PWGSE meeting in Oslo and Stakeholder Workshop in Brussels

In their second meeting of 2016, the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Science & Ethics met on the kind invitation of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters at their academy building in Oslo on 30/31 October. Former ALLEA Board Member and General Secretary of the academy, Professor Øivind Andersen welcomed the group and introduced the academy to the working group members.

The meeting saw a very good attendance, which was highly appreciated by the chair and closely related to the wide variety of activities the working group is currently pursuing. Besides constantly on-going topics, the Permanent Working Group particularly focused on two current topics. On behalf of ALLEA, several experts of the working group participate in the Horizon 2020 funded project ENERI, which aims to harmonise and improve research integrity systems across Europe.

Even more prominently, the working group is in the final steps to complete the revision of the European Code of Conduct for research integrity. The code was originally composed together with the now defunct European Science Foundation (ESF) in 2010.  The revised code is intended to be finalised in January 2017, at which point it will become a reference document for Model Grant Agreements within Horizon 2020.

On 25 November, in close collaboration with the Ethics sector of the European Commission, ALLEA also will organise a stakeholder workshop providing relevant stakeholders from academia, business, and funding agencies with an opportunity to share their ideas on a revised code. The workshop will be attended by around 30 different organisations in the realm of research integrity.

 

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters was founded in 1857. It is a non-governmental, nationwide body that embraces all scientific disciplines. The Academy’s main objective is to advance science in Norway by initiating and supporting research, sponsoring meetings and conferences, awarding scientific prizes, contributing to science policy, and by acting in the interest of science in relation to political authorities and the general public. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awards the Abel Prize in mathematics and the Kavli Prize in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.

The Academy is led by the presidium which consists of the President, the Secretary General and the Vice President. H.M. King Harald is Honorary President of the Academy. On 1 January 2014 the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters had altogether 474 Norwegian and 390 foreign members. The members are divided into two sections; Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences. Each section is divided into eight groups. Each of the two sections has its own board which together with the presidium constitutes the board of the Academy.