Send us a link

Subscribe to our newsletter

Swiss Cross Fingers for Fast Association to Horizon Europe After Commission Opens Talks

Swiss Cross Fingers for Fast Association to Horizon Europe After Commission Opens Talks

Swiss university leaders have welcomed the European Commission's announcement that it will finally open exploratory talks on Horizon Europe association, with hopes this could lead to an agreement as early as next year.

Viewpoint: The European Research Area Needs a Reboot

Viewpoint: The European Research Area Needs a Reboot

"Way too many!" This was the reaction of many in the European Research Area (ERA) Forum when over 40 new actions were pitched for the 2025 - 2027 policy agenda - adding to the 20 actions previously agreed for the 2022 - 2024 agenda.

Xi-Biden Summit Resumes Research and Technology Collaboration on Climate

Xi-Biden Summit Resumes Research and Technology Collaboration on Climate

Washington and Beijing have resumed a raft of environment-related collaboration measures, including promises of new support for Chinese and American universities to work together on recycling and resource efficiency.

Here's What the EU Member States Have in Mind for FP10 - the follow-up programme to Horizon Europe

Here's What the EU Member States Have in Mind for FP10 - the follow-up programme to Horizon Europe

A special member state task force set up to help shape framework programme 10 (FP10), has compiled the first draft. The documents set out in broad strokes the ideas for FP10, including a call for the EU to be a global research and innovation powerhouse by 2034.

Removing Numerical Scoring When Evaluating Grant Proposals Found to Have No Effect on Outcomes

Removing Numerical Scoring When Evaluating Grant Proposals Found to Have No Effect on Outcomes

Not using a numerical scoring system to review research grant proposals has little impact on the way that evaluators carry out their written assessment and the final outcome of the review, a new study has found.

Horizon Europe Extends Call Deadlines After Hamas Attack Rocks Israeli Science

Horizon Europe Extends Call Deadlines After Hamas Attack Rocks Israeli Science

The European Research Council (ERC) and European Innovation Council (EIC) have pushed back four call application deadlines after warnings from Israeli applicants that they need more time, given the impact of Hamas's attack on the country.

Horizon Europe Faces a Cut As Negotiations on 2024 EU Budget Get Underway

Horizon Europe Faces a Cut As Negotiations on 2024 EU Budget Get Underway

The European Parliament is ready for tough negotiations with EU member states over the EU's budget for 2024, including a proposed €12.8 billion for the Horizon Europe research programme.

Request for Delay to Horizon Europe Calls As War in Israel Stalls Science

Request for Delay to Horizon Europe Calls As War in Israel Stalls Science

Israeli scientists have described how Hamas's attack on the country has all but brought research to a standstill, with researchers now called up for a military assault on Gaza.

Horizon Europe Successor Needs €200B to Meet Future Challenges, Say MEPs

Horizon Europe Successor Needs €200B to Meet Future Challenges, Say MEPs

The European Union's next seven-year science funding programme has to have a budget of €200 billion to ensure that future challenges can be met, say two of the European Parliament's top voices on research and innovation policy, Christian Ehler and Maria da Graça Carvalho.

Swiss Eye 'window of Opportunity' for Horizon Europe Association After Federal Elections

Swiss Eye 'window of Opportunity' for Horizon Europe Association After Federal Elections

Swiss voters will go to the polls on October 22 as the country's scientists endure another year locked out of Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation programme. In May 2021, Swiss leaders walked away from negotiations to agree a new overarching deal between Brussels and Bern, citing fears that it would allow EU citizens working in Switzerland to claim equal welfare payments.

Commission Gears Up to Confront the Risks Generative Artificial Intelligence Poses to Science

Commission Gears Up to Confront the Risks Generative Artificial Intelligence Poses to Science

With generative artificial intelligence poised to take the practice of science by storm, the European Commission is laying the ground to ensure the risks are avoided and the benefits delivered.

European Universities Brace for Mountain of Bureaucracy After US National Institutes of Health Changes the Rules

European Universities Brace for Mountain of Bureaucracy After US National Institutes of Health Changes the Rules

European universities and research institutes say rule changes by the US's main health research funder will force them to hire staff to deal with vast amounts of new paperwork, potentially delaying projects and weakening transatlantic collaboration.

Swiss Expect to Wait Until at Least 2025 for Association After UK Horizon Europe Deal

Swiss Expect to Wait Until at Least 2025 for Association After UK Horizon Europe Deal

Swiss university leaders expect to have to wait until at least 2025 before associating to Horizon Europe after the UK struck a deal with Brussels last week. Switzerland, like the UK, has been excluded due to wider political disagreements with the EU. But while the UK solved its dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol in February this year, Switzerland hasn't even formally re-started talks with Brussels that could pave the way for association.

How the UK and EU Did a Deal over Horizon Europe

How the UK and EU Did a Deal over Horizon Europe

The UK now has guarantees that it won't have to make more than a 16% net contribution to Horizon Europe, according to UK and EU sources, a reassurance that has allowed today's deal to go ahead. Since February, negotiators have been locked in discussions over a technical part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), agreed back in 2020 setting out post-Brexit relations, including what the UK will pay for association.

Ivanova's To-do List: Time to Lay the Foundations for the Next EU Research Programme

Ivanova's To-do List: Time to Lay the Foundations for the Next EU Research Programme

Pending Parliament's approval, Iliana Ivanova will take the reins as commissioner for research, innovation and education later this month. With European elections due in June 2024, interest groups in Brussels now want her to look beyond what will be a short tenure and focus on the first phases of shaping the next EU research framework programme, due to start in 2028.

US Extends Science and Technology Agreement with China, Buying Time to Renegotiate the Deal

US Extends Science and Technology Agreement with China, Buying Time to Renegotiate the Deal

The US has extended a historic science and technology agreement (STA) with China by six months, but now needs to renegotiate the deal to mollify concerns that it aids Beijing's technological and military rise and fails to ensure a reciprocal research relationship. 

Work on Creating a Single European Market for Research Enters the Next Phase

Work on Creating a Single European Market for Research Enters the Next Phase

Work has started on the 2025 - 2027 policy agenda of the European Commission's ERA Forum for Transition, the expert group set up to shape the European Research Area (ERA) and create a borderless, single market for research, science and technology.

Universities of Applied Sciences Are Shaping Up to Boost EU Research Outputs

Universities of Applied Sciences Are Shaping Up to Boost EU Research Outputs

There's a new player in Horizon Europe - the universities of applied sciences (UAS), a broad term for second tier higher education institutes such as polytechnics, regional colleges and institutes of technology that were set up as teaching-only bodies but which over time have moved into research. Given their roots, UAS were historically left out of the EU's research programmes but are slowly improving their standing as EU-funded research becomes more policy-heavy and market-oriented.