100 posts
"Open Science And The Econoblogosphere" by Paul Krugman
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Interesting article in the Times about the push for “open science”, bypassing the traditional structure of refereed journals in favor of a sort of fluid, self-policing online community. I can’t and...
Leadership Consulting: Stances on Scholarship
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As the field of leadership consulting continues to proliferate, fringe-elements have developed that risk taking down the credibility of the field itself as well as its more solid practitioners. In this essay, my objective is to make those practitione...
International consortium of NGOs calls for coordinated action on geoengineering research
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"Nations, NGOs and individuals must engage in a wide-ranging dialogue to explore both the potential risks and benefits of solar geoengineering and establish effective governance arrangements for research, according to a new report …" Th...
The hour of the amateur scientist – FTL neutrinos part 2
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So. There have been lots of responses to my last article on the faster than light neutrinos. Some readers have asked me to explain to them the consequences of the measurement being correct. Others have been interested to hear more about the changing...
Ryan Anderson interviews Jason Baird Jackson on anthropology and open access…and an anthropology roundup….
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Anthropology & Open Access: An Interview with Jason Baird Jackson (Part 1 of 3) from Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Ryan During the last few weeks I had the chance to conduct an email based interview with Jaso...
Preparations for the first year review
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The European Commission continuously reviews the progress of all EC-funded research projects. As SAIL is one of these projects we are of course also reviewed regularly. Tomorrow is the day for the formal review of the first twelve months of the SA...
Academic blogging and Google’s new search algorithm
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We academics blog to keep our nose in the winds of reality, to make our research or the works of our colleagues visible to the real world. We blog to make academic thoughts accessible for those who are not into meticulous theoretical and methodologic...
How EU science chief helps Israel's war industry
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Ensconced in Brussels, the only controversy Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has been embroiled in over the past few years related to her bloated income. While she has displayed remarkable chutzpah in seeking to draw down both a European commissioner’s salar...
The last one left standing
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Last week East Malling Research kindly invited me to give the annual Amos Memorial Lecture at the research station. My theme was 'Food: Safe, Sustainable, Sufficient?' They videoed the lecture so I will post a link if it becomes available, not that...
EU2020: Innovation Union evaluates RDI in Denmark
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Innovation Union (with key documents), which was launched a year ago, is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The web pages are excellent. You can follow @innovationunion on Tw...
EU2020: Research and development quality in Denmark
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In the blog post EU2020: Denmark aims for high employment we saw that a high employment rate (75 per cent) is a headline target of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, but new reform efforts are needed to put the Euro...
Our video guest: Dominique Ristori, Joint Research Centre
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Dominique Ristori is the general director of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In our interview, he speaks about the food security conference organised by the JRC and about the value of research and science in food security.
The Annual Activity Reports of the European Commission
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From time to time you stumble over interesting types of documents of the EU institutions, such as the European Parliament Library Briefings. One thing I’ve come across these days are the “Annual Activity Reports” of the different di...
Agreement will catalyse life sciences infrastracture
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This week, ELIXIR has taken a step closer to becomingthe central research infrastructure for life-science information in Europe. Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom plus the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL...
#UACES2011 in Cambridge: A look at some interesting EU research
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I must say that I very much enjoyed the UACES conference in Cambridge last week, especially some of the finished and ongoing research I was able to witness. Listening to the presentations, discussions and interventions, I’d say some of the peop...
Tell us about your research? Sara Benedí talks to Elise Rietveld
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Sarah Benedí, University of Zaragoza, introduces her PhD research on the effectiveness of non-discrimination directives.
Bruno Frey: More cases of self-plagiarism unveiled
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For several month, Bruno Frey (University of Zurich) has had to defend himself against accusations of self-plagiarism. Now, several other dodgy cases have been revealed by a website named “FreyPlag Wiki”. I took a close look at the cases...
The economics of academic publishing
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Interesting article by George Monbiot on academic publishing. His quote of Deutsche Bank analysis sums it up pretty well:"But an analysis by Deutsche Bank reaches different conclusions. “We believe the publisher adds relatively little value to the...
“Ethically dubious and disrespectful” – JEP publicly lambasts Bruno Frey
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As I’ve written here before, the Swiss economist Bruno Frey (University of Zurich) and this coauthors Benno Torgler and David Savage (both: Queensland University of Technology) are under pressure because they are facing allegations of self-pla...
