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Academic Freedom

Politics and Protests Puts Europe's Academic Freedom Policies Under the Spotlight

sciencebusiness
Academic Freedom

Politics and Protests Puts Europe's Academic Freedom Policies Under the Spotlight

The pressure for EU legislation to protect academic freedom ramped up towards the end of 2023 when the European Parliament's STOA panel for the future of science and technology set out its plan of action.  Amongst other measures, STOA is calling for a formal definition of academic freedom and a monitoring system to ensure these principles are enforced.

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Opinion
Equality
Research

End the Glaring Inequity in International Science Collaborations

nature
Equality
Research

End the Glaring Inequity in International Science Collaborations

The world's natural-science research ecosystem remains focused on the priorities of high-income countries. Funders, publishers and scholarly databases can do more to help to rebalance that.
nature
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News
EU
Research

How to Make a European Research Framework Programme

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EU
Research

How to Make a European Research Framework Programme

As the year draws to a close and 2024 comes into view, we're here to brief you on the preparations underway to shape Framework Programme 10 (FP10). FP10 doesn't start until 2028, but 2024 is going to be a big year for the next seven-year research programme, with the European Commission starting to pencil in the outline ahead of a comprehensive proposal in 2025.
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News
Switzerland
Horizon Europe

Swiss Researchers Should Be Able to Apply for European Research Council Grants in 2024

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Switzerland
Horizon Europe

Swiss Researchers Should Be Able to Apply for European Research Council Grants in 2024

The EU and Switzerland have made further progress in talks about their relationship, opening the door for Swiss academics to apply for European Research Council (ERC) grants from next year. On 15 December, Switzerland's ruling Federal Council signed off a draft negotiating mandate with the EU, paving the way for formal negotiations to start next year. That followed on from 18 months of exploratory talks about everything from food safety to financial markets.
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Web
Policy

Has Your Research Influenced Policy? Use This Free Tool to Check

nature
Policy

Has Your Research Influenced Policy? Use This Free Tool to Check

Sage Policy Profiles scans a database of 10 million documents to show researchers where their papers have been cited.
nature
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Web
Space
Fun

Let's Ketchup: Nasa Releases Pictures of Tomatoes Lost in Space for Eight Months

web
Space
Fun

Let's Ketchup: Nasa Releases Pictures of Tomatoes Lost in Space for Eight Months

Despite being nearly a year after the initial disappearance of the tomatoes, the fruit was found in a plastic bag dehydrated and slightly squished.
web
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News
China
Innovation

Time to Open Its Doors Wider, or Will China Fall into a Middle-technology Trap?

web
China
Innovation

Time to Open Its Doors Wider, or Will China Fall into a Middle-technology Trap?

Chinese Academy of Sciences says China faces a risk of being hamstrung at the low and mid-end of the global value chain amid the ongoing tech war with the US.
web
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Publications
Publication

Designing for Diversity - What Makes People Pick Up a Science Magazine?

web
Publication

Designing for Diversity - What Makes People Pick Up a Science Magazine?

Jemima Coleman and Wendy Sadler say that science magazines have a responsibility to ensure that science is accessible and inclusive for all
web
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Opinion
Humanities

Evolution, Religion and Science: World Not As Polarised As We Think

web
Humanities

Evolution, Religion and Science: World Not As Polarised As We Think

A new global survey has revealed that evolutionary science and religion are more compatible than many of us assume.
web
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Web
Academia
Ethics

Students Demand Cardiff University Tackles Sexual Violence

bbc
Academia
Ethics

Students Demand Cardiff University Tackles Sexual Violence

Students campaigning to stop sexual violence say they will fight to ensure Cardiff University acts after a meeting with senior staff. One student said they were laughed at by three male employees when speaking on sexual violence at a staff meeting. The university said it took sexual assaults seriously and investigated them robustly.

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Web
Academia
Ethics

How a Bullying Scandal Closed a Historic Astronomy Department

nature
Academia
Ethics

How a Bullying Scandal Closed a Historic Astronomy Department

At Lund University in Sweden this week, astronomers moved out of a building that was custom-built to hold telescopes and other artefacts from their 350 years of history, and they relocated to a physics building down the road. That’s because the astronomy department no longer exists, having been dissolved in the wake of a bullying scandal.

nature
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News
UK
EU
Horizon Europe

UK Weighs Global Science and Technology Priorities After Horizon Europe Association

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UK
EU
Horizon Europe

UK Weighs Global Science and Technology Priorities After Horizon Europe Association

With EU relations patched up, UK researchers and policymakers are planning the next moves. There are no firm plans for AI legislation, but an international collaboration fund set up during the wilderness years will continue, and there will be a focus on South American links.

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Publications
COVID-19
Policy

A Synthesis of Evidence for Policy from Behavioural Science During COVID-19 - Nature

nature
COVID-19
Policy

A Synthesis of Evidence for Policy from Behavioural Science During COVID-19 - Nature

Evaluation of evidence generated to test 19 proposed policy recommendations and guidance for the future.
nature
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Publications
Policy

Towards Understanding Policy Design Through Text-as-data Approaches: The Policy Design Annotations (POLIANNA) Dataset - Scientific Data

nature
Policy

Towards Understanding Policy Design Through Text-as-data Approaches: The Policy Design Annotations (POLIANNA) Dataset - Scientific Data

Despite the importance of ambitious policy action for addressing climate change, large and systematic assessments of public policies and their design are lacking as analysing text manually is labour-intensive and costly. POLIANNA is a dataset of policy texts from the European Union (EU) that are annotated based on theoretical concepts of policy design, which can be used to develop supervised machine learning approaches for scaling policy analysis.

nature
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News
Careers
EU

EU Ministers Take Small Steps Towards Improving Research Career Structures

sciencebusiness
Careers
EU

EU Ministers Take Small Steps Towards Improving Research Career Structures

EU ministers have adopted joint recommendations on what the bloc should do to improve research careers, taking a small step towards meaningful change.
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News
Funding

National Science Funders Eye Setting Up International Network to Share Research-Security Information

sciencebusiness
Funding

National Science Funders Eye Setting Up International Network to Share Research-Security Information

As part of a broader push to tighten security, science funders in the US, UK and Canada are considering setting up a network to share information about security risks affecting international research projects, according to a senior US science official.
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News
Mental Health
Academia

Being Neurodivergent in Academia: Working with My Brain and Not Against It

elife
Mental Health
Academia

Being Neurodivergent in Academia: Working with My Brain and Not Against It

When attempts to capitalize on her undiagnosed ADHD traits led to repeated cycles of overwork and burnout, a postdoc re-evaluated how she faces the daily challenges of being a neurodivergent scientist.
elife
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News
AI
Ethics
EU

The EU Just Passed Sweeping New Rules to Regulate AI

wired
AI
Ethics
EU

The EU Just Passed Sweeping New Rules to Regulate AI

The European Union agreed on terms of the AI Act, a major new set of rules that will govern the building and use of AI and have major implications for Google, OpenAI, and others racing to develop AI systems.
wired
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