The new team of the European Commission
On 22 October 2014, the European Parliament approved the new European Commission [EC] team presented by Jean-Claude Juncker, who started their term of office on 1 November 2014.
The President Jean-Claude Junker put forward his agenda and presented his team earlier this year. In ten policy areas, he focused in particular on “a new boost for jobs, growth and investment”, “a connected digital single market”, and “a resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy”, to quote the first priorities in the list.
Towards a European pension fund for researchers
The Swiss Contact Office for Research, Innovation and Education [Swiss Core] has recently published an update on one of the ongoing hot topics in European Research. e-EPS is reprinting the article with their permission. The orginal article can be found here… A successful academic career in Europe entails a large degree of international mobility. From a European point of view and in the framework of the European Research Area [ERA], international mobility is often seen as a driver for excellence for research organisations as well as one of the key elements of the concept. However …
ESA and the EU sign a contract with Arianespace
On 20 August, the European Space Agency [ESA], acting on behalf of the European Commission, and Arianespace convened at the Guiana Space Center, European spaceport, to sign a contract for three launch services with Ariane 5 ES in order to step up the deployment of the European navigation system Galileo, the European Union’s flagship program.
With this new launch contract, a total of 12 Galileo FOC [Full Operational Capability] satellites will be …
European consultation on Science 2.0
The European Commission has opened a consultation on “Science 2.0″. A briefing document has been prepared describing what the European Commission means by Science 2.0, as well as introducing the issues. The consultation is open to all interested parties, and closes on 30 September 2014.
Digital technologies, many of them driven by physics research, have and are changing the way research is conducted and organised. The European Commission, through this consultation, is asking key stakeholders (universities, research funders, libraries, researchers, publishers, businesses) to provide their input…
Inspiring Science Education: eLearning tools to promote IBSE
The project Inspiring Science Education [ISE] – funded by the European Commission under the CIP-ICT-PSP programme – aims to encourage the use of eLearning tools for promoting inquiry-based science education [IBSE] across European schools.
Running from April 2013 until July 2016, the project brings together a multi-stakeholder partnership, including the European Physical Society [EPS], and aims to reach 10,000 teachers and 100,000 students in 5,000 primary…
The 2nd EU Women Innovators Prize has been launched
After a successful first edition in 2011, the European Commission has launched the second edition of the EU Women Innovators Prize to reward 3 women who have achieved outstanding innovations and brought them to market.The first 2011 laureate is Dr. Gitte Neubauer, CELLZOME co-founder. She is leading her company’s work on new, better-targeted drugs against inflammatory diseases and cancer.The Prize for Women Innovators 2014 will aim to increase public awareness of gender issues, to encourage women to exploit the commercial and business opportunities offered by their research projects and become entrepreneurs…
A scientific council to advise the European Commission President
The “Science and Technology Advisory Council” will advise European Commission President J.M. Barroso directly on “how to create the proper environment for innovation by shaping a European society that embraces science, technology and engineering.” It “differs from other advisory bodies in the Commission in that it does not have a specific subject remit, but tackles issues that are of cross-cutting nature, with a clear societal dimension.”
The members of the Science and Technology Advisory Council were chosen by JM Barroso, in consultation with…
Science: it’s a girl thing
On 21 June 2012, the European Commission launched its brand new EU–wide campaign “Women in Research and Innovation”. Under the slogan “Science: it’s a girl thing”, the first phase of the campaign aims at encouraging girls aged 13-18 to embrace a scientific school curriculum.
Women are still under-represented in research at a time when Europe needs more researchers to foster innovation and bolster its economy. The goal of the campaign “Science it’s a Girl Thing” is to attract young…
FP7: 2013 Calls for proposals
The European Commission has published 4 new calls for proposals under the Framework Programme 7 [FP7].
• ICT – EU Japan Coordinated Call on topics Optical or wireless communications, cybersecurity, extending the cloud paradigm to the Internet of Things, the Federation of testbeds: Control, tools and experiments, as well as green and content centric networks. Deadline for submission: 29 November 2012.
• Coordination and Support Actions (supporting) : Researchers’ night. Deadline for submission: 8 January 2013…
European Court of Auditors prints Horizon 2020 opinion
An opinion on the Rules for Participation and Dissemination for Horizon 2020 has been published by the European Court of Auditors [ECA] on 25 July this year. The document recognizes the efforts made by the European Commission to simplify the rules for participation in the Horizon 2020 research funding programme, which will begin in 2014.
The ECA opinion’s recommendations for Horizon 2020 include…
EC communication to reinforce ERA
The European Commission adopted a communication on the European Research Area [ERA], entitled ‘A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth’, on 17 July this year. The communication answered calls by the European Council to complete the ERA by 2014.
The ERA Communication focuses on key areas for future improvement, such as more effective national research systems, optimal transnational co-operation and competition, an open labour market…
ICAN launches newsletter
The International Coherent Amplification Network [ICAN] project has launched a newsletter. The first issue – published earlier this year – provides news and information on the ICAN project and its events.
ICAN aims to bring together the laser, fibre and high-energy physics communities, with the aim of collaborating on a novel laser concept: one which will use fibre lasers to produce high energy and repetition rate pulse sources. Such technology would be needed to increase the electron acceleration rate…