Nordic Political Science Congress at Åbo Akademi Vaasa
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From 9 to 12 August 2011 I participate in the XVI Nordic Political Science Congress at Abo Akademi at Vaasa (Finland). The Congress website is here: http://www.nopsa2011.abo.fi/english.html Although meant more for political science associations f...
Yes or no to GMOs
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Yes or NO to GMOs? Its in the hands of the Member States. Though some GM crops are considered safe to grow, EU countries could ban them based on environmental concerns. Watch the EuroparlTV video.
How Economists get money in Europe
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On Thursday, I was in Brussels attending a presentation about the funding for economic research in Europe. Afterwards, I did an interview with Stephen Yeo, the CEO of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). He explained to me how …...
Hungarian EU Council presidency: Innovation (Future Perfect)
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Third time lucky? Our third informal ministerial ”competitiveness” meeting arranged by the Hungarian EU Council presidency seems to unearth a rich vein of precious ore, especially for those who are interested in research, development and innovati...
What’s Wrong with the European Union and How to Fix It by Simon Hix
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Simon Hix is one of my all-time favourite academics. As well as the usual academic virtues of rigour and accuracy, Simon Hix attempts to find solutions. His is analysis with an active conclusion, a rare quality made even more valuable by its scarcity...
When Acronyms are apt: COST
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Sometimes an acronym is wholy fit for purpose. In defence of my claim I bring you this little known EU Committee.European cooperation in Science and Technology Committee of Senior OfficialsWhich is known by its acronym,the COST Committee of Senior Of...
The European Commission is focusing on changes in EU research and innovation funding in order to create more growth and jobs
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On the 9th February 2011 the European Commission sent up a consultation on major improvements to EU research and innovation funding in order to facilitate the participation and to increase scientific and economic impact and value for money. In this s...
Consultation: Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for Future EU Research and Innovation Funding
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InteractOn 9 February 2011, the European Commission presented a Green Paper which proposes major changes to EU research and innovation funding that make participation easier, increase scientific and economic impact and provide a better value fo...
ITER: Quand la fusion des atomes divise (1/2)
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Le projet « International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor » (Réacteur Thermonucléaire Expérimental International, ITER), une collaboration scientifique internationale entre l’Union Européenne, la Chine, l’Inde, le Japon, la Cor...
Researching wikileaks in Europe
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Shameless plug for a recent blog post over at ‘Ideas on Europe‘ about European Studies and wikileaks. Basically I am wondering if the idea of wikileaks could constitute a research topic in European Studies and whether ‘cablegate&#...
CIRAD is increasingly involved in European scientific programmes
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CIRAD has just audited its participation in European Commission programmes between 2006 and 2009. In addition to backing up the organization's strategy, the audit recognized how it fosters the involvement of partners from the South and ultra-peripher...
EU urged to allow trace GM in food imports
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A number of European Union governments urged the bloc's executive to allow tiny traces of genetically modified (GM) material in food imports for human consumption as well as in animal feed, an EU source said.
Winning The Innovation War
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Investment in Research and Development is growing globally, but France and Europe are losing ground to the benefit of emerging economies. The innovation war is getting more intense as countries try to spend heavily in science and technologies, but ma...
Imagine what tomorrow would look like if today’s girls decided to become scientists
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Do you know a girl? Yes? Good. Does she have plans for Saturday? No? Great. Is she bored? Even better! Imagine learning how to launch a rocket by a real astronaut, working together with an architect to design your dream home, programming a robot to w...
Joint Research Initiative Publishes Report on Methods for GMO Detection
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The Joint Research Initiative of the European Commission has released a collection of reference methods for the detection and analysis of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).The report comprises 79 reference methods which have been validated accord...
Commission favours temporary suspension of animal cloning for food production
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The European Commission has announced that it will propose a temporary suspension of animal cloning for food production in the EU. The Commission also plans to suspend temporarily the use of cloned farm animals and the marketing of food from clones.
A more scientific view of how time affects us
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My post last night on my reflections on time here in the U.S. led to a comment from Dan in Brussels. His comment reminded me of the video below from the RSA in the U.K. on the subject of how our perception of time affects us. Interesting video from a...
The emergence of Regulatory Science
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Regulatory science is the art and science of taking new medical and food products to market and keeping them on the market, under the constraints of a variety of laws and requirements.
Why do we need the Innovation Union?
