Archive for category: ALLEA News

On Tuesday, 24 March 2015, ALLEA is participating in a debate jointly organised with the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). The event is taking place at 18:00 in the EPRS Library Reading Room on the premises of the European Parliament and focusses on the topic of demographic change, a critical subject for the future of Europe.

The speakers include the ALLEA President, who is delivering the introductory address, as well as a panel of experts from both academia and the European Parliament including Professor Ursula Staudinger, Founding Director of the Robert N Butler Columbia Aging Center, and Dr. Harald Wilkoszewski, Head of the Information Centre Brussels of Population Europe, the Network of Europe’s Leading Demographic
Research Centres. After the panel discussion, a debate is envisioned with members of the European Parliament to allow for further examination of demographic change and its many facets, which include aspects such as the ageing society, low childbirth rates, and labour policies, among others.

In the wider context, the event seeks to explore how scientific perspectives can demonstrably contribute to developing effective approaches and solutions for major societal challenges. More concretely, it illuminates the value of contributions from the humanities and social sciences in particular for addressing pressing cross-cutting issues such as demographic change, which is highly influenced by social and economic factors. Thus, issues such as demographic change are also indicators for the growing need to consider both scientific perspectives from the social sciences and humanities as well as from the more technical fields when developing policies that tackle societal challenges..

Click here to download the event programme.

ALLEA, in view of the regulation proposed by the European Commission, and under discussion in the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, to establish the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which foresees a cut to the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 by €2.7 billion, fully endorses the following recommendations originally published by its member, the British Academy, on 18 February 2015. ALLEA urges those in the European institutions mentioned to work towards amending the EFSI regulation accordingly during the upcoming deliberations:

Boosting job creation and economic recovery in the European Union will not be served by taking money away from funding streams such as Horizon 2020 and the European Research Council. On the contrary, this would undermine our ability to fuel sustainable prosperity and growth by neglecting the substantial contribution that high-quality research and innovation makes to our economy and society. The Commission is cutting the Horizon 2020’s budget by 8.4% in 2016 and 8% in 2017. These are deep and damaging cuts, particularly affecting the Union’s ability to respond to grand challenges and develop excellent research.

We believe that there is a risk of fundamental weaknesses in the EFSI’s governance, accountability and priorities. Firstly, the Fund’s proposed governance indicates a reliance on non-expert civil servants. We recommend that a far more inclusive and decentralised governance structure be introduced. Member States should be empowered to short-list suggested projects to a decision-making body of independent experts, made up predominantly of researchers, and not only those affiliated with the Commission. We would, additionally, strongly recommend the involvement of the President of the European Research Council and its Scientific Council in the decision-making process.

Secondly, as regards accountability we recommend that the Managing Director, the Commission and the European Investment Bank report in person quarterly to the Council and in particular the Budgets; Industry, Research and Energy; and Economic and Monetary Affairs Committees of the European Parliament. We also recommend that the appointment of the Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of the Fund should be approved by the European Parliament and the Council.

Thirdly, the Investment Plan as announced in December and the Regulation proposing the EFSI’s establishment reflect changing notions of the ESFI’s priorities. We are surprised that the Commission is so vague about the priorities of this instrument at this stage.

We recommend that the Fund focuses on five priorities or principles, which are written into the proposed Regulation aligned with the Europe 2020 strategy. They are: excellent research; education and training initiatives in particular to reduce inequalities; supporting the move to a low carbon economy; sustainable growth-enhancing infrastructure to help fight poverty and social exclusion; and providing working capital and risk financing to SMEs to drive employment.

In addition, we strongly recommend that existing and demonstrably effective delivery mechanisms for funding, such as the European Research Council and Horizon 2020, be used to deliver as much EFSI funding as possible. For example, with excellence in research being one EFSI priority, it is clear the European Research Council should be fully involved in selecting successful projects and in delivering the funding granted.

Click here to download the PDF version of the statement.

Click here to download the original statement issued by the British Academy.

On 21 November in Rome, the ALLEA President participated in the Balzan Prizewinners’ Interdisciplinary Forum, which was organised by the host, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, as well as the International Balzan Prize Foundation.

Photo / Fondazione Balzan “Premio”, Milano

Professor Günter Stock introduced the forum with a keynote lecture. In his speech, he underlined the advantages prestigious awards such as the Balzan Prize offer the science and research system. By forming a list of desiderata that include such needs as true interdisciplinarity, the preservation of the roots of innovation – namely, curiosity-driven research including that in the social sciences and humanities – and effective science education for the younger generation, Professor Stock laid the groundwork for discussing the role of academies and foundations in achieving these goals.  He placed particular emphasis on the historic ability of academies and foundations to provide a safe environment for new ideas and research projects away from the mainstream and identify new challenges and needs at their earliest stages. Furthermore, he highlighted the unique position of these institutions in bringing science and the public closer together in order to promote a productive space for public deliberation. Lastly, Professor Stock lauded the cooperation between the Balzan Foundation and the Accademia dei Lincei as a glowing example of academies and foundations joining forces and emphasised the benefits of more institutions engaging in cooperative activities on behalf of the scientific community.

