Horizon Europe is well underway, but the world of European R&D policy goes well beyond the confines of the €95.5 billion R&D programme. EU climate, digital, agriculture and regional policies all have significant research and innovation components. National governments often come up with new R&D policies, decide to fund new research avenues, and set up international cooperation deals. This blog aims to keep you informed on all of that and more.
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The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities wants to see social sciences, arts and humanities play a bigger role in the EU’s €95.5 billion Horizon Europe research programme.
The university group believes a deeper understanding of cultures and politics is needed to help the EU deal with the various crises it faces, such as the war in Ukraine and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Guild urges for better integration of such research in Horizon-funded big collaborative projects. In particular, the group wants to see funding for projects that enable a deeper interdisciplinary understanding of market imbalances and behavioural reactions to them as well as greater pluridisciplinary depth in research on cultural heritage.
New rules are needed to govern research with potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, and other agents that could risk creating bioweapons, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in the US urges in a new report.
The recommended new rules for potentially dual use technologies would introduce stricter reviews of all federally funded research involving any human, plant, and animal pathogens.
Biosafety and biosecurity has become a cause for concern in recent years as some allege the COVID-19 virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The European Research Council’s (ERC) latest €657 million funding round is set to disburse €657 million to 321 leading scientists undertaking fundamental research projects.
The scientists, who all have 7 to 12 years’ experience after their PhDs, will receive so-called Consolidator grants to pursue their most promising ideas in all disciplines of research from engineering to life sciences to humanities from the EU’s €16 billion basic research fund.
The scientists will be based in 18 countries, with most located in Germany (62 projects), France (41) and Spain (24). They come from 37 countries, notably Germany (52 researchers), Italy (32), France (31) and the UK (31).
European Commission’s research chief Signe Ratso is in South Korea today discussing R&I cooperation and the country’s potential association to the Horizon Europe research programme.
A week after visiting Japan to discuss deepening cooperation, Ratso met South Korea’s first vice minister for science and information and communications technologies, Oh Tae-Seog.
Similarly to Japan, South Korea has been in talks about potentially joining the EU’s €95.5 billion research programme, but the discussions are yet to move to full negotiations. Last week, EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel told the European Parliament there may be movement soon. “As for Japan and South Korea, we are getting closer to the end of exploratory discussions," she told MEPs on Tuesday.
EU’s internal market commissioner Thierry Breton is in Canada this week reaffirming the EU’s commitment to strengthen cooperation on clean technology, raw materials, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing.
In a joint statement with Canada’s industry minister François-Philippe Champagne, Breton stressed willingness to work together on ensuring both sides’ resilience in strategic sectors and move towards an upcoming EU-Canada Digital Partnership, which will focus on digital privacy, artificial intelligence, research and innovation on next-generation networks and cyber security.
Eric Lander, the former White House science adviser who resigned last year after allegations of bullying, has returned to the Broad Institute, a biomedical collaboration of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lander quit in February 2022 after an internal investigation found evidence of "disrespectful interactions with staff".
He will resume work at Broad from next month as a core institute member and founding director emeritus. Acknowledging the scandal, an official announcement from Broad about his return said that his "departure from Washington last year stimulated important and often tough discussions about academic culture here and across the nation".
Switzerland and Japan have held talks on strengthening their scientific links in Bern today, agreeing two new measures that should boost ties.
The delegations discussed how to deepen links between academics and research funders. The Swiss Polar Institute and the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research signed a memorandum of understanding to work together more in polar research.
And Swissnex, the Swiss network for education, research and innovation, will open a new outpost in Osaka this year as part of Switzerland's new consulate in the city.
The UK, which like Switzerland is also locked out of Horizon Europe association, has also recently been trying to bolster research links with Japan.
The European Commission has launched a new China fellowship programme with the aim of gathering expertise and a deeper understanding of the country.
The programme, announced 25 January, will be a part of IDEA, the Commission’s advisory service that reports directly to the Commission president.
The goal is to bring together policy-orientated academics from top think tanks and universities to provide insights into developments in political, social, economic, digital, environment and security matters related to China, as well as contextualising the country’s history.
The fellowships will last between six and 12 months and will be paid.
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has announced it is teaming up with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to offer joint funding to natural science and engineering projects.
It comes as Switzerland continues talks with the EU over association to Horizon Europe, which have been ongoing for some time. Switzerland was also recently ejected from the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures because of its lack of Horizon Europe association.
Matthias Egger, president of the SNSF, said the new collaboration with Canada will “contribute to increasing research capacity in Switzerland and abroad”.
Meanwhile Alejandro Adem, president of NSERC, said: “We believe that working together with other international agencies and organisations, such as the Swiss National Science Foundation, will lead to great collaborations between Canadian researchers and their international peers.”
Canada is set to become a full member of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), an international next-generation radio astronomy observatory.
Canada currently holds a cooperation agreement with SKAO, giving its researchers access to the project, but is set to complete the process to attain full membership in the coming months.
Full membership will give Canadian astronomers a 6 per cent use-share of the observatory, access to a next-generation radio astronomy facility and support the establishment of a domestic regional centre.
Once fully constructed, by 2029, SKAO will operate 2 telescopes in Australia and South Africa to enable new discoveries about the universe, the fundamental laws of physics and the prospects for life on other planets.
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