Application for Membership to the German Young Academy is Open

Outstanding young scientists and artists can apply for a 5-year membership to Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy). Applications for the 2023 selection can be submitted exclusively online until 15 November 2022 via the application platform.

Die Junge Akademie always has 50 members. Every year, ten members leave and ten new members are accepted. The annual selection takes place alternately via the supporting academies of Die Junge Akademie (the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina) and via Die Junge Akademie itself. For selections via the supporting academies in the even years the candidates are suggested. Selection via Die Junge Akademie in the odd years takes place via direct applications.

Membership of Die Junge Akademie is intended for outstanding scientists and artists that can show evidence of a completed doctorate or an artistic work. This work must have been completed at least three, but no more than seven years before the end of the application deadline (15 November 2022) and can be demonstrated by the doctorate certificate or a comparable document. Parental, care and sick leave are all taken into account during the selection process.

At least one other outstanding scientific/artistic achievement is expected, or that the applicant achieved visibility with their own scientific or artistic profile. The members should represent their field with innovation, passion and the ability to hold interdisciplinary discussions. They should also have the time for active membership.

A two-stage selection process will take place following submission of the application documents. The selection interviews will likely take place on February 16-17, 2023 in Potsdam. They will be conducted in the German language.

The call for applications for the 2023 selection can be downloaded here (in German only).

Further information on the selection procedure and the application platform can be found at: www.zuwahl.diejungeakademie.de

Reforming Research Assessment: ALLEA Announces Further Support to Its Academies

ALLEA signed today the European Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment and announced in a new statement to further support its Member Academies with developing assessment criteria based on principles of quality, integrity, diversity, and openness. Read the ALLEA Statement here.

The European Agreement was published on 20 July, following a six-month collaborative process involving more than 350 European organisations, and opened for signature to organisations from across the world during the recent European Research and Innovation Days. The Agreement includes the principles, commitments and timeframe for reforms and lays out the framework for a Coalition of organisations willing to work together in implementing the changes.

ALLEA first contributed to the Agreement as part of a core group of 20 research organisations and reemphasizes today its commitment to a more diverse and inclusive academic system by publicly signing the agreement, joining the Coalition, and announcing in a new statement its support to its Member Academies.

ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno says “Rewarding and promoting excellence is a core value of academies. This Agreement is an important step forward towards the equitable and objective assessment of both early career researchers and established researchers, which is of utmost importance in a very highly competitive research landscape.

ALLEA is committed to using the momentum to explore, jointly with its Member Academies, what can be done to further develop the selection criteria and procedures for academy fellows in line with our shared overarching European values. ALLEA will therefore establish a dedicated task force with the aim to collect, exchange and promote best practices for admitting new Academy fellows, and to contribute to a meaningful cultural change of the research assessment system.

Read the ALLEA Statement here

ALLEA Board Holds 2-day Meeting in Berlin

The ALLEA Board held a 2-day meeting in Berlin for their first in-person meeting of the year, following the confirmation of the new board last May.

The ALLEA Board meeting took place on 6-7 October at the ALLEA Secretariat offices in Berlin. It was their first in-person meeting following the (re)appointment of the Board Members earlier this year and the confirmation of the new board during the ALLEA General Assembly last May at the Academy Palace in Brussels.

The ALLEA Board and staff held a joint meeting on day 2 of the ALLEA Board Meeting in Berlin.

The first day of the meeting took place at the premises of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, the seat of the ALLEA Secretariat. On this ocassion, the Board discussed and made decisions on strategic organisational issues relevant for the future of ALLEA. On the second day, the Board held a joint meeting with the members of the secretariat, where they received an update on the most recent activities of ALLEA, including among others, the European Fund for Displaced Scientists and additional activities in support of Ukraine, EU-funded projects SAPEA and PERITIA, ALLEA’s activities on Climate Sustainability in Academia, and the upcoming update of ALLEA’s European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

The Board also briefly discussed the organisation of ALLEA’s next General Assembly, which is scheduled to take place in London, and will be co-hosted by ALLEA’s UK members in June 2023.

The next ALLEA Board Meeting is set to take place virtually in December 2022.

