On 28 February 2017, the European Commission´s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost cooperation and scientific excellence. The Memorandum envisages strengthening the activities in the framework of EU’s macro regional strategies for the Danube, Alpine, and Adriatic–Ionian regions, as well as a particular focus on implementing and monitoring the Smart Specialisation Strategy.

The Memorandum opens new avenues for scientific exchange and synergies in the fields of energy, transport, public health, security, climate change, digital transformation, and biotechnology, among others. Another emphasis of the future joint scientific work is expected to be in the field of sustainability and resources, with a specific focus on marine and freshwater research, agriculture, forests, and raw materials.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/

Bacteria found in humans, animals and food continue to show resistance to widely used antimicrobials, says the latest report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The findings underline that AMR poses a serious threat to public and animal health and show the urgency to advance with the measures defended by EuCheMS regarding research in this field. Infections caused by bacteria that are resistant to antimicrobials lead to about 25,000 deaths in the EU every year.
Source: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/

Is informal learning recognised everywhere in Europe for entry into higher education? How common are work placements as part of higher education programmes? These questions are answered in a series of thematic overviews published by the Eurydice Network. The publications examine education structures, policies and reforms in five key areas, namely in higher education and graduate employability. Each publication looks at a number of key indicators and features up-to-date figures, definitions, country notes, and analyses of recent key policy developments and reforms. The information covers 40 European education and training systems, and has been collected through a questionnaire completed by national experts and representatives of the Eurydice Network. The Eurydice is a network whose task is to explain how education systems are organised in Europe and how they work.
Source: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/

The European Commission has recently published the third edition of the European Research Area (ERA) Progress Report. The 2016 Report summarises the state of play of ERA and the progress on ERA implementation over the period 2014-2016. For the first time, progress on ERA is measured for each country on each priority, based on the ERA Monitoring Mechanism, a set of 24 core indicators jointly defined by Member States, research stakeholders and the European Commission. The report shows strong progress over the last years on all priorities, but there are still large disparities between Member States.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted earlier this month on four directives concerning waste management, mainly waste from households and small firms, representing 8% of total waste. These plans are a first step towards creating a circular economy where products are designed in order to facilitate reuse. One of the key issues is how ambitious targets should be for recycling rates and limiting landfilling, which is probably the most harmful way of getting rid of waste. The share of waste to be recycled would rise to 70% by 2030, from 44% today. MEPs also want the waste package plans to limit the share of landfilling, which has a big environmental impact, to 5% and to deliver a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030. Parliament will now negotiate with the Council.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ & http://www.europarl.europa.eu/

Online course to improve university laboratory teaching practice, a paper exploring the possibilities of an online course on teaching in laboratory classes, has been recently published. This paper relates to the work of the ECTN working group Lecturing Qualifications and Innovative Teaching Methods, which is developing an online course on teaching in laboratory classes entitled “Developing best practice in university laboratory education”. The course is targeted at relatively inexperienced (young) university teachers. In this paper, the argumentation for the chosen content of the course is given based on the inquiry among university teachers and students, the structure of the course and its component modules are described and the course design is briefly discussed. Among others, the paper is authored by Iwona Maciejowska, Chair of EuCheMS Division on Chemical Education, and Nineta Hrastelj, EuCheMS General Secretary.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/

The registrations for the EuCheMS workshop From Waste to Health are now open online. This event, taking place in Malta on 5 April, will look into the possibilities of a circular economy approach in the pharmaceutical sector while taking into consideration the role of chemistry in this field and the current European Union legislative proposals on circular economy – from water re-use, to greener formulation of pharmaceuticals and the collection of secondary raw materials. The debate will count with the diverse views of researchers, innovators and policy makers.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/