RTD info MAYO 2005 - Surt

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24 RTD info No. 45 May 2005 N E W S I N B R I E FReference points... Reference points...Transatlantic bridgesThere are around 100 000 European researchers based in theUnited States. The pessimistic see this as one-way traffic in our bestbrains. But another way of looking at them is as ‘bridgeheads’ whoare well placed to help establish interesting forms of co-operation.To make sure these exiles retain their links with Europe, theCommission has set up the ERA-Link system. First, the networkcontacted 2 000 researchers of 33 nationalities residing in theUnited States (39% postdoctorates, 28% confirmed researchers, themajority being biologists and chemists) to establish their ‘relationshipwith Europe’. About 13% of them are members of an internationalscience and technology network and while almost 50%have experience of local co-operation with other Europeanresearchers, many want to establish links of this kind with scientificorganisations on their home continent. They are interestedin financing and research opportunities in Europe, especiallythose connected with EU programmes.However, they appear to be badly informed: only 18.4% of themhave heard of the European Research Area and just 13.7% of themobility portal for researchers. Although 51% have retained linkswith their home country and know how to seek employmentthere, that is not the case for other EU regions – 90% say they wouldlike to be informed of career possibilities in all the EU countries.ERA-Link plans to launch a pilot network designed to meet allthese needs. The initiative wasTo find out morepresented at the AmericanAssociation for the Advancementof Science (AAAS) conference,which was held in Washingtonon 18 February. (1)ERA-Link and the survey results0 eurunion.org/legislat/STE/STEHome.htm(1) This annual event concentrated in particular on EU research, at the various jointEU-US symposiums on questions of shared interest (research evaluation, sciencecommunication, career promotion, risk-taking in research, etc.).Canada and the mobility portalAnother example of a virtual link over the ocean is the mobility portalfor researchers concerning Canada. This on-line service isdesigned to enable European students andresearchers to learn about opportunities inCanada and vice versa. The portal is a sectionof the scientific co-operation site set up by theCanada Mission to the European Union at thetime of the Sixth Framework Programmelaunch.To find out moreSite of the Canada Mission0 www.infoexport.gc.ca/science/eu_home-en.htmMobility portal0 http://europa.eu.int/eracareersOrmala report: EU X-ray researchThe price of waterThe Five-Year Assessment Report, publishedin February 2005, is certainly recommendedreading. This document takes a close look atthe successes and difficulties in implementingEuropean research policy between 1999and 2003, as well as at the lessons to belearned for the present and future. Chairedby Erkki Ormala, Vice-President, responsiblefor technology policy with the Nokia Group,13 experts from very diverse backgroundsTo find out more0 europa.eu.int/comm/research/reports/2004/pdf/fya_en.pdfparticipated in this remarkable fact-findingexercise, sounding out the many key players,and presenting structured reflections. In thereport they scrutinise both the strengthsand weaknesses of the European ResearchArea in the context of the rapid changes tothe contemporary socio-economic, scientificand technological landscapes. They alsoprovide a pragmatic examination of theimplementation of EU action, and concludewith a set of very interesting fundamentalrecommendations. The next issue of RDTinfo will take an in-depth look at the report’sanalyses and findings.Every year, the Stockholm Water Prize isawarded to institutions or individualswho have achieved progress on the vitalissue of water (research, management,etc.). Worth $150 000, this year’s awardgoes to the Centre for Science andDevelopment (CSE). This Indian nongovernmentalinstitution, located inNew Delhi, has worked intensively oninstalling reservoirs, water storagesystems, irrigationreservoirs, drinkingwater, etc.To find out more0 www.scidev.net
N E W S I N B R I E F RTD info No. 45 May 2005 25Reference points... Reference points...Sinapse: register in the ‘Yellow Pages’ of scientific expertise“It is essential for the most pertinent and most recent scientific knowledgeto be brought to the attention of decision-makers, at European andnational level,” declared Janez Potoãnik, European Commissioner responsiblefor research, on the subject of the launch of the Sinapse (ScientificINformAtion for Policy Support in Europe) network. Political choices –in terms of energy, the environment, public health, etc. – must be basedon a good evaluation of the knowledge provided by scientific expertise.Initiated by the Commission, this new communication platform is availableto governance, the scientific community itself and also to the generalpublic in search of information.Sinapse is principally aimed at any individual or organisation (universities,science academies, research centres, individual