Panel: Towards Climate Sustainability – Taking the Academic System from Evidence to Action

Academic institutions have long played a key role in providing evidence on the climate crisis as well as potential mitigation strategies. But what is the academic system itself doing with this evidence? Is academia walking the sustainability talk fast enough?

Download the ALLEA report

Every sector of society needs to rethink their current operational models if we are to limit global warming to 1.5°C as stipulated in the Paris Agreement. This also includes the academic system. ALLEA’s latest report Towards Climate Sustainability of the Academic System in Europe and beyond presents data that suggests that many sectors within the academic system far exceed the yearly emission levels required to remain under 1.5°C of global warming.

While some stakeholders have begun to engage with the issue of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are implementing first steps to track, disclose and reduce them, there are still many widespread behaviours embedded in the academic system that contribute to the degradation of the climate. How can we change these practices without sacrificing research excellence or diminishing international collaboration in the process? What are the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of positive ways to restructure the internal operations of academia? What best practices are already being implemented, and how can these be transferred to other academic sectors?

ALLEA, the Swiss Embassy in Berlin and Die Junge Akademie are partnering to address these and other important questions at our upcoming event ‘Towards Climate Sustainability – Taking the Academic System from Evidence to Action’ on 2 November 2022. This event will present some of the major findings from ALLEA’s report and will feature representatives from key stakeholder groups within the academic system who will present the programmes and strategies they have developed to embed sustainable practices in their operations and reduce the levels of emissions within their sectors. Registration for in-person and online attendance is available here.

This event will take place in the context of 2022 Berlin Science Week. The theme of this year’s international science festival is ‘Paradigm Shift. Co-Creating a Sustainable Now!‘ where science-driven organisations from Europe and beyond will hold several events, exhibitions, and interventions to evoke discussions and encourage inspiring alternatives to steer the world towards a more sustainable path.

Building an ERA that Fosters Freedom and Excellence

In a new statement, ALLEA sets priorities for building a new European Research Area (ERA) and for implementing the Policy Action Points developed in the ERA Transition Forum.

In 2021, ALLEA was invited by the European Commission to be part of developing a new European Research Area (ERA) that supports the free circulation of researchers and knowledge, joint and more efficient use of research infrastructure, excellence, attractive careers, equal opportunities, and cooperation between research and innovation actors across Europe. With the ALLEA Statement for an ERA of Freedom and Excellence published today, the European Academies of Sciences and Humanities reflect on the 20 ERA Policy Agenda Action Points developed in the consultations of the ERA Transition Forum, which brings together delegates from the European Commission, Member States, Associated Countries, and Stakeholder Organisations.

The statement has been prepared by the ALLEA Working Group on the ERA, and it welcomes this initiative for a new ERA that reflects the European Academies’ vision for borderless and universal science as a global public good that transcends national and disciplinary boundaries. The statement strongly emphasises the need to enable scientific cooperation, particularly in times of multiple crises. This cooperation should take place in a robust and empowering institutional setting and should be based on good research practices. Accordingly, a strong ERA should be built on the principles of academic freedom, integrity and ethics, excellence, trustworthiness, inclusiveness, openness, sustainability, collaboration, mobility, equality, diversity, equity, as well as thinking and acting globally.

Highlighting these priorities and thereby commenting on various ERA Policy Agenda Action Points, the authors specifically stress the need for safeguarding academic freedom: “This includes advocating clear and unanimous support for Higher Education Institutions and Research Performing Organisations facing threats to academic freedom through political circumstances, such as internal or external oppression, or war.”

Other priorities for the ERA Policy Agenda highlighted in the statement are:

  • A continuous focus on scientific excellence as a guiding principle for research assessment as well as funding.
  • A need for fundamental research to sustain a genuinely world class science base in Europe in the long term.
  • An emphasis on establishing truly interdisciplinary partnerships and a recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary and international research collaborations.
  • An awareness of the growing importance and complexity of science-society and science-policy relations and how science relies on trust and trustworthiness.
  • Capacity building and improved accessibility to existing research infrastructure in the EU-13 countries.

Read the full statement for more information on how to implement an effective ERA beneficial for all Europeans.

