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"This epidemic is causing enormous difficulties for many families and it was imperative to do something,” said rector Paolo Mancarella. “I had made this promise to the students in an email a few days ago and promises must be kept."
Research funders everywhere are changing their plans as the COVID-19 emergency grows, but Academy of Finland aims to keep all its competitions running on track.
“The coronavirus situation will not cause any changes to our decision schedules or call deadlines,” the Helsinki-based funder says on its website.
However, all Academy events and meetings for this Spring, which aren’t cancelled or postponed, will move online.
The investment is part of a €120 million deal between Fosun Pharma and BioNTech to jointly conduct clinical trials in China. The vaccine will be commercialised in China by Fosun, while BioNTech will retain full rights to develop and commercialise the vaccine in the rest of the world.
Ireland’s main research funding bodies – the Health Research Board, the Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland – have promised flexibility for applicants whose research projects are “unavoidably delayed” by the coronavirus outbreak.
The funders say they will give “due consideration” to pushing back deadlines and restructuring project deliverables.
Full statement here
The European Research Council (ERC) said grant management is to carry on as usual, but it does not exclude the possibility of "certain technical and/or IT access constraints."
At the same time, ERC evaluators are reviewing proposals remotely. "We are confident that this will allow us to finalise the ongoing Step 1 evaluations of Starting Grants by the end of this week," the ERC said in a statement. "For the moment, we do not anticipate any delays with upcoming evaluations or application deadlines."
ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity gives essential advice to secure devices from potential hackers taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis, inviting employers to define a clear procedure to follow in case of a security incident and to consider restricting access to sensitive systems. In its security note, ENISA also warns that “attackers are exploiting the situation, so look out for phishing emails and scams.”
European Council president has called for a video conference of EU leaders to discuss ways of "boosting research" against the fast-spreading virus. The meeting will take place on Tuesday with leaders e expected to brainstorm on concerted actions to contain the spread of the virus, provide sufficient medical equipment, and limit the economic fallout.
Accelerate Estonia and Garage48 hosted an online hackathon, called Hack the crisis, to get ideas from IT and innovation professionals for solutions to the crisis situations, that can be tested in 48 hours and give Estonia the edge for the post-crisis phase. According to Estonian Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Kaimar Karu, the 5 strongest ideas will receive a €5000 support to develop their idea during the emergency situation.
The main shareholder of CureVac, a German company with a promising COVID-19 vaccine in the pipeline, said the results of its research will not be available "only regionally", after media reports unveiled attempts by US president Donald Trump to secure exclusive distribution of CureVac's vaccine against COVID-19 which is still under development. Dietmar Hopp of dievini Hopp BioTech, a holding that owns 80 per cent of CureVac shares said "Hopefully, we will soon succeed in developing an effective vaccine against the coronavirus. This vaccine should be available not only regionally, but to people all over the world in solidarity to help and protect them."
Researchers from Utrecht University, Erasmus University Medical Center and biotech company Harbor BioMed, have developed a human antibody that can inhibit the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. While promising, the discovery should not raise false expectations, said research leader Berend-Jan Bosch of Utrecht University. "It is a promising first step, but it is far too early to speculate about the potential efficacy in humans," the university said in a statement.
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