Regular Activities

Networking instruments include

European Collaborative Research Programmes (EUROCORES)
Research Networking Programmes
Exploratory Workshops

Science policy instruments include

Forward Looks

Some information on current/recent activities is provided below.

EUROCORES

• Cold Quantum Matter - EuroQUAM
  Research and Networking phase
• Friction and Adhesion in Nanomechanical Systems - FANAS
  Research and Networking phase
• Fundamentals of NanoElectronics - FoNE
  Research and Networking phase
• Quantum Standards and Metrology - EuroQUASAR
  Research and Networking phase
• Self-Organised NanoStructures - SONS 2
  Research and Networking phase
• Smart Structural Systems Technologies – S3T
  Research and Networking phase

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Research Networking Programmes

30 RNPs currently active. For complete list click on the link above.

Programmes launched in 2008
The following Programmes, which resulted from the 2006 ESF-wide Call, were approved for launching:

• Games for Design and Verification (GAMES)
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Functional Electronic and Biological Materials (INTELBIOMAT)
• New Trends and Applications of the Casimir Effect (CASIMIR)
• Optimization with PDE Constraints (OPTPDE)
• The New Physics of Compact Stars (CompStar)

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ESF Exploratory Workshop Scheme

15 workshops are being funded in 2008:

• The Relevance Of Mathematics Education
  7-10 January 2008, Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Singularities In Mechanics: Description And Formation
  21-25 January 2008, Paris, France
• Astrophysical Tests Of Fundamental Physics
  26-30 March 2008, Porto, Portugal
• Modelling And Interpretation Of Ice Microstructures
  9-11 April 2008, Göttingen, Germany
• Hyperbranched polymers as novel materials for nanoscale applications : insight from experiment, theory and simulations
  26-28 May 2008, Heraklion, Greece
• Physics Of Micro And Nano Flows
  9-12 June 2008, Leiden, Netherlands
• Science And Technology Of Agreement
  19-21 June 2008, Barcelona, Spain
• Interplay Between Superconductivity And Magnetism At Nanometer Scale
  19-22 June 2008, Paestum, Salerno, Italy
• Correlations In Computer Science
  6-12 August 2008, Brussels, Belgium
• Challenges For Experimental And Theoretical Immunology
  1-3 September 2008, Leeds, United Kingdom
• Extreme Laboratory Astrophysics: Advances And Opportunities In High-Energy Density Experiments
  21-24 September 2008, Paris, France
• Advanced Instrumentation For Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment
  23-27 September 2008, Oxford, United Kingdom
• Computational Disease Modeling
  24-26 September 2008, Barcelona, Spain
• EuroIce2008
  1-3 October 2008, Granada, Spain
• Mathematical Modelling To Link Contact Network Analysis And Molecular Typing Of Pathogens
  29-31 October 2008, Utrecht/Bilthoven, Netherlands

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ESF Forward Looks

European Computational Science
The Lincei Initiative: from computers to scientific excellence

The aim of this Forward Look is to develop a vision of how Computational Sciences will evolve in the coming 10 to 20 years. Based on a scenario of how this field will evolve and on the needs of the scientific community, a strategy will be presented aiming at structuring software and hardware support and development at the European level. 

Material collected so far has been revised. It was noticed that some elements require extra investigation. As part of the exercise, the Organising Committee will focus on Computer Enabled Scientific tools and have identified four fundamental themes:
- Software support and development
- Standardization and inter-operability
- Sustainability of infrastructure, support and expertise
- Societal impact

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Science Policy

Annual Meeting with ESF Member Organisations

The 2008 PESC Round Table with Member Organisations (MO Round Table) focused on Engineering. The meeting's principal aim was to gauge and stimulate Member Organisations’ interest in establishing a pan-European, and possibly a US-European, research programme on Biologically Inspired Engineering for Sensors and Actuators. A proposal is currently in preparation. 

 

Materials

In October 2006, the PESC Core Group entered discussions with the European Materials Research Society (EMRS) and the European Materials Forum (EMF) on how to cooperate closer in support of materials research and initiatives to create Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), which are also foreseen as cornerstones for a European Institute of Technology (EIT).

A first result of these discussions was the “First World Materials Summit on Materials Research: Key to meeting Energy Needs and Climate Change” initiated and co-sponsored by PESC, EMRS, and EMF together with the Portuguese EU-Presidency, the European Commission, ALSTOM and the IUMRS. This conference took place in Lisbon 4-5 October 2007. It was extremely successful in that it attracted highly renowned scientists, policy makers and industrial representatives and was a high class showcase on how sustainable energy supply and climate change are true global issues that require more than just scientific understanding but clear solutions with ramifications in all fields of research and society. 

In a final plenary session, the scientists present unanimously agreed to set up a new global networking initiative in this area. The global network, CORME (Coordination of Research on Materials for Energy), will be organized by the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS), working in conjunction with regional and national Materials Research Societies and related bodies. For Europe, the European Materials Forum (EMF) will be in charge.

In this context the EMRS and EMF have raised the question if it would be suitable to establish an expert committee on new materials and materials research. Tasks for such a committee would include foresight exercises for materials sciences and servicing as a science board to express materials scientists’ views to European institutions such as ESFRI and the EC. 

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