European Science Foundation

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Regular Activities

Networking instruments include:

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

Science policy instruments include

Interdisciplinary New Initiatives Fund
Forward Looks

Some information on current/recent activities is provided below.

EUROCORES

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Research Networking Programmes

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

Programmes being launched in 2008
The following Programmes, which resulted from the 2006 ESF-wide Call, have been 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:

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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 2007 PESC Round Table with Member Organisations (MO Round Table) focused on Chemistry. Issues were to identify scientific trends and requirements in chemistry, and discuss how to improve networking actions and what PESC can do to improve ESF support.

Presentations illustrated current funding and networking activities in Europe, at the NSF, at EPSRC and through ERAChem. Discussions dealt with the spectrum/variety of research in chemistry (or molecular sciences) and where structural obstacles could exist. In a dedicated session “Taking stock of chemistry” a “SWOT” analysis of the activities of individual member organizations in Chemistry was performed. Practical discussions focused on comparing ESF EUROCORES, ERAChem and EC funded research projects, better ways to deploy ESF-instruments and how to intensify cooperation, e.g.: with CERC3. 

The meeting led to the following mission statement for PESC: To provide a European vision for fundamental research in the chemical sciences and to lead to cross-disciplinary approaches to meet the challenges facing society, in the most flexible and effective manner. 

PESC has decided to highlight one scientific field in its remit each year at the Member Organisation Round Table Meetings with the goal to identify action items and to promote new initiatives for research and networking.  The 2008 Meeting with Member Organisations will focus on engineering.

 

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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Other Initiatives

GÉANT2/EARNEST Foresight Study
In the period from 1 March 2006 until 31 October 2007, and as part of the EU Funded GN2 (GÉANT2) project, a Foresight Study is being carried out into the evolution of research and education networking in Europe. The Foresight Study will provide inputs for initiatives that could help to keep the evolution of European research networking at the forefront of worldwide developments, and enhance the competitiveness of the European Research Area. It will prepare the ground for the planning of the development of research and education networking infrastructure and services after the completion of the GN2 project, at the local, national, European and intercontinental level.

The EARNEST Foresight Study is led by a panel of leading figures from the research and networking communities. It can be regarded as a successor to the SERENATE project. The study has been broken down into seven separate sub-studies, namely; researchers' needs, technical issues, campus issues, economic issues, geographic issues, organisational and governance issues and other users' needs. A more detailed description of each of the various study areas can be found by clicking the relevant link on the right. ESF is leading the sub-study on Researchers' requirements. 

For the full report including the ESF-led report on researchers’ requirements for IT/grid technology, click here.

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What's New?

Highlights 2007 illustrates selected initiatives and activities of the year 2007. The briefs and stories focus on the science behind the activities. They are meant to give a scientifically interested reader a picture of the independent scientific work PESC promotes.

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