From 4-5 November, ALLEA participated in an International Conference celebrating the 200th anniversary of one of its most prolific members, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA).
From 28-30 October, ALLEA co-organised the European Flagship Conference on Research Security in Brussels, together with the European Commission and 11 other partners.
The nomination process for the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize 2025 has concluded. We would like to thank all ALLEA member academies for nominating their candidates!
Nominations were received by 30 September 2025. In October and November of the same year, the Prize Jury will evaluate the nominations and select the laureate. The laureate’s name will be announced in December, with a Prize handover ceremony planned for the upcoming ALLEA General Assembly in Warsaw, Poland on 27–28 May 2026.
The ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize is awarded annually. It is a part of the larger mission of ALLEA to promote the rich and diverse intellectual, scientific, and cultural heritage of Europe. It is awarded to eminent individuals whose work represents a significant contribution to integrity and development of Europe, thereby promoting and strengthening an understanding of Europe as multifaceted, intellectual, open, and vibrant.
Read more about the Prize here.
ALLEA, representing the European Academies of Sciences and Humanities, welcomes the European Commission’s proposal for an ERA Act as a major step toward a fully integrated single market for research, knowledge, and technology. The Act should build on existing initiatives, legally anchor the 3% R&D investment target, and address persistent disparities across Member States and regions. This requires transparent national plans, measurable milestones, and targeted capacity-building measures for smaller and less-developed regions to strengthen infrastructures, avoid brain drain, and enhance participation in ERA priorities.
Fundamental values must be at the heart of the ERA Act: academic freedom should be legally anchored, research integrity and ethics promoted (including for emerging technologies such as AI), and equality, diversity, and inclusion systematically strengthened. Excellence-driven, investigator-led research, including the ERC, must be preserved and reinforced. At the same time, the ERA Act should foster responsible openness to global collaboration, ensure proportionate research security, and explicitly integrate the social sciences, humanities, and arts into European research strategies. By embedding these principles, the ERA Act can deliver a truly inclusive, open, and competitive ERA that supports trust in science and benefits society across Europe and beyond.
The ERA Act is a historic opportunity to create an integrated and competitive single market for research and innovation. To succeed, it must: legally anchor investments, align EU and national priorities, improve framework conditions, safeguard fundamental values, ensure inclusivity across disciplines and regions, and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy.
ALLEA and its Member Academies are ready to contribute expertise and support in shaping and implementing the ERA Act.
Read ALLEA’s full response to the Call for Evidence on the ERA Act here.
An International Coalition for Science, Research, and Innovation in Ukraine was officially launched in Rome on 11 July during the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference. The joint initiative by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, UNESCO and the European Commission, marks a significant step in placing science, research and innovation at the heart of Ukraine’s sustainable, inclusive and long-term recovery.
The launch was announced by the Italian Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini; the Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Yevhen Kudriavets; the European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva; and UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General, Lidia Arthur Brito.
ALLEA is pleased to announce that it has joined the Coalition, which aims to respond to both the urgent needs and long-term priorities of Ukraine’s research and innovation system. The initiative will promote concrete actions to support Ukrainian scientists, drive reconstruction and modernisation, and reinforce the role of research and innovation in the country’s recovery.
As the European umbrella organisation representing 60 academies from over 40 countries, ALLEA has consistently advocated for the protection and advancement of scientific cooperation, academic freedom, and the integration of displaced and at-risk researchers. Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, ALLEA and its Member Academies have been actively involved in initiatives to support Ukrainian researchers, such as through the partnership with The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, strengthen institutional resilience, and foster international scientific collaboration.
ALLEA shares the Coalition’s commitment to sustaining and rebuilding Ukraine’s research and innovation system. Furthermore, ALLEA’s broad European network and expertise in science policy can contribute meaningfully to the Coalition’s objectives and advance opportunities for joint actions to:
Membership in the Coalition is open to governments, international organisations, research entities, academic institutions, foundations, development banks and private sector actors actively supporting Ukraine’s research sector. Interested entities are invited to join by agreeing to adhere to the Rome Declaration and submitting a formal request to the Secretariat at EC-R-I-COALITION-UA-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu.
On 5 August 2025, the ALLEA Board issued a statement expressing its full support for Professor David Harel’s public appeal to the Israeli government, published on 14 July 2025. In his statement, Prof. Harel calls for immediate action to protect civilian lives in Gaza, restore health infrastructure, and allow unimpeded humanitarian aid — emphasising that these measures are both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity for Israel’s future international cooperation in science and research. In alignment with Prof. Harel, ALLEA echoes the call for urgent humanitarian action and the restoration of essential infrastructure. The Board also condemns the inhumane conditions caused by the ongoing conflict, urges a lasting resolution, and calls for the release of all hostages.
