NEWS

A Patent Waiver Is Not a Silver Bullet in the Pursuit of Vaccine Equity

The low level of Covid-19 vaccination in the Global South is ethically unacceptable and risks prolonging the pandemic. The patent waiver will not solve these vaccination bottlenecks in the short-term. Instead, additional measures should be adopted to accelerate local manufacturing and distribution of vaccines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), ramp up investment in vaccination campaigns, and facilitate the compulsory licensing of patents and transfer of know-how.

UN Proclaims 2022 as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development

We need more basic sciences to achieve Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This is the message sent to the world by the United Nations General Assembly on 2 December 2021: Member States approved by consensus the resolution 76/A/L.12 promulgating the year 2022 as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD 2022).

UNESCO General Conference Adopts Recommendation on Open Science

The UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science has been adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO at its 41st session on 23 November 2021. The Recommendation defines shared values and principles for Open Science and identifies concrete measures on Open Access and Open Data, with proposals to bring citizens closer to science and to facilitate the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge.

PERITIA Lectures: 10 Speakers, 1400+ Participants, 200+ Questions

The PERITIA lectures series [Un]Truths: Trust in an Age of Disinformation came to an end this Tuesday with the final lecture ‘Expertise, Democracy and the Politics of Trust’ by Sheila Jasanoff (Harvard Kennedy School). Her lecture brought the series to a close with a reflection on the changing role of expertise across different political cultures.

Future of Science Communication Conference: Interactive Portal Now Available

On 24-25 June 2021, ALLEA partnered with Wissenschaft im Dialog to organise the 2021 Future of Science Communication Conference. An interactive portal is now available to revisit all the panel discussions and audiovisual content created during the two-day conference.

New Methods to Study Health Inequalities Require Investments in Data Infrastructures, European Academies Report Says

A new generation of scientific methods are helping to better understand health inequalities in Europe, but investments in data infrastructures are required to make use of its full potential for informing policymaking, European academies say in a new report.

ALLEA Awards Legal Scholar Helen Keller at the 2021 Madame de Staël Prize Lecture

On Saturday 6 November, ALLEA celebrated its annual Madame de Staël Prize Lecture. On this occassion, the 2021 Madame de Staël Prize laureate, Professor Helen Keller, accepted her award and delivered a lecture in a hybrid event hosted by the Swiss Embassy in Berlin. This event took place as part of the Berlin Science Week.

ALLEA Signs Open Letter Calling for Finalising UK Association to Horizon Europe

An open letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed by 25 European umbrella research and innovation organisations - including ALLEA - urges the European Commission and UK Government to work towards a successful UK association to Horizon Europe, “to safeguard this valuable and mutually beneficial R&I cooperation”.

“Climate Action is Slow for a Combination of Understandable Reasons”

Climate action has been far too slow. Why? The obvious answer: distrust of the science. Yet, even in places where the scientific findings have been accepted, and even as scepticism is waning, the response remains sluggish. Philosopher Philip Kitcher sheds a light on some of the forces that continue to hold climate action back.

It Matters How We Open Knowledge – ALLEA Statement on Equity in Open Access

Today, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) published the statement “Equity in Open Access” that addresses how “gold” open access publishing routes and large read-and-write deals contribute to establishing inequitable structures within academic research.

ALLEA Leads New SAPEA Project on Strategic Crisis Management in the EU

ALLEA is taking the lead on a new SAPEA project on the topic “Strategic Crisis Management in the EU”, to address a question raised by European Commissioners to the Scientific Advice Mechanism: Based on a broad and multidisciplinary understanding, how can the EU improve its strategic crisis management?

Towards a New European Research Area — Interview with Kerstin Sahlin

Professor Kerstin Sahlin (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) is Professor of Public Management in the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University. She is also the Chair of the new ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area, which celebrated its first meeting on 7 October.

ALLEA President at the Black Sea University Network (BSUN) Congress

On 13-15 October 2021, ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno delivered a virtual keynote at this years' Black Sea University Network (BSUN) Congress, hosted in a hybrid format by the American University of Armenia (AUA).

ALLEA Responds to European Commission Consultation on New Genomic Techniques

On 21 October 2021, ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, responded to the European Commission’s public consultation on ‘legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs)’.

Dare to Know! ALLEA at the Berlin Science Week

ALLEA is proud to be part of the Berlin Science Week for a second year. The science festival provides international scientists and science driven organisations with a stage to share insights into current topics, discuss grand challenges and envision the future together.