Improving Inclusivity in Digital Education Requires a Systemic Approach that Addresses Teaching & Learning at Different Levels 

Today, ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, responded to the European Commission’s Call for evidence on digital education and digital skills. You can read it in full here. 

The European Commission recently issued two calls for ideas and evidence on ensuring equal access to digital education and promoting digital skills. The feedback will be used in the preparation of a Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on the enabling factors for successful digital education and for one on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training. The proposals are part of the Commission’s initiatives under the European Union’s Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027). 

In response to this call, ALLEA’s Working Group on Science Education, with Professor Timo Leuders as principal author, prepared a statement with recommendations on improving inclusivity in digital education and the effective provision of digital skills, built on a robust foundation of scientific evidence.  

The statement contends that a systemic approach that addresses teaching and learning at different levels – policy, research, curriculum design, teacher education, and practice – is necessary for the proposed actions to be implemented efficiently and effectively. The statement also calls for greater emphasis to be placed on interdisciplinarity, the integrated nature of digital technologies within STEM education, and the critical roles of empirical educational research, initial teacher education (ITE) and teachers’ professional learning (TPL).  

Some recommendations from the statement are highlighted below:  

Interdisciplinarity – Closing the digital gap requires interdisciplinary expert groups that reflect on the technical, educational, social, and ethical issues in relation to digital education, and that can advise on political, administrative, and curricular decisions in a coherent manner.  

Evidence-based reformsEvery decision about a technical or structural innovation in digital education must be tested against the latest scientific evidence on teaching and learning, including curricula,pedagogies,ITE and TPL.  

Initial teacher education and teachers’ professional learning Too little emphasis is currently being placed on the roles of ITE and TPL. A coherent picture of digitalisation-related teacher professionalism is critical to all efforts of systematic development in educational institutions. Teachers need to be supported so they develop the requisite Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and skills needed to critically evaluate and implement technology-based innovations.   

The ALLEA statement encourages the European Commission to support national governments and individual teachers by identifying best practices in digital education across Europe so that they have access to an evidence-based roadmap towards a technology-driven educational landscape.  

You can read the statement by the ALLEA Working Group on Science Education in full here.  

Read more about the ALLEA Working Group on Science Education and its members here.

 

New Report: Responses from the European Higher Education to the Ukraine Crisis

The report includes important lessons and recommendations on how to support the science sector in Ukraine and in other countries affected by conflict and disaster.

The report, published on 31 August 2022, summarises the discussions of the conference ‘The Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors,’ organised jointly between ALLEA, Science for UkraineKristiania University College and the International Science Council (ISC) in June 2022.

The report highlights 7 key principles for national governments, multilateral organisations and the global science sector to support the academic system in countries that have been affected by conflict:

  1. RESPONSIBILITY: Governments, the higher education, scientific and research community must work together to deliver their national commitments to recognizing and supporting the right to education and science within their country.
  2. INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Governments, the higher education, scientific and research community must work together to deliver their national commitments for supporting the participation of at-risk, displaced and refugee scholars and researchers in their home country or a third country if necessary.
  3. OPENNESS: The international scientific and research community should empower conflict-affected science systems with the means to rebuild by adopting the UNESCO recommendation on open science.
  4. INCLUSION: All stakeholders must ensure that programmes and opportunities are designed inclusively to avoid exclusion of specific groups of at-risk, displaced and refugee scholars and researchers based on characteristics such as language, family status, gender, disability, cultural background and psychosocial wellbeing.
  5. MOBILITY: Stakeholders must work together to develop global mechanisms and coordination structures that facilitate secure academic and scientific mobility – to ensure the potential of displaced and refugee scholars and students is not lost.
  6. FLEXIBILITY: All stakeholders must recognize the evolving needs of academics, researchers and students by designing more flexible programmatic and funding models that enable changes in location and allow for both remote and in-person participation.
  7. PREDICTABILITY: Stakeholders must work together to develop sustainable frameworks within and between national scientific, higher education and research systems that enable a more predictable and effective approach to the phases of preparedness, response and rebuilding in the aftermath of conflict or disaster.