Read the full statement here.
ALLEA and several European research organisations including EU-LIFE, Coimbra Group, YERUN, ECIU, AURORA, EASSH, EUA, ISE, MCAA, UNICA and ECHO have issued a joint statement calling on the European Commission, European Parliament and Member States to reaffirm the central role of early-stage collaborative Research & Innovation (R&I) funding within FP10, and to transform it in order to address the excessive complexity, rigid consortium requirements and prescriptive approach of its current structure.
The statement highlights the critical role of early-stage collaboration across disciplines, sectors and countries in the generation of breakthrough knowledge, innovative technologies and resilient ecosystems. It emphasises that this type of research, which operates at low- to mid- Technology or Societal Readiness Levels (TRLs/SRLs), is the critical foundation of Europe’s ability to address global challenges, strengthen its strategic autonomy, and remain competitive in the long term.
While supporting the maintenance of early-stage collaborative R&I in FP10 alongside the new European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), the signatories stress the need to ensure that the two instruments are complementary. They warn against a one-size-fits-all approach and call for tailored mechanisms that preserve excellence-driven, open and flexible collaboration within FP10.
At the same time, the organisations urge the EU to address structural weaknesses in Horizon Europe’s Pillar II — notably excessive complexity, rigid consortium requirements and an overly prescriptive focus on short-term outcomes — which risk excluding key contributors such as early-career researchers, SMEs and new actors. They advocate for a more balanced, inclusive and researcher-friendly framework that can unleash the full potential of early-stage collaborative research.
The joint statement is available here.
ALLEA is pleased to announce a call for applications for the next edition of the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize 2025. The deadline for submissions is September 30.
The Prize is awarded annually. It is a part of the larger mission of ALLEA to promote the rich and diverse intellectual, scientific, and cultural heritage of Europe. It is awarded to eminent individuals whose work represents a significant contribution to integrity and development of Europe, thereby promoting and strengthening an understanding of Europe as multifaceted, intellectual, open, and vibrant.
The idea of the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize emerged in 2014 with the inauguration of the “New Narrative for Europe” project initiated by then President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso (2004–2014).
The Prize recognizes researchers or intellectuals whose work has contributed significantly to the advancement of Europe. A laureate’s work is ideally of an interdisciplinary nature and exhibits a remarkable and demonstrable contribution to the processes behind European development, integration and identity.
The laureate of the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize 2025 is set to be announced at the end of the year, with a Prize handover ceremony planned for 2026.
Please find more detailed information on the nomination process for the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize.
Nominations should be directed electronically to our ALLEA Liaison Officer, Dagmara Bożek: bozek@allea.org, by 30 September 2025.
European research organisations, led by Coimbra Group, EU-LIFE and YERUN, have issued a joint statement calling on the European Commission and Member States to preserve the bottom-up structure of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The statement responds to a proposal to introduce directionality in the 2026–2027 Work Programme by steering project calls toward predefined areas.
The signatories stress that MSCA’s success lies in its openness to all fields and topics, driven by researchers’ initiative and scientific excellence. Imposing thematic restrictions risks narrowing the scope of innovation and limiting opportunities for early-career researchers.
MSCA in its current state already delivers significant contributions to strategic areas even before any political prioritisation is envisioned. More than 1,000 ongoing projects focus on artificial intelligence, backed by nearly €1 billion in EU funding under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. Over 170 projects address quantum technologies, and thousands of MSCA researchers are involved in work related to the EU Missions.
Also notable is that the demand for MSCA continues to grow, while the budget has seen only marginal increases between funding cycles. While the primary message is about preserving MSCA’s model, the signatories also encourage a significant funding boost in the next Framework Programme (FP10) to match the programme’s expanded impact and address the structural challenges that research careers face.
ALLEA has extended its support to the statement alongside YERUN, Coimbra Group, EU-LIFE, Aurora Universities Network, CESAER, EASSH, ECIU, EUA, Eurodoc, Initiative for Science Europe (ISE), LERU, MCAA, PolSCA, SPARC Europe, The Guild, UNICA.
A summary of the scientific symposium ‘Europe and the Arctic: Science and Diplomacy’, held as part of the 2025 ALLEA General Assembly, which took place on 3-4 June in Copenhagen, Denmark, kindly hosted by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
