A Report on Women in Polish Political Science: From Diagnosis to Cooperation – conclusions and recommendations

Over the past few years, the number of women involved in research and innovation has been steadily increasing (for detailed statistics see She Figures 2018 report). Furthermore, the international mobility of women researchers in the higher education sector is greater. However, this does not change the fact that gender is still an important factor influencing access to high positions at universities, hampering the progress in academic careers by ignoring women’s achievements or assigning women scientists’ findings to men. As European Commission factsheet shows, there is a high need for equal treatment policy in HE institutions, monitoring of female researchers’ needs and sharing good practices in supporting women’s scientific careers.

Let’s strengthen digitization! Digital V4 Group

In October 2019 the new V4 initiative called Digital V4 Group was established. This tech coalition includes four organisations: Digital Poland Association (ZIPSEE) , IT Association of Slovakia (ITAS), Consumer Electronics Association in Czech Republic (ASE) and ICT Association of Hungarian (IVSZ). The Group was set up by organisations from digital and advanced technologies industry in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary to strengthen a policy supporting development of innovation and digitization in Central and Eastern Europe. The initiative refers to political and economical collaboration between the four countries in scope of the Visegrad Group (V4), particularly the Warsaw Declaration supporting innovative economy, signed in 2017.

The Ulam Programme and Polish Returns – NAWA extends the deadline for submitting applications to 23rd April 2020!

The Ulam Programme and the Polish Returns programme – both funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange – are undoubtedly a big chance for individual scientists to develop their research career in Poland. It is also a great opportunity for Polish universities and Polish scientific and research institutes to increase their potential. Due to the fact that in both programs the application deadline has been extended to 23rd April 2020, we are providing you with the essential information about them.

INFO: PolSCA team in home office mode

Due to the prevention of the current spread of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 virus) until 30 April 2020 the PolSCA team is working from home (the above-mentioned period may be extended depending on the development of the epidemiological situation). In addition, all meetings organized by the PolSCA during the next calendar month are also canceled.

Changes in PolSCA team

We would like to kindly inform you that on 29th February the over 2-year work of dr hab. Małgorzata Molęda-Zdziech as the Director of the PolSCA Office was terminated. In the light of this, a meeting summarizing PolSCA activities under her leadership was held on 19th February 19 in our premises.

#V4Training Spring Edition 2020 – call for applications!

The Polish Science Contact Agency (PolSCA) cordially invites managers of European research projects from Poland to take part in the next edition of #V4Training co-organized by the V4 group!

The training will be held on 20-22 April 2020 in Brussels.

IGLO Open on Horizon Europe Missions – summary

The very first IGLO Open meeting of the 2020 was hosted by PolSCA Office. The guest speaker was Mr Mr. Neville Reeve  – Head of Sector for Missions at unit A.3 of DG RTD (Policy & Programming Centre) who provided the presentation entitled “Identifying and developing missions under Horizon Europe”. The event took place on Wednesday, 8th of January 2020 and was held at the KoWi premises.

The Future of the EU – a summary of the conference in Paris

On 10th October 2019, the conference ‘The Future of the EU, Military Cooperation and Transatlantic Relations from Polish and French perspective’ took place at the Scientific Centre of PAS in Paris. The event was also co-organized by the following institutions: CERI Sciences Po from Paris, the Polish Science Contact Agency PolSCA in Brussels and the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM).

The conference was opened by: dr habil. Maciej Forycki, director of the Scientific Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Paris, dr Sławomir Dębski, director of PISM, prof. Alain Dieckhoff, director of CERI Sciences Po and dr hab. Małgorzata Molęda-Zdziech, director of the PolSCA Office. All of them agreed on the fact that the conference is one of the of events taking place in 2019, the Polish-French Year of Science. The directors of the PAS Scientific Centres pointed out that the common conference is the result of the fruitful cooperation.

New EU Commission, Horizon Europe, Missions – the work continues

The most important event of last autumn was the appointment of the new European Commission, under which Ursula von der Leyen was elected its President. At the beginning of September 2019 she proposed her team and the new structure of the Commission for the next term of office 2019 – 2024 (link). Mariya Gabriel was proposed as a Commissioner, whose portfolio encompasses both science and education. Many scientists and a number of organizations – including the PAS – suggested a change of portfolio name (link), which was finally materialized, i.e. Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth (link). After the hearing process, the European Parliament approved new set of commissioners in plenary on November 27, 2019 (link). Already in December Commission unveils ‘A European Green Deal‘ to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent (link).

Polish-French Forum of Science and Innovation in Warsaw

On 19th November 2019, the 5th Polish-French Science and Innovation Forum was held at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. The main organizers of the event were: the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Embassy of France in Poland.

The official opening of the Forum was done by: Marek Rocki – Rector of the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, dr hab. Sebastian Skuza, deputy minister from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The French side was represented by: Mr. Frédéric Billet – French Ambassador to Poland and Dr. Jacques Maddaluno – Director of the Institute of Chemistry, Center national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).