The conference brought together over 150 stakeholders from across Europe. Over half of the attendees came from Ukraine, including the Minister of Education and Science for Ukraine, the Honourable Serhiy Shkarlet, who delivered a keynote speech. Participants reflected on the assistance provided to-date for academics, scientists, researchers and students who are at-risk, displaced or refugees as a result of the war in Ukraine, and put forward recommendations for mid- to long-term support, including rebuilding of the higher education and research sectors after conflict.

In launching the report, ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno remarked that “we are now six months into the invasion and there is a real need to remind people that the crisis has not gone away, so the report is very timely.” 

The report will be shared at the forthcoming Science|Business Network Conference ‘United Europe: Widening R&I cooperation in times of war’, which will take place on 7 September 2022.

Download the conference report

Conference on the Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors

“It Is Really Important for Experts to Know When They Are Helping and When They Are Making Things Worse”

Roger Pielke is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds degrees in mathematics, public policy and political science. His wide interdisciplinary background and his skills as a communicator have made him a rara avis for science. He comfortably crosses scientific fields and professional roles as a speaker, an expert advisor, an author, and a prolific scholar in various areas. He recently visited Copenhagen to speak at the Final conference of the COST Cross-Cutting Activity on Science Communication, where ALLEA participated as one of the COST Action partners. In this interview, he touches upon key dilemmas for scientists when sharing their expertise and advice and when defining their role in democracy, communications or climate change.

Roger Pielke at the conference ‘Science advice under pressure’ on 27 April 2022. © SAPEA 2022, Sophie Lenoir.

Politicians will benefit much more from experts when those experts have a sophisticated and realistic appreciation for how policy and politics take place.

Question: Based on your experience in science advice and your research, what do politicians need from science and scientists? Is it only knowledge and evidence or is it more?  

Roger Pielke: Politicians need a range of things from science and scientists. They often need information or knowledge, and this can include scientific judgments on specific questions, like: How many people currently have COVID-19? Or it might include policy options, like: What might we do to keep the elderly safer in the pandemic? Two things that go beyond science are understanding and collaboration. Politicians will benefit much more from experts when those experts have a sophisticated and realistic appreciation for how policy and politics take place. As well, scientists need to use this understanding to be willing to engage and collaborate with politicians to support democratic governance.

Advisory bodies that have a clear mandate, well-understood terms of reference and ample experience perform very well.

Q.: In your opinion, what is a good example of an expert advice system? Why?

R.P.: In general, advisory bodies that have a clear mandate, well-understood terms of reference and ample experience perform very well. An example of such bodies are vaccine approval committees, they typically perform their work outside the public gaze and rely on relevant expertise to make recommendations about approval (or not) of proposed vaccines. These committees work so well that it is notable when they do not, such as when President Biden announced that COVID-19 boosters for certain age groups, but the relevant advisory committee had yet to meet. That resulted in some scrambling by both the Biden Administration and his advisors, illustrating the importance with which such committees are viewed.

Q.: You talk about ‘shadow advice’ as “formal or informal mechanisms of advice established outside of governmental science advisory processes to provide a counter or opposition body of legitimate, authoritative and credible guidance to policy makers.” Should we worry about this type of oppositional self-organised expert advice, or can it also benefit democracy?

R.P.: Shadow science advice has always been around (in fact, that’s what I’m offering in this interview!), but it took on a particular prominence during the pandemic. Around the world we have seen scientists and other experts self-organize to challenge both official advisory bodies as well as government policies. In democratic systems it is of course proper for people to self-organize and advocate for their preferred values and policies, that is democracy at its best. At the same time, experts have unique legitimacy and authority in society and, as we have seen, can delegitimize expertise and government, and damage democratic practices. It is really important for experts to know when they are helping and when they are making things worse – and if they don’t know the difference, maybe to slow down and figure that out.

Expert advisory systems work best when they reflect the fact that advice needs to be created, it does not emerge spontaneously from everyone “playing their own instrument.” 

Q.: At the COST conference, a metaphor that left everyone rethinking their role in the science community was your advice on science communication. Science communication should work as an orchestra, you said, and make more music instead of noise. As a science communicator yourself, how do you “conduct yourself” to make music instead of noise?