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Boosting our research and innovation performance is the only way for Europe to support sustainable growth and create good and well-paid jobs that will withstand the pressures of globalization. Currently Europe has many strengths but is in danger of l...
Europe 2020 strategy: Innovation Union
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The seven flagship initiatives promised by the European Commission under the Europe 2020 (EU2020) strategy are Innovation Union, Youth on the move, A digital agenda for Europe, Resource efficient Europe, An industrial policy for the globalisation era...
Member States Criticize Proposal on GMO
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The Member States have criticized and in fact rejected a proposal by the European Commission on a new type of regulation on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). According to EUobserver both pro-GMO and anti-GMO Member States have objected the newly...
Incident at Lisbon Electricity Museum in Portugal as EU Event derails
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Officials from DG Research must be pondering at what seemed like a really good idea and ended up in total chaos, namely the organisation of the EUCYS – European Union Contest for Young Scientists – which is described as “an initiati...
EMI: Jim Dooge European Research Medal
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I got this today from the European Movement Ireland. Students of European Integration and Politics may be interested. European Movement Ireland, the not-for-profit organisation that campaigns for every Irish person to get involved with the European U...
Wanted: EU chief scientist
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The EU executive has yet to appoint a chief scientific advisor, almost one year after European Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced plans to recruit a top scientist to offer advice on controversial issues including climate change and g...
MEPs raise animal testing standards
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Euro-MPs today (8 September) agreed new rules on animal testing after long negotiations with member states.
EU research achieves breakthrough as fish spawn in captivity
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EU scientists have succeeded in obtaining viable mass eggs from Atlantic bluefin tuna in captivity, using natural means and without any hormonal induction. If breeding can be developed on a commercial scale, pressure on endangered wild stocks could b...
Europe Clears Import of New Biotech Corn Varieties
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The European Commission on Wednesday approved six genetically modified corn varieties for import to the bloc, another sign of its desire to speed decision-making on the controversial technology.The commission, the executive arm of the European Commis...
Book on National Judicial Treatment of ECHR
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A new book on the use of the ECHR by national judges, in a comparative perspective, also with EU law, has been published: 'The National Judicial Treatment of the ECHR and EU Laws' (Europa Law Publishing 2010). A Comparative Constitutional Perspective...
UK pledges €15.5m for new research
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The UK Government is to pump more than £13.5 million (€15.5m) into more than 30 innovative crop protection research projects in a move it hopes will help farmers cope with new European Union regulations.The funding is being coordinated by the UK
The state of the European Union: EU-27 Watch No 9 published
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Actually, EU-27 Watch offers more than it promises. Despite its name, the Internet platform compiles materials on European policy debates in 31 countries, as reported by researchers from national research institutes (think tanks): 27 EU member states...
World music archive/ William Faulkner’s University of Virginia Lectures ETC
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A Critique of the Cuts July 27, 2010 “Oh be still my beating heart… I just fell in love again. Was that a shawl Eva was wearing, or a superwoman cape?” What prompts academics to declare a scholar a superhero? The praise above is fro...
ICT research: EU-funded technology helps disaster workers save lives
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WORKPAD, an EU-funded ICT research project, has developed software applications that allow emergency teams responding to natural disasters to coordinate and communicate with each other quickly and efficiently, helping to save more lives. Coordination...
antropologi.info asks “The return of colonial anthropology?/ anthro roundup
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The return of colonial anthropology? from antropologi.info – anthropology in the news blog by Lorenz “A dysfunctional ethnic and tribal brawl has been the norm in Afghanistan for centuries. Afghanistan is a mess. ” Who said that? A frustrat...
GM crops: that’s your problem
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(Version Francaise) On July 13th, the European Commission officially announced its plan for a new regulation of GM crops – My comments follow. Full disclosure: My not so valuable opinion: Let’s start with a simple point: my point of view...
€90M NEW FUNDING FOR FUTURE INTERNET RESEARCH
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We are running a great Future Internet Public-Private Partnership over the coming years – and another €90m in funding is available for work in 2011. Please seize this opportunity to help Europe get the most from our internet. The projects...
France to fund Creationism in US schools.
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The French Ministry of Science and Technology has surprised many by announcing that it is to commit €50 million to a campaign to encourage anti-science teaching in American schools. A spokesman told us: ” This is a wonderful opportunity for Franc...
