Florin Zubașcu

It may have R&D relationship woes with the EU, but Bern is boosting science diplomacy as part of a new foreign policy strategy, and is stepping in to help this fractious region get a shared research infrastructure off the drawing board

National funding scheme will help researchers in Swiss institutions carry on with European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie projects, as they wait for Bern and Brussels to thrash out an agreement on Horizon Europe participation

The new Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will coordinate research and innovation plans, and support EU-wide clinical trial networks and data sharing

New legislation announced by Ursula von der Leyen in state of the union speech is step towards reducing EU reliance on technologies developed and manufactured in China and the US

Outgoing research minister is optimistic that ELI-NP will join the European laser research consortium by 2023, but laments frequent changes at the top of the Romanian research system

Victor Dzau, President of US Academy of Medicine, calls on governments to establish a global health threats council, and says pharmaceutical companies should temporarily waive COVID-19 vaccine patents.

The European Commission is yet to come up with an official response to calls by university associations to provide coordinated help to Afghan researchers and academics

European Commission boasts of high level of open access publishing in Horizon 2020. But researchers complain getting processing fees approved is long winded and could result in them losing out on intellectual property rights

MEPS are trying to block a proposed €316M cut to next year’s R&D budget. EU climate targets will be impossible to achieve if member states keep delaying investments in R&D, they say

With vaccination rates on the up in Europe, universities are re-opening their campuses and preparing for face-to-face teaching. But the onus will be on students to show they are infection-free