R.P.: One thing I like about the orchestra metaphor is that it highlights the importance of diverse expertise (e.g., violins and percussion), coordination and leadership. Expert advisory systems work best when they reflect the fact that advice needs to be created, it does not emerge spontaneously from everyone “playing their own instrument.”  There is both an art and a science to providing expert advice that empowers policy making, and in a way that supports democratic ideals. Science communicators should have some understanding of this art and science, if the goal is to improve the practice of policy and politics.

Q.: Back in 1994, you said in your dissertation: “Debate over ‘global warming’ has distracted scientists and policymakers alike from the requirements of effective decisionmaking”. What did you mean with this and how has this changed since then?

R.P.: I thought that was just sitting on a shelf somewhere! Yes, I have long argued that the debate (such as it is) over various elements of the science of climate change often distracts from the more important questions of what we might be doing to accelerate decarbonization and to make society less vulnerable to climate and climate change. Those issues require science, of course — e.g., science associated with zero-carbon energy technologies and that of disaster resilience. These topics require a different sort of science than typically is at the center of attention in climate discussions, which often focus on long-term projections of climate futures conditioned on various scenarios. We know that decarbonization is a global priority and better adaptation is needed. I’d argue we already knew that in 1994!

The climate science community has well-served the issue of climate change, but it is time to recognize that the knowledge that we need in 2022 is quite different than that needed in 1988 (when the IPCC was created) and institutions should evolve accordingly.

Q.: What should the climate science community set as a priority when providing advice or interacting with politics today and in the next decade?

R.P.: The first question to ask is of policy makers: What information is it that you need to make better decisions? In my experience policy makers do not need more physical science or climate modelling, they need policy options, including technological options. If carbon-free energy were cheap, easy to deploy and came with a broad social acceptability, the issue of decarbonization would be straightforward. The broad climate community should be focusing more attention on developing viable options that meet these criteria. Of course, many people are focused on these issues, and that is a good thing, but there is considerable room for greater urgency on these issues. The climate science community has well-served the issue of climate change, but it is time to recognize that the knowledge that we need in 2022 is quite different than that needed in 1988 (when the IPCC was created) and institutions should evolve accordingly.

 

 

New Report Explores the Ethics of Digital eXtended Reality, Neurotechnologies, and Climate Engineering

TechEthos project publishes two analyses of the ethics and laws applicable to the three technology families under study

In June 2022, TechEthos (Ethics for Technologies with High Socio-Economic Impact), a Horizon 2020-funded project, published a draft report on the ethical issues that need to be considered for the three technology families under study:

  • Digital eXtended Reality, including the techniques of visually eXtended Reality (XR) and the techniques of Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Neurotechnologies
  • Climate Engineering, including Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Solar Radiation Management (SRM)

The report, co-authored by tech ethicist Laurynas Adomaitis and physicist Alexei Grinbaum at the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), along with Dominic Lenzi from the University of Twente (TU), is currently under review by the European Commission. It is based on literature studies, original research, expert consultation, and digital ethnographies.

TechEthos

Source: TechEthos Report on the Analysis of Ethical Issues

In addition to briefly describing the technologies in each family, the report identifies core ethical dilemmas, describes key applications and case studies, and identifies ethical values and principles in line with the “ethics by design” (the implementation of ethical, legal, and societal values and principles from the conception to implementation stages of technology design) methodology, provides operational checks and balances for each value/principle in the form of questions, and outlines mitigations strategies for the same.

The 142-page report is structured into four chapters, which include an introduction into technology ethics and cross-cutting issues in the three technology families, and a deep-dive into each one. Some examples of the ethical issues unique to the different technologies include:

  • The impact of digital eXtended Reality on the values and principles of transparency, dignity, privacy, non-manipulation, and responsibility, as well as their relevance for the analysis of risk reduction, environmental impact, dual use and misuse, gender bias, and power and labour relations
  • The lack of human-like reasoning or understanding in NLP systems, spontaneous anthropomorphisation of chatbots, and the influence of artificial emotions on human users
  • The impact of neurotechnologies on the values and principles of autonomy, responsibility, privacy, risk reduction, and informed consent
  • The potential for less costly, but less effective climate engineering solutions to divert resources away from more sustainable, but more expensive initiatives
  • The potential for climate engineering to be more wasteful

Beyond the well-researched and in-depth analysis of the conceptual arguments, there are also helpful use cases and questions that stakeholders can ask when dealing with the ethics of the technologies in each family.

