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Sixteen research and higher education organisations have written an open letter calling on the European Commission to allow them to appoint representatives to the European Research Area (ERA) forum, the body that will establish the governance and policy agenda of the EU's revamped single market for research.

The Swiss parliament has agreed to pay overdue cohesion funds stretching back to 2012 - but this only removes one hurdle to reviving Horizon Europe association talks. 

For nearly 40 years, Germany's voice has been loudest in setting European Union research and innovation policy. Now, a split decision by German voters on Angela Merkel's successor throws into question what that policy will look like, and who will set it.

Official engagements this October have delayed Maria Leptin's move to become president of the European Research Council, by one month. Leptin will now step into the post on 1 November, leaving ERC without a president for two months. Until then, ERC's vice presidents will cover for her.

Switzerland is to draw on its science diplomacy experience to help steer the construction and governance of the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST), the first large research infrastructure in the Western Balkans.

Switzerland has unveiled details of a funding scheme through which Horizon Europe applicants will still be able to carry on with their projects, despite the country's uncertain status in the EU research programme.

To deliver the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, researchers must rethink funding, global cooperation and how they communicate with policymakers. 

More than 80% of scientific papers stemming from Horizon 2020 funded projects were published in open access journals, according to the European Commission in a new report.

The European People's Party (EPP) is calling on the Commission and member states to fund emergency placements for Afghan researchers and academics at European higher education and research institutions. One of the EPP's lead MEPs, Christian Ehler, said scientists in Afghanistan risk being persecuted by the Taliban, after the islamist group took over the country when the US military and its allies pulled out.

Switzerland will be excluded from Horizon Europe for at least two years, fears Yves Flückiger, president of the country's university association, swissuniversities and rector of the University of Geneva.

Hoping to put pandemic-related delays behind it, Brussels is getting back to R&I policy-making.

With 70% of the EU population now fully vaccinated, European universities are planning to welcome students back to lecture halls and seminar rooms for the 2021-22 academic year, after long months of disruption and distance learning.

New research points to growing participation of Western Balkans researchers in EU academic exchange programmes, as the EU takes steps to welcome countries in the region as associate members of the Horizon Europe.

EU officials are urging Australia and New Zealand to associate to Horizon Europe, publicly telling them how welcome they would be - but it's not clear if the feeling is mutual.

In a major post-Brexit move, the UK government kicked off its own student mobility programme with an announcement that its Turing Scheme will fund over 40,000 students for education and training placements across 150 countries. According to the outcomes of the first funding round, 363 projects were approved to receive £96 million in grants to send students to Canada, Japan and the US, but also in several European countries.

The pact for research and innovation should give stakeholders a greater say over the implementation of the European Research Area (ERA), says Science Europe.

The outgoing president of the European Research Council (ERC) Jean-Pierre Bourguignon called for an end to the current "boom and bust" approach to basic research funding, at a meeting of EU science ministers in Slovenia on Monday.

This year will be crucial for the future development of the European Research Area (ERA), but one of its fundamental principles is being neglected: academic freedom. Academic freedom is under threat and Europe needs to act.

Switzerland is mounting a campaign to convince Brussels its participation in Horizon Europe should not be confounded by broader political tensions, but member states say it may time take to patch things up after Switzerland unilaterally withdrew from talks about its overall relationship with the EU.

The long wait for a new ERC president is finally over, with the head of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, Maria Leptin appointed as president.

Policy makers and lobbyists in Brussels want to explicitly limit access for scientists in countries that flout academic freedom and intellectual property rights.

A new study of grants awarded to early-career researchers by Europe's premier science agency is reviving an old controversy over the way governments decide which scientists get research money, and which do not.

Women represent nearly 50% of active scientific authors in Portugal. Over the past two decades, the country achieved the largest percentage increase in the EU in women's representation - an impressive nine percentage points, putting Portugal at the leading edge of closing the gender gap in research.

Switzerland has been excluded from a provisional list of third countries eligible for Horizon Europe funding.

Horizon Europe, the EU's new €95.5 billion R&D programme, is finally underway. It is starting more than five months late - a record even by Brussels' dilatory standards. But what's in it? 

Europe’s research labs scrambled to make the best use of their resources and offered remote access for researchers during the pandemic. Some of these changes are set to become a permanent feature.

Researchers from Israel, Switzerland, Britain and other non-EU countries may be allowed to join the EU's quantum and space research projects, under a deal between representatives of member states and the European Commission reached this week. The agreement could end months of uncertainties around international participation in sensitive R&D projects in Horizon Europe, the EU's new €95.5 billion R&D programme.