Archive for category: ALLEA News

On 10 June 2016, a subgroup of the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics met in the premises of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin to discuss the revision of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. The meeting was joined by representatives from the Ethics and Research Integrity Sector at the European Commission and from the European Network of Research Integrity Offices (ENRIO).

Following a request by the European Commission, the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics, chaired by Professor Göran Hermerén, has taken on the responsibility of updating the “European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity”. For this endeavor, a subgroup was formed, comprising experts from Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. The group is chaired by Dr Maura Hiney from the Royal Irish Academy, who also chairs Science Europe’s Working Group on Research Integrity.

First published in 2011 in cooperation with the European Science Foundation (ESF), the first edition of this document addressed the principles of research integrity, good research practices and potential forms of misconduct in scientific and scholarly research. The Code was well received and is widely used within the research community across Europe.

Recently, the European Commission expressed a keen interest in an updated version of the Code which is intended to become the standard reference document for EU-funded research projects. Since the first publication, new developments such as self-plagiarism, reproducibility of research results and challenges arising in the context of Open Science, among others, have evolved and will be taken into account in the revision of the Code.

At the meeting, ALLEA President Professor Günter Stock welcomed the members of the subgroup and the attending guests and highlighted the value and importance of ALLEA’s Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics’ work in general and the efforts in updating the Code in particular. He considered it an exceptional opportunity for ALLEA to continue framing the conditions for science and scholarship in Europe, thereby demonstrating the capacities and strength of the academies in Europe in providing policy-for-science advice to policy-makers through their European network ALLEA.

In this first meeting, the participants shared their vision on the nature and objectives of the Code in light of the challenges arising from new developments in the research enterprise as well as in society. They identified the main issues to be revised and updated in the document and agreed on the procedures and timeline of the revision process.

The participants shared the understanding of the Code as an empowering document for scientists and scholars, which should be universally applicable and should aim to promote a culture of integrity and good research practice.

Relevant stakeholders and experts outside the academies will be involved in the revision through a two-stage consultation process. The detailed discussions with Mr Isidoros Karatzas from the European Commission and Dr Torkild Vinther from ENRIO represented a first step in this direction. Further relevant external stakeholder organisations have been invited to signpost issues that they feel should be considered in an updated Code of Conduct. In a second stage, stakeholders will be encouraged to comment on an advanced draft of the document.

A revised version of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is envisaged to be finalised in early 2017.

On 17 March, the Presidents of the five European Academy Networks came together in Brussels to meet with Carlos Moedas, the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, and with the High Level Group of Scientific Advisors (HLG).

The European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) includes a prominent role for European academies. The Commission is prepared to fund the five Networks, in the context of a Horizon 2020 call, with up to € 6 Million over four years in order to provide independent, evidence-based policy advice from the academies in Europe.

The Consortium, consisting of Academia Europaea, ALLEA, EASAC, Euro-CASE and FEAM uniting over 100 member academies, discussed models of their future cooperation with the Commission and the High Level Group, including the following issues:

1. A structured dialogue between the Consortium, the HLG and the European Commission should be established in order to discuss and agree on subjects for scientific evidence-based policy advice from the academies;
2. A timely delivery of advice was agreed, ensuring that scientific results from the academies` work contribute to the opinion-forming and policy-making process;
3. The consortium will provide support to the HLG for the two topic requests from the European Commission (“Closing the gap between light duty vehicle real-world CO2 emissions and laboratory testing” and “Cybersecurity”).

Image: The Presidents of the Consortium with Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the members of the High Level Group; © European Union, 2016, Reference: P-031230/00-10

The meeting was attended by the Presidents of the European Academy Networks Sierd Cloetingh (Academia Europaea), Günter Stock (ALLEA), Jos van der Meer (EASAC), Reinhard F. Hüttl (Euro-CASE), and Françoise Meunier (Vice-President of FEAM). Alongside Commissioner Carlos Moedas and the members of the HLG, the European Commission’s participants included Director General Robert-Jan Smits and the Head of the SAM Unit Johannes Klumpers.

