On 1 June 2017 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will open the registrations for the renewal of its ten Scientific Panels and its Scientific Committee. EFSA´s Scientific Committee and Panels are composed of independent scientific experts, many of which are chemists, who carry out scientific assessments and develop related assessment methodologies.
Source: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
Eurostat estimates that in 2016 carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion decreased by 0.4% in the European Union (EU), compared with the previous year. CO2 emissions are a major contributor to global warming and account for around 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. Also on this topic, EuCheMS President Prof. David Cole-Hamilton, has recently published an opinion article in The Scotsman entitled Emissions Cut is Win-Win.
Source: http://europa.eu/; http://www.euchems.eu/
In April, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) secured €8 million for cultural projects aiming to protect and promote Europe’s shared cultural heritage, as part of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage. The main objective of this European Year is to promote the role of European cultural heritage as a pivotal component of cultural diversity, by making cultural heritage accessible to more people, promoting innovative models for managing cultural heritage, developing specialized skills or promoting heritage as a source of inspiration for contemporary creation and innovation and developing its role in social cohesion, sustainable tourism and local employment.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
By the end of 2017, the Commission will propose a legal instrument that provides a procurement framework for an integrated world-class high-performance computing infrastructure. This infrastructure is essential to support the European Open Science Cloud and will allow millions of researchers to share and analyze data in a trusted environment across technologies, disciplines and borders. The Commission has already made open research data the default option for projects funded under Horizon 2020. A roadmap for governance and funding will be presented to Member States in the autumn of 2017, based on the outcomes of the European Open Science Cloud Summit of 12 June. EuCheMS is represented at the Open Science Policy Platform, a group whose function is to advise the Commission on the further development and implementation of the open science policy.
Source: http://europa.eu/
As part of the Horizon 2020 (H2020) interim evaluation, the European Commission has recently published a report with a detailed analysis of the feedback received during the public consultation on this topic which took place earlier this year. The consultation counted with around 3500 responses, out of which 9% were from academia and another 9% from researchers. Respondents mostly recognize the importance of Horizon 2020 to research and also agreed that there is a need for a bigger budget in the future. EuCheMS answer to this public consultation is available here. Also, the European Parliament´s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), will be voting by the end of May on a report led by Soledad Cabezón Ruiz, Member of European Parliament. The interim evaluation for H2020 should be concluded by the end of 2017.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/; http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
Following previous related missions to Chile and China, the Circular Economy Mission to South Africa (CEMSA) of the European Commission (EC) took place on 2 – 5 May 2017. By invitation of the EC, EuCheMS participated in this mission represented by Santiago Luis, Chair of the EuCheMS Division of Chemistry and the Environment. Led by the EC’s Director-general for Environment, Mr. Daniel Calleja, this mission included around 40 representatives from European institutions, National and International agencies, associations and leading companies in different sectors of relevance for circular economy. The CEMSA visited Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, were the World Economic Forum on Africa 2017 was running in parallel. In the contacts with South African representatives of the Environment, Industry and Research Departments, with business representatives and with social associations, the focus was given to the reuse and valorisation of waste, with emphasis on the need of looking for circular economy solutions specific to the African context and problems as well as involving the creation of jobs and poverty alleviation.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
Earlier this month at the European Parliament, at an event co-organised by MEP Pavel Poc, EuCheMS and the ECTN, chemists and scientists from related fields presented and discussed many of the issues surrounding glyphosate. Speakers explored issues such as existing scientific evidence on possible relation with cancer or antimicrobial resistance; the methodologies used by regulators in reviewing existing studies; lack of harmonised approach in collecting and analysing data on glyphosate, the recent Monsanto Papers, and others. A video with all the interventions as well as materials are available at http://www.euchems.eu/?p=8910.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The 2016 edition of EuCheMS Year Book is now online here.
10 May 2017 Brussels, Belgium
Website: http://www.euchems.eu/
28 May 2017 Brussels, Belgium
Website: http://europa.eu/
17 – 28 May 2017 Sofia, Bulgaria
Website: http://europa.eu/
25 May 2017 Ohrid, Macedonia
Website: http://europa.eu/
19 May 2017 Sliema, Malta
Website: http://europa.eu/
18 – 19 May 2017 Helsinki, Finland
Website: http://europa.eu/
16 – 19 May 2017 Ispra, Italy
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/
11 – 12 May 2017 Kalkara, Malta
Website: http://europa.eu/
28 – 30 June 2017 Belgrade, Serbia
25 – 29 June 2017 Barcelona, Spain
Website: http://www.bienal2017.com/
19 – 22 June 2017 Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Website: http://www.spe2017.com/
18 – 22 June 2017 Brescia, Italy
18 – 22 June 2017 Oslo, Norway
Website: http://icce2017.org/
12 – 14 June 2017 Nynäshamn, Sweden
Website: http://www.oorgan.se/
8 – 9 June 2017 Liverpool, United Kingdom
Website: http://www.euchems.eu/
24 May 2017 Gent, Belgium
Website: https://www.kvcv.be/