The New Plastics Economy initiative launched its latest report in January 2017 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Endorsed by 40+ industry leaders, it provides a global action plan to transition towards a plastics system that works, aligned with the principles of the circular economy.
Source: http://www.newplasticseconomy.org/
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has recently provided updated guidance giving advice on how to use non-animal test methods. The guidance takes into account the recently changed REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) information requirements, which made non-animal testing the default method for skin corrosion/irritation, serious eye damage/eye irritation and skin sensitisation. In addition, the guidance introduces a new possibility to use a weight-of-evidence approach for acute toxicity.
Source: https://echa.europa.eu/
Earlier this month in a ceremony at the University of Leuven in Belgium, Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, delivered a €1 million Horizon Prize for Better Use of Antibiotics to a for a finger prick test that can diagnose in less than ten minutes a bacterial infection and identify if a patient can be treated safely without antibiotics. The easy-to-use test is expected to be available for patients by 2018.
Source: http://europa.eu/
133 ERC grantees are bringing the results of their frontier research closer to the market thanks to Proof of Concept grants, awarded in three rounds during 2016. The winners of the last round have been announced in January and will receive top-up funding to explore the innovation potential of their ERC-funded discoveries. Chemistry-related research is also within these projects, for instance in the development of affordable synthetic superhydrophobic surfaces that could collect water from fog in arid areas. The Proof of Concept grants, worth €150,000 each, can be used for example to establish intellectual property rights, investigate business opportunities or conduct technical validation. The scheme is open to ERC grant holders only. The grantees can apply for funding in one of the three rounds of the yearly call.
Source: https://erc.europa.eu/
The study From University to Employment: mapping higher education provision and labour market needs in the Western Balkans focuses on higher education provision and labour market needs in the Western Balkans, offering concrete data for policy reform in both higher education and labour sectors. This study, published by The Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training, answers questions on how many degrees are given by year and in which field, on the obstacle of entry into the labour market by graduates and on what employers are looking for in terms of skills. The study offers a set of concrete recommendations to tackle the identified issues, both at individual country level and at regional level. EuCheMS is also currently preparing a survey on the topic of Education and Labour Market Needs, the Employment Survey for European Chemists.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/
The European Commission has launched in January the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the start of Erasmus, one of the most successful programmes of the European Union. Throughout 2017 activities will highlight the positive impact of Erasmus both on individuals and society as a whole, and to give all those involved the opportunity to debate how the programme should evolve in the future. The Commission also published the Erasmus+ Annual Report, showing that in 2015, Erasmus+ enabled 678,000 Europeans to study, train, work and volunteer abroad, more than ever before. In the same year, the EU invested €2.1 billion in over 19,600 projects involving 69,000 organisations. The current Erasmus+ programme aims to support 4 million people between 2014 and 2020.
Source: http://europa.eu/
The European Professional Card (EPC), created to help EU professionals move within the EU more easily, was launched one year ago. EPC is the result of joint efforts and efficient cooperation between the European Commission and public administrations in EU countries. The EPC targets the most mobile professions. Currently, it applies to nurses responsible for general care, pharmacists, physiotherapists and others but in the future, the EPC procedure may be extended to other professions. In the first year, 2,100 EPC applications were submitted and more than 700 EPCs were issued. EuCheMS also has an initiative in this field, the European Chemistry Designation (EurChem). The aim of the EurChem designation is to promote the mobility of chemical scientists throughout Europe based on an agreed set of skills, competencies and training.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/
The aim of this Guide is to provide laboratories with guidance on best practice for the analytical operations they carry out. This third edition reflects changes that were introduced with the publication of the 2005 version of ISO/IEC 17025. The terminology has also been updated to take account of ISO/IEC 17000:2004, ISO 9000:2015 and the 3rd edition of the International Vocabulary of Metrology – Basic and general concepts and associated terms (JCGM 200:2012 – VIM). The Guide is freely available on the link below.
Source: https://www.eurachem.org/index.php/publications/guides/qa
OpenFoodTox is the new European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) database that provides instant access to a wealth of information from over 1,650 EFSA scientific outputs about the toxicity of chemicals found in the food and feed chain. Since its inception in 2002, has produced risk assessments for more than 4,400 substances in over 1,650 Scientific Opinions, Statements and Conclusions through the work of its Scientific Panels, Units and Scientific Committee. For each individual substance, a summary of human health, animal health and ecological hazard assessments has been collected and structured into OpenFoodTox. This database provides open source data for substance characterisation, links to the relevant EFSA output, background regulations and summaries of critical toxicological endpoints.
Source: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is increasing its transparency to stakeholders by introducing video streaming of open meetings of its Scientific Panels. This is intended to boost the number of observers by allowing remote attendance. Online submission of questions to EFSA’s scientists will also be possible.
