The Scientific Committee assists the European Environmental Agency (EEA) Management Board and the Executive Director in providing scientific advice and delivering professional opinion on any scientific matter in the areas of work undertaken by the Agency.
The EEA Scientific Committee is composed of members of high scientific standing in one or more key areas of expertise relevant to the work of the EEA. Each member serves in an independent scientific capacity and do not represent countries or similar interests. There are currently 18 members of the Committee.
Deadline: 10 June 2016
Website: http://www.eea.europa.eu/
During this STOA Working Breakfast co-organised by the European Parliament´s STOA, EuCheMS, and EFMC on the 28 April, researchers and several Members of the European Parliament analysed the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance and weighted the pros and cons of possible solutions. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is the ability of microorganisms to withstand attack by antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics, antifungal or antivirals, and is a serious issue that threatens to render many of the treatments we use today ineffective in the future – from tuberculosis to HIV, from pneumonia to other common infections. The outcomes of this event chaired by Member of the European Parliament Paul Rübig will soon be published on EuCheMS and STOA websites. Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
EuCheMS is proud to announce that Professor Helena Grennberg and Professor Anthony Smith are the winners of the 2015 EuCheMS Award for Service. This award acknowledges outstanding commitment to the promotion of chemistry and the goals of EuCheMS.
Prof. Smith´s award was delivered by Prof. Franco De Angelis, on behalf of EuCheMS, at the ECTN General Assembly in Gdańsk, in April. The award ceremony for Prof. Grennberg will take place during the 6th EuCheMS Chemistry Congress in Seville, Spain, 11 – 15 September 2016. Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
EuCheMS would like to announce the launch of EuCheMS donation programme “Thank You Chemistry”.
From now on, other than participating in EuCheMS activities, subscribing to our newsletters, and telling us your ideas and concerns, you will also have the opportunity to contribute financially to the work of EuCheMS. This important milestone in EuCheMS activities will allow chemists and non-chemists from all around the world to support the work developed by EuCheMS in promoting the chemical sciences. Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The outcomes of the EuCheMS workshop Science: How Close to Open?, which took place in Amsterdam in April, are now available at EuCheMS´ website. This event looked into the current challenges and opportunities of open science and gathered policy-makers, researchers and publishers. As the conclusions of the event point out, the path to reach an open science is open in itself, but whatever choices are made they must be beneficial for the progress of science and society.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The preliminary statistics on submitted proposals for the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants for 2016 show that the Number of applicants increased 12% comparing with the previous Consolidator Grant call. The highest number of applications was submitted in the domain of Physical Sciences and Engineering (1075), followed by Life Sciences (713), and Social Science and Humanities (516). The ERC Work Programme has earmarked €605 million for an estimated number of 335 Consolidator Grants in 2016. Source: https://erc.europa.eu/
Research data produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission or in cooperation with other partners is now publicly available, in support of the European Commission’s strategy on Open Science for improved circulation of knowledge and thus innovation for generating growth. The JRC Data Catalogue is online and its datasets can be freely consulted and downloaded. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/
The COST Association has been organising a series of half-day events where national research communities are informed by its representatives about the COST Framework’s policies, activities and funding opportunities, with an emphasis on the Open Call for new COST Actions proposals, and COST Action representatives from the specific countries showcase the outstanding results of their participation in COST Actions and share their experiences and best practices. After info days organised in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina the next info day is organised in Ljubljana on 22 April 2016. You may check presentations in the link bellow. Source: https://danube-inco.net/
According to the Erasmus Mundus Graduate Impact Survey, the programme is rated highly satisfactory. The report shows that over 90% of the participants were satisfied with the programme, with more than 65% very satisfied. Overall, 81% of graduates were satisfied with the quality of the courses offered. As a negative point, graduates said that contacts with potential employers, as well as practical experiences on the course, were lacking: 72.6% of participants found the links to employment to be too weak. Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/
“Legal highs” are new psychoactive substances (NPS) which are very similar to illicit drugs such as cannabis, heroin and cocaine. They can be cheaply and easily produced and they have recently gained popularity even amongst casual drug users, often teenagers and young adults, therefore becoming a serious new threat to public health.
Scientists at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) are helping to develop methods by using highly advanced analytical and chemo-informatics tools for the structural characterisation of these unknown psychoactive substances when they enter European territory. Once their chemical “fingerprint” has been established, most analytical laboratories can use it to identify the substances, e.g. customs and police authorities in confiscated samples, as well as hospitals in the blood or urine of drug-related victims. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/
According to a report published earlier this month by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the use of fossil fuels across the European Union continues to decline due in part to increased consumption of renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biomass. The report, which assesses progress on the use of renewable energy, found that clean energy technologies are an important driving force in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in creating employment in Europe. Also according to this report, public funding in research and development of new renewable energy sources has increased between 2005 and 2013 but at a slower pace than before, posing a risk of missing the break-through technologies of tomorrow. The International Energy Agency has recommended the tripling of current public research and development spending on clean-energy innovation. Source: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/
According to the Environment Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament, as long as serious concerns remain about the carcinogenicity and endocrine disruptive properties of the herbicide glyphosate, which is used in hundreds of farm, forestry, urban and garden applications, the European Commission should not renew its authorisation. According to the majority of ENVI Members of European Parliament (MEPs), there should be an independent review and disclosure of all the scientific evidence that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) used to assess this substance. Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/
The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) has recently published an in-depth analysis of the European Research Area named “European Research Area: Evolving concept, implementation challenges”.
