Annual EARMA Conference

“It’s no exaggeration to say that European research has taken a seismic blow with the British electorate’s decision to leave the EU. While we will all likely survive and thrive in the future, there is little doubt that the fundamental nature of the open collaboration between UK researchers and researchers in the rest of the EU and Associated States will change very dramatically… the least important change may be the role of European funding but, rather, the restrictions (actual or implied) placed on researchers around their collaborations with current and former colleagues. These restrictions must be resisted; scientific research cannot be bounded by artificial constraints imposed to ‘punish’ or to ‘isolate’ researchers.

In many ways this conference will be the first opportunity to explore the implications for European science.

It is increasingly clear that simplification has an evil twin, low success rates. They are inseparable yet the challenge remains to maintain the universal accessibility of H2020 but improve the success rates. The best way to do this may well be to concentrate on ‘Excellent Research’. Is it time to re-examine the idea of research as a public good ‘making the breakthroughs’ in Europe.”

The programme will include a speech on RRI by NUCLEUS project lead Alexander Gerber (Rhine-Waal University).