Brussels News Updates

4 Calls for Funding and Awards, BNU May 2020, Brussels News Updates

ERC Proof of Concept Grant

The ERC Proof of Concept Grant is available only to Principal Investigators who already have an ERC award to establish proof of concept of an idea that was generated during their ERC-funded projects. All Principal Investigators are eligible to participate in an ERC frontier research project that is either ongoing, or has ended less than 12 months before 1 January 2020.

Deadline: 17 September 2020

Learn more about it here.

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1 European Highlights, BNU May 2020, Brussels News Updates

EuChemS participated in the #EUvsVirus Hackathon

On 24 – 26 April 2020, the European Commission organised an online pan-European Hackathon under the patronage of Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. In total, 21,000 participants from across Europe met virtually to find solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic and its related-challenges.

Six categories of COVID-19 related issues were addressed during this 62-hour contest: health and life, business continuity, remote working and education, social and political cohesion, digital finance and ‘other’ – an open category for other challenges.

The participants had the opportunity to meet online with civil societies, universities, businesses and others to tackle these challenges. Overall, 2160 proposals were submitted and 117 of them were announced as winners during the Award Ceremony, livestreamed on 30 April. Results are available here.

The European Chemical Society is pleased to have taken part in the #EUvsVirus Hackathon and wants to thank the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) for their initiative, active participation and inputs during this event. The European Chemical Society registered as a civil society and a partner to assist the teams and answer their chemistry-related questions. We will remain available in the future for all the participants wishing to connect with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about the #EUvsVirus Hackathon here.

And now, what is next?

Although the #EUvsVirus Hackathon has officially ended, the financing and resource needs of the winning teams to develop and scale their ideas, are currently being collated. From 22 – 25 May 2020, a Machathon event will be organised to match the needs with the available resources. Furthermore, an EIC-COVID Platform will be launched at the end of May. The aim of this European platform will be to connect the winning teams of the #EUvsVirus Hackathon – as well as partners proposing innovative solutions – with those in need of these solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them are hospitals, public authorities, etc.

The European Chemical Society, together with the EYCN, will remain active for the next step and cover the Machathon on socials. Stay tuned and follow us not to miss out on any information!

 

 

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1 European Highlights, BNU May 2020, Brussels News Updates

New President of the Board of Directors of the H.I.P.A.

The European Chemical Society congratulates the member of EuChemS Executive Board and Chair of Division of Chemistry and Environment, Professor Ioannis Katsoyiannis, for being appointed by the Greek Minister of Growth and Investments as President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Industrial Property Academy (H.I.P.A.).

We wish Ioannis best of success in his new duties.

You can read our full debrief here.

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3 Consultations and Roadmaps, BNU May 2020, Brussels News Updates

European Commission Public Consultations

A number of consultations put forward by the European Commission are currently open:

If you would like to contribute to a EuChemS response to any of the above consultations, please drop us a line.

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1 European Highlights, BNU May 2020, Brussels News Updates

8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress postponed to 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic that so deeply affects our lives and countries is not expected to end soon, and its consequences will be felt for a long time. We are thus forced to postpone the 8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress (ECC8) to 2022. ECC8 will still be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 28 August to 1 September 2022.

More information is available on the ECC8 website and on its official Twitter account.

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1 European Highlights, BNU April 2020, Brussels News Updates

Resignation of ERC President M. Ferrari

After three months of Presidency, Mauro Ferrari resigned his position as president of the European Research Council (ERC). M. Ferrari submitted his resignation on 7 April 2020.

In the meantime, one of the ERC´s three Vice-Presidents will assume M. Ferrari’s responsibilities until a new ERC President is selected by a Search Committee that the European Commission will set up.

As a reminder, M. Ferrari took over the position of ERC President from Jean-Pierre Bourguignon in January 2020. M. Ferrari’s end-term was expected on 31 December 2023.

You can read the statement made by the ERC Scientific Council here and M. Ferrari’s declaration here.

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1 European Highlights, BNU April 2020, Brussels News Updates

ERC 2019 advanced grants results

On 31 March 2020, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the 185 winners of the ERC 2019 advanced grants. In total, 450 million euros will be allocated to the winning researchers. As part of the Horizon 2020 programme, this funding will help strengthen Europe’s knowledge base in all fields of research. According to the ERC Press Release, these new projects are expected to create 1,800 new jobs for post-doctoral fellows, PhD students and other research staff.

The list of 185 winners is divided in three main domains: Physical Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences and Social Sciences and Humanities. Among the winners in the field of chemistry, some of the listed research topics are “Chemical Space for Antimicrobials on a Peptide Basis” of Jean-Louis Reymond, “Old Chemistry for Advanced Materials: Empowering Carbon Chemistry Using Lost Chemistry” of Markus Antonietti, “Chiral Aqueous-phase Chemistry” of Bernd Winter and “Artificial Translation with Dynamic Foldamers: Relaying Encoded Messages into Chemical Function” of Jonathan Clayden. To discover the full winners list in the field of chemistry, please download the Physical Sciences and Engineering list and the Life Sciences list.

Researchers who would like to compete for an ERC Advanced Grant have from 14 May to 26 August 2020 to apply for the next round of funding. More information about it here.

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1 European Highlights, BNU April 2020, Brussels News Updates

Budget for Horizon Europe: no agreements yet

The next seven-year EU budget for Horizon Europe is still being debated. Due to the current world health crisis, the budget had to be revised and a proposal will be released by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. Indeed, governments currently face national difficulties directly impacting their economic and health system and are preparing for a post-crisis recession, which does not facilitate long-term budget planning.

In the current environment, the European Commission is looking for alternatives. Among them, extending the 2020 budget to 2021 is being discussed: the member states (except for the UK) would pay into the EU budget on the same GDP formula as in 2020. Therefore, research would get the same share in 2021 as it does in 2020. Otherwise, operating on a monthly basis is also a potential option.

Read more about it here.

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1 European Highlights, BNU April 2020, Brussels News Updates

EuChemS Secretariat team has grown to three full timers

As of 1 April 2020, EuChemS Secretariat now has for the first time ever three full timers working on supporting the community of chemists in Europe. In just a few years, since the Secretariat has started its work from Brussels, it has grown for a factor of three, which shows how activities of EuChemS have increased since 2011. Due to the current health-crisis situation, all the team members are working remotely until further notice.

The Secretariat is responsible for the day to day administrative management of the society.

Discover more about EuChemS Secretariat team here.

 

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1 European Highlights, BNU April 2020, Brussels News Updates

ESEC3 – The 3rd Employment Survey for European Chemists

All chemists and chemical engineers are very much encouraged to take part in this survey. By doing so, they will cocreate future landscape for job opportunities and related matters, as they wish to have them, as the outcomes of this survey will be made available to policy makers and others who are in a position to shape the future in Europe.

This survey looks into the current education and employment situation of chemists and chemical engineers across Europe. Understanding job market needs, the challenges and opportunities facing chemists and what drives people to study and work in their respective fields will prove invaluable to better understand the current landscape. In turn, it will allow those directly impacted, as well as universities, institutions, companies, and policymakers to focus their efforts on facilitating or improving certain measures whilst encouraging those that are so far successful.

The online survey is available on the following link: https://www.euchems.eu/esec3/

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