Analysis of international and EU law and policy applied to Digital eXtended Reality, Neurotechnologies, and Climate Engineering

In July 2022, following the analysis of the ethical dilemmas inherent to each technology family studied by TechEthos, a second draft report was published, which delved into the international and EU laws and policies for their relevance and applicability to Digital eXtended Reality, Neurotechnologies, and Climate Engineering. Although there is no dedicated EU or international law governing these three technology families, there do exist several legal frameworks that could be applied to them.

The report serves to review these legal domains and related obligations at international and EU levels, identifies the potential implications for fundamental rights and principles of democracy and rule of law, and reflects on issues and challenges of existing legal frameworks to address current and future implications of the technologies. The 242-page report covers human rights law, rules on state responsibility, environmental law, climate law, space law, law of the seas, and the law related to artificial intelligence (AI), digital services and data governance, among others as they apply to the three technology families.

The report was co-authored by Nicole Santiago, Ben Howkins, Julie Vinders, Rowena Rodrigues, and Zuzanna Warso from Trilateral Research (TRI), Michael Bernstein from the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, and Gustavo Gonzalez and Andrea Porcari from the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca Industriale (Airi). It aims to present an evidence base for the TechEthos project’s development of recommendations for policy and legal reform, and is currently being reviewed by the European Commission.

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TechEthos is led by AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and will be carried out by a team of ten scientific institutions and six science engagement organisations from 13 European countries over a three-year period. ALLEA is a partner in the consortium of this project and will contribute to enhancing existing legal and ethical frameworks, ensuring that TechEthos outputs are in line with and may complement future updates to The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

European Science Organisations Reach Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment

Following a six-month collaborative process involving more than 350 European organisations from over 40 countries, an Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment has been reached and made public today. ALLEA has contributed to the Agreement as part of a core group of 20 research organisations that supported the drafting team throughout the process.

The Agreement summarises a shared vision on how to reform assessment practices for researchers, research projects and research performing organisations, with overarching principles founded on quality, impact, diversity, inclusiveness, and collaboration.

The envisioned reforms are centred around the following four core commitments:

  1. Recognise the diversity of contributions to, and careers in, research in accordance with the needs and nature of the research
  2. Base research assessment primarily on qualitative evaluation for which peer review is central, supported by responsible use of quantitative indicators
  3. Abandon inappropriate uses in research assessment of journal- and publication-based metrics, in particular inappropriate uses of Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and h-index
  4. Avoid the use of rankings of research organisations in research assessment

Several additional supporting commitments aim to enable the move towards new research assessment criteria, tools and processes, and to facilitate mutual learning, communicate progress and ensure that new approaches are evidence informed. The Agreement further includes anticipated timeframes for implementing the reforms and evaluating progress and describes the operational structures for a coalition of organisations devoted to working together to implement the changes.

Next Steps

The collection of signatures to join the Coalition supporting the Agreement will be launched on 28 September 2022 at the EU Research and Innovation Days. A General Assembly of Coalition members will further decide on the governance of the Coalition, the strategy guiding the operations and activities of the Coalition as a whole, its annual work-plan and budget. The first General Assembly is expected to take place towards the end of this year.

As a European umbrella organisation of academies of sciences and humanities, ALLEA was able to provide an interdisciplinary perspective based on shared European academic values. ALLEA contributed to the Agreement through its Permanent Working Group on Science & Ethics and the Working Group European Research Area. Previously, ALLEA had also worked with the Global Young Academy on recommendations on the topic.

In a parallel endeavour, the Council of the European Union has recently adopted its Conclusions on Research Assessment and Implementation of Open Science. ALLEA welcomes the principles set out in the Conclusions for designing novel approaches to research assessment and emphasises that there is no “one-size-fits-all” format: any reforms should be driven by researchers taking responsibility for improving research assessment in their communities, following the core concept of self-regulation set out in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. (Read ALLEA’s full response here)

More information

  • The complete Agreement for Reforming Research Assessment can be found here, as well as an overview of frequently asked questions regarding the Agreement and the Coalition.
  • Further information on the drafting process and the actors involved can be found here.