The European Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) was officially launched on the 10^th November with the announcement of the seven leading scientists who will form the first High Level Group of scientific advisors. Together with a six million euro grant to European academies and learned societies, this marks a new approach to the use of independent science advice in Commission policy making. The mechanism is being launched six months after it was first announced by the European Commission, following protests from the scientific community, including EuChemS, due to the extinction of the Chief Scientific Advisor position. The seven leading scientists integrating the SAM are:

• Janusz M. Bujnicki
  Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Protein Engineering, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw
• Pearl Dykstra
  Professor of Sociology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam
• Elvira Fortunato
  Professor, Materials Science Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology, NOVA University, Lisbon
• Rolf-Dieter Heuer
  Director-General, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
• Julia Slingo
  Chief Scientist, Met Office, Exeter
• Cédric Villani
  Director, Henri Poincaré Institute, Paris
• Henrik C. Wegener
  Executive Vice President, Chief Academic Officer and Provost, Technical University of Denmark