Summary of V4 Conference on Research Infrastructures

The conference of the V4 liaison offices in Brussels on European Research Infrastructures took place on 18 April 2024. The objective of the event was to present examples of Research Infrastructures operating in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary and address some of the challenges that infrastructures face, such as funding and long term sustainability.

Horizon Europe Navigators MeetUp: HE Novelties

Amendment for the Work Programme 2023-2025

In April 2024 the European Commission adopted an amendment to the Horizon Europe work program for 2023-25. The amendment means adding previously unallocated funds from Horizon Europe to increase its budget for calls in 2024 and to include new calls for proposals in 2025. Hence, the budget of the current work program has increased by nearly €1.4 billion to a total of €7.3 billion.

The largest injection of additional funding will be directed to the Missions, Teaming for Excellence and HE Pillar II calls in the Clusters: Health, Climate – Energy – Transportation and Food – Bioeconomy – Natural Resources – Agriculture – Environment.

The whole Work Programme for 2023-2025 is available here.

Address of the Presidents of National Academies of Sciences of the EU Member States

Science and innovation are the essence of the European Union’s freedom and resilience, its global competitiveness and its prosperity – with such an appeal to candidates in the 2024 European Parliament elections was made by the presidents of the national academies of sciences from all 27 European Union Member States.

The signatories of the letter highlighted four key demands common to the entire scientific community of the European Union – to ensure that the European Union is a world leader in science and innovation, to promote an open and free science system, to invest in science and education and to use up-to-date scientific knowledge in policy.

– Our letter is an expression of our wish to draw the attention of decision-makers and voters to the need to maintain the Community’s current position as a global leader in in the field of science and innovation – emphasises the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor Marek Konarzewski. – Increasing investments in science and technology sectors, thanks to which a united Europe will be able to meet the challenges of civilisation, are essential for this. In today’s world, we consider it necessary to promote an open and free system of science and to use the knowledge and competences derived from it to make key decisions for the EU, including for Poland – he points out.

In their joint appeal, the researchers point out that our continent is now at the forefront of global research and innovation, with researchers from EU countries involved in in research and development worldwide. However, they remind us that in a changing world, it would be naive to believe that the position of European science is unshakable. In this context, stressing the need for systemic investment in science, they call for member states, as well as the EU itself, to allocate the equivalent of at least 3% of their GDP to research and development. According to the signatories of the appeal, the new EU research and innovation framework programme should also be strengthened in budgetary terms.

The heads of the national academies of science also emphasise that one of the main strengths of European science is international cooperation and the free and open exchange of knowledge and the mobility of researchers and students that serves this.

Harnessing the results of scientists’ work requires the continuous implementation of scientific achievements into policy processes. – Future challenges – including climate change and biodiversity loss, international migration, food security, energy transition – are so complex and urgent that they cannot be addressed effectively without science and a trusting dialogue between science, policy, civil society and economic actors, the appeal also reads.

Searchable brochure available: Horizon Europe Collaboration Opportunities with Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Are you interested in finding a partner for your Horizon Europe project? Are you searching for an expert in your field? Or you are aiming to build a consortium with a renowned Polish researcher?

The “Horizon Europe Collaboration Opportunities with Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences” folder is now available, providing a comprehensive guide to potential collaborations with renowned research teams affiliated with various research institutes under the umbrella of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS). Discover your future Horizon Europe partner by scrolling below or download the folder. Utilize key words or browse through brief descriptions to identify a direct contact with a research leader keen on applying for calls within Horizon Europe.

IGLO in Action: Second IGLO Workshop on Lump Sum Funding Summary Report

Take a look at the summary report from the Second IGLO in Action Workshop on Lump Sum Funding collecting experiences of research managers in implementing the lump sum in Horizon Europe projects.

V4 Conference on Research Infrastructures

The conference, which will be held fully on-site in Brussels on 18 April, is entirely devoted to the European Research Infrastructures available and used in the V4 countries. The event is organized by four liaison offices: CZELO (CZ), SLORD (SK), NRDIO (HU) and PolSCA.

The conference offers networking opportunities and insightful discussions with experts from various sectors. The program includes presentations from RI representatives and panel discussions on establishment, sustainability, and the future of research infrastructures as well as suggestions for FP10.

Conference programme:
9:00 Registration
9:30 Keynote speech
9:45 Presentation of V4 Research Infrastructures
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Panel 1: Examples of good practices, challenges and sustainability of RIs
12:00 Lunch break
13:30 Panel 2: Future trajectory of research infrastructures
14:30 Closing remarks

More details and the registration: V4 Conference on Research Infrastructure

HE Navigators MeetUp – COST Info Session

We would like to invite you to the next Horizon Navigators MeetUp , which this time will take place on 12 April and will focus on the COST Programme.

During the meeting you will learn about the COST Programme, which involves the research community from 41 COST member countries plus Israel and South Africa. It is a large networking initiative bringing together scientists from all disciplines working together in research networks – the so-called COST Actions. They are organised on a bottom-up basis by researchers proposing a topic they want to investigate and in which they want to exchange experience.

Information session on MAPS

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has announced the opening of applications for MAPS – Multilateral Academic Projects within the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program Research and Innovation for projects conducting basic research led by Polish researchers in collaboration with partners from Switzerland, as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania.

In this regard, SNSF in collaboration with the PolSCA Office, hungarian NRDIO and romanian ROST (all members of IGLO network) is organizing an informational session on the application process for MAPS.

Details and link to information session here.

The call for applications will be open to all research areas.

An online tool for finding partners has also been made available to support partnership formation.

V4 Conference on Research Infrastructures

18 April 2024, Hotel Renaissance, Brussels

The theme of this year’s joint #V4Conference is Research Infrastructures. A number of intervening European research infrastructures (RIs), both well-established and emerging, are operating in the four Visegrad countries. The aim of the event and its accompanying discussions is to look at these examples and provide a platform for debate led by speakers coming from different countries and involved in RIs in different ways. The event is organised by the R+I support offices in Brussels (CZELO, SLORD, PolSCA, NRDIO).

The conference will enable networking among the gathered stakeholders, facilitating debate between the interested parties from the Brussels community, EU bodies and Member State representations, and the researchers themselves who use a range of different European research infrastructures. Taking into account the EU Council Conclusions on Research Infrastructures, the event will discuss, among other things, calls for Member States to ensure the long-term sustainability and digital strengthening of their research infrastructures.