The Presidents of the European Academy Networks re-iterated the importance of truly interdisciplinary approaches towards today’s societal challenges which the academies are in a position to provide. With their scientific expertise, the European academies will contribute to the debates on risks and benefits of new advances, support the formulation of policies, and help enhance public confidence in science policy advice.

Background information on the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM)

The overall objective of the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) is to provide evidence-based advice to the Commission that:

–        is independent of institutional or political interests,

–        brings together evidence and insights from different disciplines and approaches,

–        takes into consideration the specificities of EU policy making (e.g. different national perspectives and principles of subsidiarity),

–        is transparent.

The Scientific Advice Mechanism is designed to complement the current system of in-house scientific advice (e.g. Joint Research Centre, EU research funded through Horizon 2020, EU agencies) and external expertise on certain topics. Read more: http://ec.europa.eu/research/sam/index.cfm

The five European Academy Organisations

–        Academia Europaea: The only European wide Academy with individual membership. It manages   its scholarly interests through a section structure. On election, all members are assigned to a                 section. At the present time there are twenty academic sections. Sections are grouped into one of four classes: Humanities and Arts, Social and related Sciences, Exact Sciences, and Life sciences. www.ae-info.org/

–        ALLEA: The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities brings together almost 60 Academies in more than 40 countries from the Council of Europe region, encompassing the full range of scientific disciplines from the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, to arts and humanities. www.allea.org

–        EASAC: the European Academies Science Advisory Council is the network of the 25 National Science Academies of the EU Member States and of Norway and Switzerland. It provides science-based advice in the areas of Environment, Energy and Biosciences. www.easac.eu

–        Euro-CASE: the organisation of the Academies of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Technology from 22 European countries, with a special focus on innovation, energy and bioeconomy policy. www.euro-case.org

–        FEAM: the Federation of European Academies of Medicine brings together 18 national Academies of medicine and medical sections of national Academies of sciences. www.feam-site.eu

For the first Board Meeting of 2016, the member of the ALLEA Board convened, on the kind invitation of the Romanian Academy, in Bucharest on 29 February and 1 March. With the ALLEA General Assembly approaching fast, the Board received updates on the current status of preparations. Additionally, the Board was informed about the latest developments with the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) and ALLEA’s role therein.

The participants were warmly welcomed to the Academy by the Academy’s President Professor Ionel Valentin Vlad. Throughout his career as a physicist, Professor Vlad has always sought to engage in international scientific cooperation and was, thus, highly appreciative of ALLEA’s visit to his Academy. To start off the meeting, ALLEA President Günter Stock informed the participants about recent ALLEA activities and the Board members received an update on the status of membership dues for the year 2015 as well as an outlook for the year 2016. Furthermore, the participantsdiscussed the progress made in the preparation of a European Commission Horizon 2020 call, in cooperation with a consortium of academy networks, to participate in SAM.

On the second day of the meeting the group received an update on the preparation of the ALLEA General Assembly in Vienna in April 2016, with information about the speakers of the symposium and the preparation for the Mme de Staël Prize Award Ceremony, as well as an outlook to the General Assembly 2017 in Budapest.

To conclude the meeting, the Board members discussed upcoming events in 2016, followed by a visit to the library of the Romanian Academy.

The Romanian Academy (Academia Românã) was founded in April 1866 as the Romanian Literary Society. The following year it began its activities, but was now called the Romanian Academic Society. In 2016, the Academy will celebrate its 150^th anniversary on 4 April. On behalf of ALLEA and its member academies, ALLEA President Günter Stock will address the audience during the festivities. In 1879, by means of special legislation, it was promulgated as a national institution with the current name of Academia Românã – the Romanian Academy. Form the very beginning the newly founded institution was a national, encyclopedic and active society. It was:

• National, because it was representative of the culture of not only the territory of what was then Romania, but also those territories under foreign domination by the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. Hence, the 21 founding members were scholars and literati, not only from Wallachia and Moldavia, but also from Transylvania, Banat, Bukovine, Bessarabia (today the Republic of Moldova) and the Balkan Peninsula.