Commission releases frankencrops to the member states.
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The Irish Times opines that The most important founding principle of the European Union, indeed,...
Finally: a New Regime for GMO Approval
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The Commission has finally made a proposal on a new regime for the approval of genetically modified organisms (GMO). The Commission proposes to confer to Member States the freedom to allow, restrict or ban the cultivation of Genetically Modified Orga...
A video: RSA Animate – Crises of Capitalism
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0 In this RSA Animate, radical social theorist David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible,...
Council conclusions: Six genetically modified maize varieties approved
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The 3025th Council meeting on Agriculture and Fisheries held in Luxembourg on 29 June 2010 examined proposals for decisions authorizing the use of six genetically modified maize varieties in food and feed, excluding cultivation, have been presented t...
Project Europe 2030 and Innovation Union
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The future prosperity of EU citizens will be decided by our collective choices between reform or witnessing our decline. During the Lisbon strategy decade, we crawled in the slow lane. The new Europe 2020 strategy is now supposed to bring us jobs and...
Sweet genes arm banana crops
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Scientists in Uganda have developed GM bananas that show promising resistance to the deadly banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease. Bananas are Uganda's leading non-cereal crop with some 70 per cent of the population depending on it as staple food. Mo...
Europe 2020 strategy: Belgian EU Council presidency and Innovation Union
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Yesterday we looked at the visible preparation and communication by the Commission services of the flagship initiative Innovation Union, in the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy for jobs and growth. The central Europe 2020 website was (and still...
Europe 2020 strategy: Innovation Union - preparation and communication
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There is a link to the European Council’s conclusions [to be adopted] 17 June 2010, but otherwise the European Commission’s central website for the Europe 2020 strategy for jobs and growth is still as dead as the dodo. While waiting for the Comm...
EU leaders to end dispute over 2020 targets
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The European Council confirms the five EU headline targets which will constitute shared objectives guiding the action of member states and the Union," read the draft conclusions. The objectives include employment, research, climate change, education...
China closes the innovation gap in ten years (Innovation Union in Europe 2020 strategy)
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With regard to innovation performance, China is showing a rapid rate of relative improvement, which points to a possible closing of the performance gap with the EU in the near future (10 years under a business-as-usual simple linear extrapolation), s...
Europe 2020 strategy: Flagship initiative Innovation Union
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This blog post presents the European Commission’s proposed flagship initiative Innovation Union. Background In the blog entry Europe 2020 strategy: Barroso’s reform flotilla (flagship initiatives), we saw the seven thematic reform programmes pro...
Drivers of International collaboration in research
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This report, written jointly by the Technopolis Group and the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (The University of Manchester), is a synthesis of a project conducted on behalf of the European Commission DG Research.
Towards the EU-LAC Knowledge Area
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Climate change, demographic transitions, expectations for better health and greener and more inclusive economies are among the drivers for more scientific and technological cooperation and innovation. The Guadalajara Summit in 2004 therefore placed t...
A new article in Thesaurus Acroasium Vol. XXXIII
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To my mind, I have been subject to the greatest honour imaginable in my academic life – one of my articles “Role of regional organisations concerning challenges to peace and security in the new millennium – The European perspectives” was publ...
The EU as an Innovation Union : European Commissioner for Research Innovation and Science, Geoghegan-Quinn, Invites Online Debate, June 17, 2010
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The European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, invites to an online debate at the European Commission's Webcast chat page (June 17, 10:00-11:00 a.m. Central European Time***) on how to transform Europe into an...
Do you want to ask a question direct to Commissioner Geoghegan Quinn?
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Maire Geoghegan Quinn is the European Commissioner responsible for research, science and innovation and in charge of drawing up a plan to create a “Innovation Union” putting research and innovation at the heart of society and economic gro...
Launch of supercomputing infrastructure for European researchers
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The European Commission today welcomed the launch of a €500 million initiative which boosts European supercomputer capacities and opens them up to scientists across Europe.
Scientix: The new web-based community for Science Education
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The European Commission has launched Scientix, a new web-portal targeted towards teachers, researchers, policy makers, local actors, parents and anyone interested in science education.
Accountability through the media - what is the value of science?
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Two publications of political science that I recently had on my desk made me wonder where science stops and where investigative journalism begins - or vice versa.In the first article "The Quint", Catherine Gegout investigates the secretive decision-m...
