VUB Research’s Post

‼️Your inputs wanted: Shape the future of #HorizonEU 🤝 For the first time, the European Commission has opened a comprehensive survey for your input to the work program 2025. 🗣️Have your say and share your views what #research topics the European Union should cover in the coming year. #research #innovation #HorizonEU #Haveyoursay

Good to see the Inspireurope+ report on national-level actions. It is frustrating that #SARItaly is still far from having a national programme as in Germany and France, and also that there are so few such programmes in Europe. What is positive is seeing the relatively recent SAR Italy network in the report and the great progress we made through members' finding funding for temporary placements, 92 in two years is impressive! Sadly the need is ever greater :-( #inspireurope #academicfreedom

Share your thoughts on future EU research funding priorities

I believe in the power of feedback - I think that across the years, receiving feedback has helped me grow and become a better professional. As a result, I believe the exercise of feedback on the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 orientations is a very helpful one for the European Commission: :) https://lnkd.in/d6DtAw7k

Living the world we live in, and facing the complex and challenging problems of modern societies require better-informed and evidence-based policymaking. How can we do that? That’s the origin and purpose of #Science4Policy. The mutual understanding of #scientists and #policymakers needs to improve in all regions, but we already have some good examples of best practices across Europe.   CSIC is evolving in the right direction. The largest Spanish public-performing research organization, with more than 14k employees distributed among 121 research institutes in the country, is changing from being a “knowledge generator” research institution and is increasingly transforming into a “knowledge synthesizer” one.   If you are interested in these matters, please go, and check the new Guidance Science-Policy Activities coordinated by Science Europe

Engagement is what we need to make a change.

Yesterday afternoon, Science Europe launched our new Guidance for Science-Policy Activities, kindly hosted by Research Foundation Flanders - FWO. Science Europe President, Mari Sundli Tveit welcomed participants to the round table discussion highlighting the critical role of scientific research in informing policy makers on how to tackle some of our most pressing societal challenges. Presenting the principles, actions and best practice examples contained in the Guidance, Nicola Francesco Dotti (Senior Policy Officer at Science Europe), and Margarida Prado, (Scientific Officer at Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Co- Chair of our Working Group on the Green and Digital Transition), stressed the importance of science-policy interactions being underpinned by key values of quality, integrity and transparency. Engaging in #Science4Policy also requires long-term vision; forging of strong connections between the policy and research communities; and the development of a methodological and process-oriented expertise to identify policy issues, synthesise research and assess policy options, they stressed. Joanna Drake (Deputy Director-General, DG Research and Innovation) shared the initiatives by the European Commission focused on building a better science-policy ecosystem in Europe and recognising knowledge. Scientific evidence and science-based policy should be at the heart of democratic policy-making and integral to scientific efforts. In the subsequent panel discussion chaired by Hans Willems (FWO Secretary General), Alessandro Allegra (Science for Policy Coordinator at DG Research and Innovation); Margarida Prado, Alberto Mercado (Project Manager at CSIC) and Mari Sundli Tveit shared their experiences and perspectives, highlighting key themes such as responsible use of #AI, the role of #sciencecommunication and the importance of building trust and respect in science-policy interactions. Closing, our Secretary-General Lidia Borrell-Damian, thanked all our speakers and panelists in helping to highlight the unique role research organisations can play in bringing about transformative change by facilitating dialogues between the research and policy communities, driving progress towards shared goals. We hope the Guidance will help them fulfil this vital role with confidence and purpose and continue this important conversation! Download the Guidance here: https://lnkd.in/e9TMsJxm Photos from the event 👇

📢 Tune in on Friday, 22 November 2024, from 17:45 to 19:00 CET to watch ALLEA Director Matthias Johannsen's contribution to the Ministerial Roundtable IV – Freedom and Safety of Scientists, organised at World Science Forum 2024 by the International Science Council (ISC) and UNESCO. 📢 This session highlights ALLEA’s commitment to raising awareness about the importance of safeguarding academic freedom at pivotal moments when research and institutional autonomy are under threat in Europe and globally, with grave consequences for scholars, science, and society. 📄 Click here for the full program of the roundtable: https://lnkd.in/dw8UxjMb 📺 Click here for LIVE streaming: https://lnkd.in/dwC-4uJM #WSF2024 is organised under the main theme “The Science and Policy Interface at the Time of Global Transformations” and aims to address the major challenges that prevent the global science–policy–society interface. #WSF2024 #ScienceAndPolicy #ResearchAssessment #Innovation #GlobalTransformation

The association of higher education communicators in Europe, EUPRIO believes that research is one of the cornerstones of our progress as a society. However, as it usually happens, research is in constant need of funding. This needed to be communicated towards European leaders. The Right Street supported a campaign advocating for increased research and development funding in the EU budget. First, we developed a strategy framework in collaboration with the client. Based on that we helped create the campaign’s tools, including visuals, the tagline and the website. EUPRIO used these to bring together universities, research organisations, funding agencies, and industry partners to reach decision-makers and stakeholders at every level. The efforts helped set a new discourse for debate around research funding, exemplified by President Von Der Leyen endorsing the message that Europe needs new resources for R&D to strengthen its competitiveness: https://lnkd.in/efvZb8D7

It was a pleasure today to participate in the conference #rethinkingresearchassessment organised by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding - UEFISCDI; the Open and Universal Science (OPUS) Project; Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment and the UNESCOChairSTIP- TN and Science Europe. James Morris from Science Europe presented our recent survey report on the Strategic Approaches to and Research Assessment of Open Science, exploring how Science Europe members are actively shaping and contributing to the evolving landscape of open science and #researchassessment reform, central to enhancing research quality and impact. Science Europe members are aligning their assessment practices with their open science strategies, reflecting a strong coherence between policy and implementation and part of ongoing processes, influenced by international initiatives such as CoARA). A research culture perspective is vital when approaching the reform of research assessment and/or the promotion of open science, and provides a framework to analyse the effects and unintended consequences of policy and practice changes, as well as their impact upon the behaviours and attitudes of the research community – it is this interconnected viewpoint that Science Europe strives for in its current activities. Find out more about the report here: bit.ly/3NGn0Cg Lidia Borrell-Damian as a member of the COARA Steering Board provided an an update on the status of the coalition and its many activities, highlighting the importance of a true international perspective and bringing together different stakeholder groups to support research assessment reform to develop shared perspectives.