About the European Science Foundation1

Dr. Nina Hoffman, Humanities and Social Sciences Unit, European Science Foundation

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ESF Member Organisations

ESF is an independent association of 72 Member Organisations ● research funding organisations● research performing organisations● academies and learned societies

in 30 countries

About the European Science Foundation

3 About the European Science Foundation

A time of change

At the moment ESF is in a period of transition and is currently developing a multiannual plan which will be presented in 2012.

It is continuing discussions with its Member Organisations and the recently launched Science Europe to define future roles and activities.

In the meantime, ESF’s existing commitments will be unaffected by these developments.

Updates regarding ESF developments and activities are available on our website:http://www.esf.org/about-esf/latest-esf-developments.html

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ESF covers all scientific domainsStanding Committee domains● Humanities ● Life, Earth & Environmental Sciences ● Medical Sciences● Physical and Engineering Sciences● Social Sciences

Expert Board/Committee domains● Marine Sciences● Materials Science and Engineering ● Nuclear Physics ● Polar Sciences ● Radio Astronomy● Space Sciences

About the European Science Foundation

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Forsight and advice

(e.g. Science Policy Briefings, Forward

Looks)

Forsight and advice

(e.g. Science Policy Briefings, Forward

Looks)

Coordination ofEC projects

Coordination ofEC projects

Peer Reviewsupport

Peer Reviewsupport

Current ESF ActivitiesCurrent ESF Activities

SCIENCESTRATEGY

SCIENCESYNERGY

SCIENCEMANAGEMENT

About the European Science Foundation

Implementing agent for COST through EC

contract

Implementing agent for COST through EC

contract

Supporting networking and collaboration

(e. g. EUROCORES –European Collaborative Research Programmes)

Supporting networking and collaboration

(e. g. EUROCORES –European Collaborative Research Programmes)

fragmentedresearch strengths

new, integratedknowledge

Collaborative Research•Multi-national research projects •European competition

Funding agencies join forces•Funding remains national •ESF ensures quality control

A EUROCORES programme typically involves•10-20 participating countries•a research budget of ca. 5 M€ •a running time of 3 years•interdisciplinary teams

As from 2003, the ESF managed over 55 EUROCORES programmes, with a research budget of approx. 250 Million Euros from more than 65 funding organisations in Europe, US and Canada 6

SCIENCESYNERGY

EUROCORES: European Collaborative Research Programmes

EUROCORES Programmes - Examples•The Origin of Man, Language and Languages (2003-2006)

•Histories from the North – environments, movements, narratives (BOREAS)(2006-2009)

•The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading (2007-2010)

•Modelling intelligent interaction - Logic in the Humanities, Social and Computational sciences (2008-2011)

•Understanding and Misunderstanding: Cognition, Communication and Culture (2010-2013)

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ESF and HERA

• ESF is partner in the HERA Network since the launch of the Network in 2004. HERA mission statement:

"Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) is a network of national funding agencies and the European Science Foundation (ESF) committed to leading and developing funding opportunities for humanities researchers in Europe, and sharing excellence in research management practices and outcomes."

• ESF also acts as a Handling Agency for the HERA Joint Research Programmes launched in 2009 and 2012.

About the European Science Foundation8

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www.esf.org

About the European Science Foundation