Source: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
The priorities of the Maltese Presidency of the EU Council were outlined to parliamentary committees by Maltese ministers at a series of meetings taking place in January and February. At the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee, the Maltese Parliamentary Secretary for Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport Chris Agius pointed PRIMA (the partnership for research and innovation in the Mediterranean Area) and the strengthening of research reporting and monitoring obligations among the Presidency´s priorities in research. At the Environmental Committee (ENVI) José Herrera, Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate mentioned climate change, the circular economy, the 2030 sustainable development agenda, and antimicrobial resistance as Presidency´s priorities. Minister José Herrera will be one of the speakers at EuCheMS circular economy workshop taking place in Malta in April – From Waste to Health.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
Earlier this month, the European Commission (EC) presented the Environmental Implementation Review, a tool to improve implementation of EU environmental policy. The review includes three elements: 1) 28 country reports, providing an overview of how environmental policy and legislation are being implemented, and what the identified strengths and weaknesses are in each Member State; 2) A Communication summarising the political conclusions of the country reports and examining common trends, in areas such as air quality, waste management and the circular economy, water quality and protecting nature and biodiversity; and 3 )Recommendations for improvements, summarising suggestions communicated to Member States. According to this review, the most pressing implementation gaps across EU Member States are found in the policy fields of waste management, nature and biodiversity, air quality, noise and water quality and management, fields in which chemistry plays an essential role.
Source: http://europa.eu/
Antonio Tajani (EPP, IT) won the Parliament’s presidential election. Among other responsibilities, the President of the European Parliament (EP) ensures that parliamentary procedures are properly followed, oversees Parliament’s various activities and committees, represents EP in all legal matters and in its international relations, and provides his final agreement to the EU budget. The EP is currently looking into, and amending, many legislative proposals where chemistry is deeply involved, such as the Circular Economy Package.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
Roughly one year after adopting its Circular Economy Package, the European Commission (EC) reported on the delivery and progress of key initiatives of its December 2015 Action Plan. In the last year the EC has taken measures in areas such as waste, ecodesign, food waste, organic fertilisers, and innovation and investment. Circular economy principles have been gradually integrated in industrial best practices, green public procurement, or in the use of cohesion policy funds, nonetheless the legislative packages presented in 2015 are still in discussion at the European Parliament and Council. Together with the report, the Commission also issued guidance to Member States on converting waste to energy and proposed a targeted improvement of legislation on certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
During 2017 the EC will propose, among other, a Plastic Strategy, and a legislative proposal on minimum quality requirements to promote the safe reuse of treated waste water.
EuCheMS will have a workshop in Valletta on the topic of circular economy and pharmaceuticals on the occasion of the Maltese Presidency of the EU.
Source: http://europa.eu/
The Chemistry Rediscovered contest intends to promote chemistry among young high-school students from all Europe. This will be achieved with the help of teachers, who will develop scientific projects together with their students and encourage them to present their findings, in the form of a video-experiment, together with an accurate experimental protocol.
Deadline: 17 February 2017
Website: http://www.euchems.eu/
In this interview recently conducted by EuCheMS, readers will meet Christian Schärf, Paul Rathke, and Friedrich Wanierke, the winners of the 2016 European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) EuCheMS Award. Their research project, “Alpha-aluminium oxide-based gemstones: Development of a chemical synthesis process prompted by current mining conditions”, started from their interest in gemstones, but soon they realised there were also some positive social outcomes of creating gemstones in laboratories. This interview shows their commitment and passion for chemistry.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The 2nd Employment Survey for European Chemists will open on the 1 March 2017. This survey will look into the current employment situation for chemists and chemical engineers across Europe and will be a valuable tool in quantifying job market needs and educational offer in the field of chemistry. The full report of the preceding Employment Survey for European Chemists is freely available from Chemistry – A European Journal 21 (2015) 9921–9935 (DOI: 10.1002/chem.201501364).
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
You are cordially invited to subscribe to Chemistry in Europe, EuCheMS new newsletter. Its objective is to inform about research in Europe, to provide highlights from EuCheMS Member Organisations and Professional Networks, and to look into policy related developments. You can subscribe to this new newsletter here.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
The current Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is from 2011 and should be updated in the beginning of 2017, following a request from the European Commission, thus reflecting these last years´ changes in scientific research and in society. EuCheMS is providing input through Prof. Hartmut Frank, the Chair of EuCheMS Working Party on Chemistry and Ethics. This initiative follows-up on other recent EuCheMS initiatives on responsible research, namely regarding Chemical Weapons, and about the role of Chemistry in Society.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
Thessaloniki, Greece
6 – 7 February 2017
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/
London, The United Kingdom
2 February
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/
Uppsala, Sweden
1 – 2 February 2017
Website: https://eit.europa.eu/
Brussels, Belgium
25 – 26 January 2017
Website: http://europa.eu/
28 – 30 June 2017
Belgrade, Serbia
Website: http://www.chem.bg.ac.rs/eurovariety/
25 – 29 June 2017
Barcelona, Spain
Website: http://www.bienal2017.com/