Physical expertise for Europe
The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society, DPG) welcomes European Commission’s plans to set up a scientific advisory board.
Bad Honnef, 27 May 2015 – As surprising the dismissal of the Chief Science Adviser, Anne Glover, was for many, this decision now opens the opportunity to provide scientific advice to the European Commission on a new and broader basis. Therefore, the German Physical Society welcomes the aim of the EU Commission to establish an advisory board of at least seven scientific experts.
Crucial will be how the body is put together and how it will be designed to work with existing structures in the EU,” says Siegfried Bethke, Member of the Executive Board for International Relations of the DPG and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. It is intended that the scientific advisory board is directly working for Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.
It would be important that the Commission appoints internationally respected researchers who know well how to navigate in the diplomatic world and who are as well recognized European research manager,” says Bethke. In addition, possible experts should be appointed from different research disciplines, to ensure the widest possible expertise.
For the physics the DPG could prepare a recommendation in consultation with the European Physical Society [EPS].
The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V. [DPG], which was founded way back in 1845, is the oldest national and, with more than 62,000 members, also the largest physical society in the world. As a non-profit-making organisation it pursues no economic interests. The DPG promotes the transfer of knowledge within the scientific community through conferences, events and publications, and aims to open a window to physics for the curious. Its special focuses are on encouraging junior scientists and promoting equal opportunities. The DPG’s head office is at Bad Honnef am Rhein. Its representative office in the capital is the Magnus-Haus Berlin.
Visit the DPG website: www.dpg-physik.de.