• Encyclopedic, since its preoccupations embraced all domains of the arts, letters, and sciences.

•   An active society, because the Romanian Academy was conceived by its founders as a forum of national recognition, but at the same time as an active centre of scientific research and literary and artistic creation.

Click here to read more.

Contact:
125 Calea Victoriei, sector 1
010071 Bucharest
Romania

Phone: +40 21 212 8640
Fax: +40 1 211 6608
http://www.academiaromana.ro

On 29 January the seven leading scientists who make up the European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) High Level Group met for the first time in Brussels to discuss issues the advisors will tackle in the near future and to decide on the chairmanship of the Group. The meeting was also attended by Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation as well as Andrus Ansip, the Commission’s Vice-President for the Digital Single Market.

SAM is designed to assist the European Commission with high quality and timely advice. As of the end of the meeting, SAM is officially considered to be fully operational.

Chaired by Carlos Moedas, the first point on the agenda saw the designation of the Chair and Deputy Chair of the group. Henrik C. Wegener was subsequently appointed as Chair, with Elvira Fortunato as Deputy Chair. In the following, the group laid out, how cooperation with the wider scientific community, and especially with European academies and learned societies, will take place. Carlos Moedas was pleased with the outcome and said, the group’s “experience, expertise and plans to consult European Academies of Sciences and the wider scientific community, will make an important independent contribution to science advice for European policymaking”.

The group agreed that its first advice to the Commission will be on the topic of cybersecurity. The given advice is intended to support the Commission’s efforts to build trust in the development of the Digital Single Market.

In addition, the group will also focus on CO2 emissions testing from cars and vans, in order to improve future policies regulating their measurements.
A first document where the group will work out in more detail the scope of its future work will be published in a few weeks.

For more information on the Scientific Advice Mechanism please click here

Professor Guenter Stock receives honorary doctorate and delivers laureate speech on the role of science in shaping our future.

On 19 January 2016, ALLEA President Guenter Stock visited the Academy of Sciences of Moldova on the kind invitation of academy president Academician Gheorghe Duca in Chisinau. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the academy for his substantial contribution to the promotion of scientific excellence and academic cooperation.

Photo credit: Academy of Sciences of Moldova

In his laureate speech Guenter Stock expressed deep gratitude and pride to receive this prestigious award. He reaffirmed ALLEA’s inclusive outlook on Europe, transcending the political boundaries of the EU and highlighted the importance of scientific autonomy and independence from political, ideological and commercial interference. Especially with a view towards the European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism and the role of the academies therein, the autonomy of the science community is now more important than ever in order to provide meaningful, unbiased and evidence-based policy advice. He reiterated the unique ability and responsibility of the scientific community “to spot problems earlier than the general public and politicians” and hence derived the duty to “make our fellow citizens, our politicians aware of what the future holds and how positive solutions could be found”.

A video recording of the speech can be found on the website of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova under this link and to view the picture gallery please click here.

In addition to his laureate speech at the academy, Professor Stock signed the Book of Honorable Guests at the Museum of the academy, and inter alia met with esteemed representatives of the Moldovan scientific and medical community. Professor Stock highly commended a draft concept published by the academy towards ensuring the proper conditions for the improvement of research performance and the creation of premises to attract talented youth in research. In his position as ALLEA President he reaffirmed his offer to support and assist where possible in achieving these laudable goals.

The Academy of Sciences of Moldova (A.S.M.) is the highest scientific forum of the state, and represents the only public institution of national interest in science and innovation sphere, it is a plenipotentiary coordinator of scientific and innovation activity. Also, it is a scientific consultant of the public authorities in the Republic of Moldova and has a Statute of Autonomy and acts on the basis of self-administration principles.