The analysis looks into ERA more than 40 years after the first steps to establish a common research policy, and 16 years after the formulation of the concept “European Research Area” (ERA), passing through its reshaping by the Council of the European Union in 2008 and the involvement of stakeholders since 2012, and looking into the future of ERA, where the commitment of the Member States will play a crucial role.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
Following an invitation from the European Commission (EC) delegation, EuCheMS will be part of the EC delegation to Chile on the topic of Circular Economy, led by Mr Daniel Calleja, the European Commission’s Director-General for Environment. The mission takes place on 25-26 April 2016 back-to-back with the XIV World Mining Exhibition and Congress for Latin America.
The mission is taking place just a few months before the review of the EU-Chile Association Agreement, and will hopefully be increasing EU-Chile cooperation on sustainable development with a view to addressing the environment while opening up opportunities for growth and investment in the framework of the Circular Economy. Among other topics, the mission will focus on issues related to circular economy, resource efficiency and sustainable use of natural resources, rco-innovation, chemicals, waste management, and water management. Source: http://ec.europa.eu/easme/
The Commission has presented the draft new rules on organic and waste-based fertilisers in the European Union (EU) which will now be discussed in the European Parliament and Council of the EU. The proposed Regulation should significantly ease the access of organic and waste-based fertilisers to the EU single market, bringing them on a level playing field with traditional, non-organic fertilisers. This will create new market opportunities for innovative companies while at the same time reducing waste, energy consumption and environmental damage. The new rules would apply to all types of fertilisers to guarantee the highest levels of soil protection.
The re-use of raw materials that are now disposed of as waste is one of the key principles of the Circular Economy Package adopted by the Commission in December 2015 and discussed in September last year at EuCheMS policy workshop Protecting Endangered Elements. Source: http://europa.eu/
A call for action has been published as an outcome of the conference “Open Science – From Vision to Action”, hosted by the Netherlands´ presidency of the Council of the European Union. According to this call for action, by 2020 there should be full open access for all scientific publications as well as a fundamentally new approach towards optimal reuse of research data. In order to reach this vision, twelve action items are proposed, namely changing the assessment, evaluation and reward systems in science; creating transparency on the costs and conditions of academic communication; setting up common e-infrastructures; involving researchers and new users in open science; or stimulating new publishing models for knowledge transfer.
This call for action is an open, living document, and EuCheMS, based on the outcomes of the recent Amsterdam workshop “Science: How Close to Open”, will provide input on the topic of open science to the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Also during this conference, Commissioner Carlos Moedas announced the imminent launch of the Open Science Policy Platform, which will advise the European Commission on policy actions required to implement the European Open Science Policy Agenda. Members of the platform will be announced end of May 2016.
Source: http://english.eu2016.nl/
Earlier this month in Amsterdam, EuCheMS brought together researchers, policy-makers, and publishers for a discussion about the current challenges and opportunities of Open Science. All the materials from the workshop “Science: How Close to Open?” will soon be online on EuCheMS´ website.
On the 23 February, the European Parliament Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI Committee) will hold a hearing on real drive emission tests. This hearing will host expert speakers, aiming to inform ENVI on the development of real driving emissions tests.
A key feature of ENVI’s position is that test procedures for certain pollutant emissions should reflect real driving conditions instead laboratory emissions testing.
The evaluation was based on a report by an independent group of high level experts, as well as the Commission’s response to its recommendations published in two legal documents.
The main findings are that FP7 was effective in boosting excellent science and strengthening Europe’s industrial competitiveness, contributing to growth and jobs in Europe. The evaluation also identified ways to improve how the EU funds research and innovation such as avoiding duplication or promoting large-scale simplification. According to the European Commission, many of these issues are already being taken up by Horizon 2020, the successor programme to FP7.
In its 25,000 funded projects FP7 had a vast group of participants with more than 134,000 participations from 170 different countries. The participations came in 86% of the cases from EU countries, 8% from Associated Countries and 6% rest of world.
On the occasion of the Open Science Conference organised by the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU, EuCheMS is organising the workshop Science: How Close to Open?, taking place in Amsterdam on 5 April.
This event will look into the present and future of intellectual property boundaries in chemistry research and will debate questions such as:
Which model for peer-review publishing?
Who owns research data and how to share it?
Which approach is better for creating innovative products and services?
Together with researchers, publishers, and EU and government officials we hope to build bridges between these different actors and to provide some answers to these questions.
Registration for this event will soon be available!
This consultation aims to collect views on the EU’s Action Plan against risks arising from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and is one part of a larger evaluation process which covers the period 2011-2015 in all 28 EU Member States and relevant third countries. The evaluation runs from August 2015 to March 2016. It aims to assess:
Whether the key strategic actions contained in the Action Plan were the most appropriate actions to be taken to combat AMR;
Which elements worked well or not (and why);
Whether the objectives are still relevant to the needs of tackling AMR; and
Whether the approach was appropriately holistic.
The evaluation also involves surveys, interviews and workshops to collect views from multiple perspectives, including policy makers at the EU and national levels, researchers, public health experts, and representatives of professional associations and other interested parties who are in a position to comment on the Action Plan and its implementation.
