and disempower so-called “predatory” journals with subpar editorial and publication standards. The proliferation of such outlets comes with increasingly sophisticated exploitative practices, impacting researchers, eroding research integrity, and wasting financial and human resources. Indeed, the 2023 revised edition of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity explicitly states that supporting or using journals, publishers, events, or services that undermine research quality is a violation of research integrity norms and is considered misconduct.

“Upholding the integrity and quality of scholarly work is a fundamental pillar of ALLEA’s mission, and as such, our Member Academies play a crucial role in promoting publishing outlets with appropriate editorial and publication standards recognised by the broader research community. We are committed to ensuring that the best interests of the academic community and the public remain at the forefront of open access initiatives.”

— ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno

Read the full statement here

ALLEA Working Group Gathers in Tirana to Shape Future of European Research Area and FP10

17. October 2023/in ALLEA News, ALLEA-News, European Research Area /by maria ronald

On 13 October 2023, the ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area (ERA) convened a hybrid meeting in Tirana, hosted by the Academy of Sciences of Albania. The working group expressed its eagerness to actively participate in shaping the next ERA Policy Agenda and the forthcoming EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10), thereby highlighting its commitment to the ERA’s advancement and to creating opportunities for European and national policymakers to engage with the insights and perspectives of European Academies.

Professor Skënder Gjinushi, President of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, officially welcomed the working group members who were present and stressed the vital importance of research collaboration within the European Union (EU), while calling for the expansion of the number of states participating in the ERA beyond the bloc. Professor Arben Merkoçi, Chair of the ALLEA Working Group on the ERA, and representing the host academy, opened the meeting, which involved representatives from 17 European academies.

The meeting kicked off with an engaging discussion concerning the future of the ERA. Key topics debated included the European Commission’s proposal for the next ERA Policy Agenda within the Expert Group on the ERA Forum for Transition, in which ALLEA is participating as a stakeholder organisation. The working group generally welcomed the efforts by the European Commission and the Member States in the ERA Forum to deepen research collaboration in the ERA, as well as the move to streamline actions and reduce complexity. It also highlighted the importance of effective communication and emphasised expanding stakeholder engagement and contextualising actions within a broader political narrative.

Another central issue discussed was the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10). Based on the position it had recently submitted to the European Commission, the working group agreed that the central action points in the ERA Forum should also be reflected in the guiding principles for FP10. These principles should include: widening participation, open science, global scientific collaboration, research integrity, academic freedom, a healthy and effective science-policy interface, sustainable research careers, and responsible use of generative AI in research.

About the ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area

The ALLEA Working Group on the ERA aims to contribute to the further development of the ERA, its political framework, implementation and monitoring. The breadth of expertise and geographical representation of the group’s membership aptly reflects the heterogeneity of the ERA itself. Chaired by Professor Arben Merkoçi of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, the working group engages with European institutions, particularly the European Commission, and collaborates with like-minded umbrella organisations from the European research and innovation landscape.

First Annual Meeting of Academy Communications Professionals

17. October 2023/in EVENTS, Past Events /by maria ronald

SAPEA and ALLEA are jointly organising a 2-day workshop for communications professionals working at academies across Europe.

Klimalecture #9: Climate Protection and the Future of Nutrition in Europe

16. October 2023/in EVENTS, Past Events /by Joséphine Dusol

The Junge Akademie (German Young Academy) invites you to its ‘Klimalecture #9’, an insightful online lecture where the crucial intersection of climate protection and the future of nutrition in Europe will be explored. This event is organised in collaboration with the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) to the European Commission.