scientists, etc.) withexpertise that could prove useful in defining or implementing policy, aswell as all those interested in the use of science in the political decisionmakingprocess.Its principal function is to provide an increasingly comprehensive indexof organisations and individuals with scientific and/or political expertiseand to facilitate communication between them and the decision-makers.In this way, Sinapse should, on the one hand, allow policy-makers toconsult more widely and, on the other hand, enable more players toexpress their opinions and share their knowledge. The intention is not toreplace existing advisory mechanisms but to reinforce them by providingan additional means of collecting information useful to their work.Various communication tools are proposed: a library of scientific opinions,with immediate circulation of the posted documents to membersinterested in the fields in question; a tool enabling the Commissionservices to consult members likely to possess the expertise sought; and anearly-warning system and module enabling members to create discussionand exchange groups.Sinapse is currently at its registration stage with the aim of progressivelycreating the widest possible community of interest. More than 200 organisations,including key players in the scientific community, are alreadymembers. (1) The success of this type of network is nevertheless based onhaving a broad base and any scientist/expert or organisation who wouldlike to join is invited to register andTo find out morealso to encourage interested contactsor networks to do the same.Sinapse is available free of charge and isopen for registration at:(1) The full list can be accessed on the site’sYellow Pages module.0 http://europa.eu.int/sinapseOpinionScience-society:a plea fortransparencyIn order to create a more research-friendlysociety, one in which research and innovationbecome embedded in society andwhich is an expression of “the capacity to aspire”,as Arjun Appadurai has called the capacity of cultureto orient itself to the future and to navigatetowards it (1) , we have to explain what research isand how the process of research is actually carriedout. We have to explain the wider societal, political,economic and cultural context in whichresearch has the impact on society that it does andhow these forces impinge and shape research.Instead of presenting spectacular products andresults, we need to focus more on the processesof research, on the inherent uncertainty which ispart and parcel of it, on how bottom-up and topdownapproaches intersect, on the actual, and notonly the idealised, role that users play and howresearch funding agencies work, both at nationaland supra-national level. We should explain howresearch priorities are set, since it is not Naturewhispering into the ears of researchers whichproblem they should address next, but an intricatemixture of opportunities and incentives, of priorinvestments and of strategic planning mixed withsubversive contingencies. But science and scientificinstitutions also need to open up to becomingmuch more aware of the expectations, contradictionsand constraints that exist on the part ofsociety, yet willing to join, without manipulating,the strengthening of the capacity to aspire. Innovationis the collective bet on a common fragilefuture and no side, neither science nor society,knows the secret of how to cope with its inherentuncertainties. It has to be done in some sort ofalliance and with a shared sense of direction.This would also enable us to better explain to thewider public the difference between claims orpromises made on the part of researchers, dependingon whether or not these claims have been peerreviewed.How can the public get to know aboutthese rules that play such an important part for thescientific community, noting their significance aswell as their limitations, unless we explain how theyactually work? And how can they know aboutthe differences in scientific cultures, what countsas evidence, or how consensus is reached with criticismbeing an essential precondition for movingtowards it, if nobody tells them? The list goes onand on. It may sound like tedious bean-countingto you, but the goal will have been achieved onceour audience has understood what we actually doinside our universities and departments, insideour research councils and other funding agencies,inside the national as compared to the EUpolicy-making circles and inside industry and academia.And by its sheer complexity, this kind ofbean-counting and the stories that evolve aroundit will become interesting to our audience. Movingbetween high-cost and low-cost realities,maybe we need to find a new market segment,that of medium-cost reality.Helga Nowotny,President of Eurab (European Research AdvisoryBoard of the European Commission)http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/eurab/index_en.html(1) Appadurai, Arjun (2004), “The Capacity toAspire: Culture and the Terms of Recognition”.In: Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton (eds.)Culture and Public Action, Standford: StanfordUniversity Press, 59-84.
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