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Prolonged discussions about associate status and the breakdown of negotiations on EU-Switzerland relations has left Swiss universities bracing for potential exclusion from the €95.5 billion programme.
EU research ministers on Friday committed to enhance the attractiveness of research careers and improve brain circulation in Europe, and are calling on member states and the European Commission to take a common approach. That will include setting up an EU system to track mobility of talent, assess working conditions and promote gender and intergenerational equality.
Nearly 900 universities, research organisations, and funding agencies want science publishers to be more transparent and abide by open access rules, after scientists complained their submissions are rejected if they apply a public copyright licence to accepted manuscripts.
Brussels presented a new global research agenda on Tuesday, committing to a more cautious approach to cooperation with foreign science powers, while at the same time pledging to reinvigorate ties with an EU-friendly US administration.
Swiss universities called on the Federal Council on Monday to resolve a long-running treaty saga with Brussels, or risk scuppering the country's chances of a research deal.
Excluding researchers based in the UK, Israel and Switzerland from major EU quantum and space research projects would see the bloc "shoot itself in the foot", according to German MEP Niklas Nienass, spokesman on space for the Parliament's green group.
The UK's association to Horizon Europe has been agreed "in principle" and awaits Parliament's scrutiny, while agreements with Israel and Switzerland could be finalised by the end of the year.
The European Commission is about to uncork the champagne to mark the start of Horizon Europe, but significant parts of the research programme are still being negotiated, as stakeholders scramble for last minute changes.
Research ministers have agreed to more aggressively police foreign participation in the EU's research programme, adding a new provision to Horizon Europe that is aimed primarily at preventing China and the US from getting access to sensitive European research.
The 2021 draft budget would give Horizon Europe commitments of €11.5 billion, less than the European Commission's June proposal which had €12.3 billion slated for the R&D programme.
The decision by the governing body of the European Research Council (ERC) to pull support for the radical open access initiative Plan S, is a "slap in the face" to all those who support the scheme, said its creator.
The president of Switzerland's top-ranked university says his institution is tentatively getting back to speed after the coronavirus lockdown - but that this is harder than anticipated.
OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud agency, this week confirmed an unnamed Greek scientist de-frauded the European Research Council (ERC) of roughly €190,000. "A complex fraud involving a Greek scientist and her network of international researchers has been uncovered by investigators," OLAF said.
Mauro Ferrari resigned unexpectedly as president of the European Research Council, triggering a noisy public spat over why and how he left.
Universities across Europe are grappling with digital problems, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to shut down and move research and teaching online. Digital capabilities are not distributed equally across European universities, and deficiencies have delayed implementing systems for online teaching. Bandwidth and student access to computers is also an issue.
A hugely successful research system is being tested by a dispute over immigration and a deteriorating relationship with the EU.
Swiss scientists fear a number of political obstacles could block their path into the EU's next big research programme.
Emmanuel Macron has urged EU member states to put more money into the collective Brussels pot so Europe can invest in key technologies of the future. The French president said he is "not frustrated but impatient" for the EU to take on bigger projects.
Mauro Ferrari says scientists should get rid of ‘disciplinary goggles’ and combine expertise to create new fields of scientific research.
And so it is finally happening: tomorrow at midnight central European time, the EU bids farewell to the UK. After a tortured three-and-a-half year plod to the exit, the country heads into an eleven month transition period where everything stands still, and then into the unknown of the yet-to-be negotiated Future Relationship. In light of the historic moment, Science|Business contacted science figures around Europe, to find out:
The European Open Science Cloud, an enormous repository of research results that is due to go live later this year, will add new value to vast stores of unused data, Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president pledged on Wednesday.
Conservative MPs have voted against an amendment that would have required the government to negotiate continuing full membership of the EU's Erasmus+ programme, which helps students study in other countries.
The European Union's top research official telegraphed a message to the UK's Brexit negotiators: When it comes to a post-Brexit deal on research cooperation, there can be "no cherry picking."
The European Union's new innovation chief, Mariya Gabriel, wants to "revitalise" efforts to create a real single market for research, education and innovation, bridging the performance gap between eastern and western Europe.
The UK's share of EU research funding has fallen dramatically because of Brexit uncertainty, with the country's take home from the EU Horizon 2020 programme cut by almost €500 million since 2015, according an analysis by the Royal Society.
A major push by science funding agencies in Europe to make the research they back freely available at the point of publication is the world's best chance of fundamentally altering scientific publishing, says the new coordinator of Plan S, Johan Rooryck.
In the aftermath of the European elections, the calculators are starting to come out in labs and universities around Europe that depend on the EU for research funding: Will it mean more or less money for science and technology? The answer so far: fuzzy maths.
EU Commissioners approved on 30 April details of an experimental new "matrix" design for their research policy department, which its chief says will force staff to work together across bureaucratic lines. "This is really about establishing an agile, modern, cross-cutting administration, which really can elaborate policies and projects differently," said Jean-Eric Paquet, director-general of DG Research and Innovation, known as DG RTD.