Photo / Fondazione Balzan “Premio”, Milano

Opening remarks were provided by Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Vice-President of the Accademia dei Lincei, who noted ALLEA’s “fundamental role” in addressing science policy issues, and Salvatore Veca, Chairman of the Balzan General Prize Committee. The 2014 Prize recipients, introduced by members of the General Prize Committee, then spoke about their careers while emphasising the achievements that earned them the Prize. The talks were followed by comments by panellists and questions from the audience, with Enrico Decleva, the President of the International Balzan Prize Foundation, acting as moderator.

To read Professor Stock’s keynote lecture, please click here.

To view a video of the forum, please click here.

The International Balzan Prize Foundation’s aim is to promote culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world.

Currently, four annual awards are given: two in literature, moral sciences and the arts; and two in the physical mathematical and natural sciences and medicine. Prize winners must designate half of their awards for research projects preferably carried out by young humanists and scientists.

At intervals of no fewer than three years, the Balzan Foundation also awards a prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among Peoples.

Jean-Claude Juncker

In a letter sent to Jean-Claude Juncker on 9 December 2014, the ALLEA President responded to the proposal for a European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) which aims to boost job creation and economic recovery in Europe.

While ALLEA principally supports the Commission´s efforts to fuel sustainable growth and prosperity in the European Union, as well as tackling major concerns facing Europe such as unemployment amongst young people, it appears counter-productive to remove funds from Horizon 2020´s agreed budget and therewith impair the immense potential impact of high-quality research for growth and prosperity in Europe.

Considering that a total of € 2.7 billion is planned to be re-allocated from the Horizon 2020 budget to the European Fund for Strategic Investment the ALLEA President states: “The Horizon 2020 budget is already under pressure, with vastly increased demand and lower budget available in 2014 for key areas than the preceding year. In our view, decreasing this budget further in an area already agreed as a priority is not the way to proceed in order to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity.”

The EFSI proposal will be discussed by the European Council at its meeting on 18/19 December 2014. ALLEA encourages all member academies and other institutions and individuals from the scientific community in Europe to take all feasible actions in order to secure a stable and substantial budget for excellent and trans-disciplinary science and research.

Click here to read the full text of the letter.

ALLEA recently released its third and final newsletter for the year 2014, focussing on matters surrounding the topic “Science Policy after the European Elections”. The newsletter features a comprehensive look at key science policy makers on the EU level, recent changes and trends, and an interview with MEP and Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Professor Jerzy Buzek.

In the last six months, the arena of science policy on the European level has experienced numerous changes and welcomed many new faces. In July, the Italian Presidency took the helm of the Council of the European Union, while the European Parliament committees ITRE and CULT received new chairs and new members. On 1 November, the new Commission under President Jean-Claude Juncker began its five-year term – without, as was recently confirmed, the expert voice of a chief scientific adviser. President Juncker’s removal of not only the CSA but also the Bureau of European Policy Advisers under which the CSA post was subsumed has been met with growing anxiety as to the future of evidence-based independent science policy advice on the European level.

Thus, with this newsletter’s focus topic, ALLEA offers an overview of the current developments and trends in the arena of European science policy. The ALLEA interview with Professor Jerzy Buzek, Chair of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee at the European Parliament offers a glimpse into the current science policy climate in Brussels and Strasbourg. Moreover, beyond a presentation of the debate regarding the CSA and BEPA, the issue breaks down the most important changes and tendencies driving the Commission’s approach to science policy.

While this issue’s focus is meant to offer insight into the complex political structures that make science policy decisions in Europe, it also dovetails with the theme of the next ALLEA General Assembly, which will take place in April 2015 in Lisbon. 15 years after the “Lisbon Strategy” set out the goals for two decades of European science and research, ALLEA will return to the original Lisbon agenda and examine the strategy’s aims, what has actually been accomplished since 2000, and what still needs to be done. In this context, ALLEA is introducing a new section of this newsletter in which the rich and multifaceted profiles of our member academies are featured. In this issue, the spotlight shines on the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon before they generously open their beautiful halls to the next ALLEA General Assembly.

Last but far from least, the newsletter reports on the continued active engagement of the ALLEA Working Groups. The Working Group Science Education has released the complete “Academia-Industry Alliance: Joint Efforts in Science Education” report and will soon publish the AEMASE Conference Report, which details the proceedings of the May 2014 conference in Rome and will be produced as a printed booklet. Meanwhile, the Working Groups Science and Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights met to discuss possible future cooperation on cross-cutting issues of relevance for both expert groups.

To read the latest ALLEA newsletter, please click here.