About the European Science Foundation 1. 2 ESF Member Organisations ESF is an independent association of 66 Member Organisations ● research funding organisations

About the European Science Foundation1

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ESF Member Organisations

ESF is an independent association of 66 Member Organisations

● research funding organisations

● research performing organisations

● academies and learned societies

in 29 countries

About the European Science Foundation

3 About the European Science Foundation

A time of change

In parallel with the development of Science Europe – the Brussels-based policy organisation launched early 2012 – ESF is continuing the winding-down of a number of its activities in accordance with the Multi-annual Plan 2013-2015.

The Multi-annual Plan takes into consideration the commitments that ESF has made until the end of 2015 with the aim of ensuring that they are honoured and executed with the level of quality that ESF has always delivered.

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Scientific Committees

ESF has replaced its former Scientific Standing Committees with smaller Scientific Review Groups.

Scientific Review Group domains:

● Humanities (HUM)

● Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences (LEE)

● Biomedical Sciences (MED)

● Physical and Engineering Sciences (PEN)

● Social Sciences (SOC)


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Expert Boards and Committees

Currently hosted at ESF; models for sustainability are being explored:

● Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee● European Space Sciences Committee● Marine Board ● European Polar Board ● Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies● Materials Science and Engineering Expert Committee


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Activities

Ongoing Commitments


● Exploratory Workshops● Research Networking Programmes● EUROCORES Programmes● Research Conferences● Science Policy Briefings● Finalising EURYI awards

Budget in 2014

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Total budget managed by ESF: 36 M€

● Allows for the completion of on-going commitments until end of 2015

● 3 M€ for core scientific activities facilitated by 21.4 full-time equivalent staff

● 33 M€ for the following other activities:o ‘à la carte’ activities (Research Networking Programmes,

EUROCORES, Expert Boards & Committees) funded by Member Organisations on a voluntary basis

o Institutional partnerships (e.g. Conferences)o External contracts, mainly with the European Commission

(including COST)


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Science Management

ESF serves the academic community by creating synergies between funding agencies and by assisting cross-border cooperation:

● Peer Review support for funding organisations

● Coordination of ERA-NETs and other EC projects

● Implementing agent for COST through a EuropeanCommission grant agreement


SERVICES

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ESF is eager to serve the needs of the European research community and is currently developing offers of valued services to science and research in Europe through, for example:

● Peer review services

● Evaluation services for Research Organisations

● Mapping Research Infrastructures of European interest – MERIL

● Developing the Career Tracking andMonitoring Platform


SERVICES

Peer Review services for third parties

●Professional services to support competitive calls for research proposals

ESF’s assets

●Integrity and independence

●Huge network of independent& highly-skilled reviewers

●Strong experience andknow-how (>6,000 researchproposals evaluated since 2005)

●Quality controlled and optimisedprocess and infrastructure

●European-wide Possible cross-comparisonof results


What does ESF offer?

• A range of tailored services to meet the different needs of its client organisations

– Basic package: provision of written expert reviews only (pre-defined call)

– Intermediate package: full-scale management/implementation of scientific assessment process, prioritised lists and funding recommendations

– Full package: end-to-end review process elaboration and implementation (includes on-line submission platform)


Three major ongoing campaigns

• AXA Research Fund(post-doctoral fellowships)

• FCT Research Units(evaluation of future research plans of 325 RU)

• GRAPHENE Flagship Competitive call(evaluation of research projects to join the consortium)


Peer-review of research proposals

• European Space Agency/NASA/Canadian Space Agency/Japan Aerospace Exploration AgencyInternational Life Science Research Announcement and Physical sciences research announcement (microgravity and space environment) - 2009

• Europolar ConsortiumEUROclimate Research Programme - 2009

• HERA – Humanities ERANetHandling agent for the open calls between 2005 and 2012

• University of BolognaBasic research investment fund (FIRB) and Research projects of significant national interest (PRIN) preselection - 2012

• Universities of Torino and Piemonte OrientalePeer review of proposals submitted in the frame of philanthropy (Compagnia di San Paolo) university support - 2012

• University of NaplesPeer review of proposals submitted in the frame of philanthropy (Compagnia di San Paolo) university support - 2013


Evaluation services●Ex-ante evaluation (of programmes or schemes)●Monitoring and mid-term evaluation (activities or

programmes)●Ex-post evaluation and strategy (schemes, organisations,

etc)

Why ESF?

●Independence and neutrality of the ESF●Tailored evaluation of proven quality●Clear criteria and indicators based on EU standards●ESF is a privileged actor between Academia and funders


SERVICES

www.esf.org/evaluation

Evaluating (national) institutes of research/programmes

• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – 2009, 2010

• European Space Agency’s Life and Physical Sciences in Space programme – 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012

• Evaluation of a selection of Spanish research Groups in ICT - Fundación Leonardo Torres Quevedo and EMCANTA (Empresa Cantabra Para Desarrollo Nuevas Tecnologias en la Administracion) – 2011

• Research Council of Lithuania – 2013

• Research Council of Hungary – 2013, 2014


Career tracking and management


SERVICES

●International Research Career Tracking and Monitoring

Platform (CTMP) for surveys, studies and/or developing

career tracking systems

●Tracking the quality of research training and skills

●Tracking to find out where researchers move in their careers

●Tracking for accountability & impact assessment

●Running joint international or national pilot projects

●Developing manuals

www.esf.org/career-tracking

● A continuously updated inventory of the most excellent research infrastructures (RIs) in Europe of more-than-national relevance, covering all scientific domains.

● A unique source of publicly available information for policy-makers and scientists.

● Initial development of the database and portal supported by the European Commission (2010-2012) – further development and exploitation in 2013 and 2014 supported by ESF member organisations.

Why ESF?● Built on expertise of Member Organisation Forum on RIs.● Able to mobilise and coordinate pan-European, multi-stakeholder effort.


SERVICES

Mapping of the European Research Infrastructure Landscape (MERIL)

www.meril.eu

ESF situation

• The Governing Council Steering Committee met on 13 February in Frankfurt, with three options being discussed with regard to a vote by the Assembly on the future of ESF:

– dissolution of the ESF at the end of 2015 and a potential successor organisation being established independently

– wide withdrawal of membership at the end of 2015; maintenance of legal entity but change in statute and probably name; some MOs may continue to support the ESF in a new role after 2015

– a branch of the ESF association is formed, which becomes the successor organisation to ESF after 2015

• These options will be developed and presented to the Governing Council at its meeting on 14-15 April for its discussion on the vote by the Assembly.

• This year marks ESF’s 40 years’ activity in the coordination of research funding as well as collaboration in science policy and research management. In order to make the impact of its achievements widely available and to effectively publicise the archives and resources, it was agreed to organise an event in Strasbourg on 15-16 May 2014


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www.esf.org


Documents

About the European Science Foundation 1. 2 ESF Member Organisations ESF is an independent association of 66 Member Organisations ● research funding organisations