Interdisciplinary Meeting

European Research Council – An Initiative for Science in Europe

European Parliament, Brussels, 23-24 February 2004

Background (LvDyck, ELSF):

Since its inception in 2002 the debate on the creation of a European Research Council (ERC) to promote and support basic research in all scientific disciplines on a European level has gained tremendous momentum becoming one of the major science policy issues in Europe. The scientific community responded with interest and enthusiasm to the concept of an ERC, albeit in a rather dispersed manner. Realizing that the European scientific community should speak with one voice on the subject, the European Life Sciences Forum (ELSF) and Euroscience organized in October 2003 an interdisciplinary meeting on the ERC hosted by the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. This event gathered together representatives from scientific organizations and learned societies from all disciplines as well as other stakeholders. Remarkably, during the meeting, Achilleas Mitsos, Director General with the EC DG Research, announced that the Commission was supporting the idea of an instrument for basic research and, for this purpose, would request a specific credit line from the EU budget.

One major achievement of the Dublin meeting was the establishment, for the first time in Europe, of a platform where all scientific disciplines (ranging from natural to social sciences and humanities) would discuss policy and programmes . It was subsequently decided to formalize this structure under the name “Initiative for Science in Europe” (ISE). An ISE working group composed of representatives from ELSF and its members, Euroscience, the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Group of European Nobel Prize Laureates and the European University Association is organizing a meeting entitled “European Research Council – An Initiative for Science in Europe”, which will be hosted by Mrs Elly Plooij-van Gorsel, Member of the European Parliament in the premises of the Parliament in Brussels on 23-24 February 2004.

The objective of the meeting is to discuss the reasons for establishing an ERC, the views and expectations of the scientific community, notably with respect to the needs of the various scientific disciplines and critical organizational requirements, the interactions between the ERC and other funding agencies and how to address disparities between EU Member States. For further details, please consult the provisional programme enclosed. The meeting is also designed to inform the Members of the European Parliament, who will have co-decision powers on the establishment and funding of an ERC. Following the meeting, the ISE working group will draft a position paper on these issues, which will be an essential contribution, as it will reflect the opinion of the customers of the ERC, the scientists. Indeed, it seems clear that a successful ERC cannot be envisaged if the needs and requirements of the scientific community are not met.

Preliminary programme by 15.1.04:

European Research Council – an Initiative for Science in Europe Meeting programme
Monday 23 February 2004
14:00	Welcome address E. Plooij-van Gorsel, Member of the European Parliament Ekkehard Winter, Stifterverband
14:10	Why an ERC? Historical developments of the ERC debate - Jean-Patrick Connerade, President, Euroscience How well is Europe really doing in basic research? - Bertil Andersson, Secretary General, ESF The problem of fragmentation, scale and scope (Including research infrastructures and universities)  - Pending  The human resources issue- Pending	Chairperson: Luc van Dyck (ELSF)
15:30	Coffee Break
16:00	Instruments and delivery of the ERC: The needs of the various disciplines Physics – Martin Huber - European Physical Society Mathematics – John Kingman - European Mathematical Society Chemistry – Gábor Náray-Szabó - Federation of European Chemical Societies Life Sciences – Marja Makarow - Federation of European Biochemical Societies Social sciences – Vincent Yzerbyt European Association of Experimental Social Psychology Humanities –pending - Academia Europaea	Chairperson: E. Froment (EUA)
17:10	Open discussion: The ERC in the real world How to combine the new funding mechanism with existing ones? How to address disparities in a heterogeneous Europe? Keynote speech: Reinder van Duinen, President, ESF	Chairperson: R. van Duinen (ESF)
18:30	End of the session
18:45	Buffet dinner

Tuesday 24 February 2004
09:00	ERC: what do you mean? Report of the ERC Expert Group- Mogens Flensted Jensen, Vice-Chair, ERCEG The view of the Commission - Achilleas Mitsos, Director General, DG Research A scientist’s view  - Tim Hunt, Nobel Prize Laureate	Chairperson: J. M. Gago
10:30	Coffee break
11:00	Do the proposed ERC meet the needs? Introduction: Frank Gannon, Executive Director, EMBO	Chairperson: J. M. Gago
	Panel discussion: Peter Tindemans, Euroscience Horst Sobol, Director Research Policy, DaimlerChrysler AG/EURAB Rolf Linkohr, Member of the European Parliament
12:30	Concluding remarks: Philippe Busquin (European Commissioner – pending) Elly Plooij-van Gorsel, Member of the European Parliament Jean-Patrick Connerade, President, Euroscience	Chairperson: H. Nowotny (EURAB)
13:00	End of the Meeting