European ISC Members
Image of the birch veneer’s surface with a hole shot with a 40W CO2 laser using scanning electron microscope Helons Nanolab 600 (FEI Company). Photo: Kent Gregor Mahla and Maido Merisalu
Image of the birch veneer’s surface with a hole shot with a 40W CO2 laser using scanning electron microscope Helons Nanolab 600 (FEI Company). Photo: Kent Gregor Mahla and Maido Merisalu

Members Activities

Strategy Work

ISC Action Plan (2022-2024) (PDF)

ISC Science Action Plan (2019-2021)

The draft ISC Science Action Plan (2019-2021) was circulated among the ISC Membership on 11 February 2019 for consultation. Upon consideration of this document, the Management Group of the European ISC Members provided its comments to the ISC Secretariat:

  • 28.02.2019: Feedback of the European ISC Members’ Management Group (PDF)

Merger ICSU-ISSC

During 2016, the Executives of both the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) launched a process that resulted in the merger of the two science organisations. At an extraordinary General Assembly on 24-25 October 2016, the ICSU and ISSC membership jointly gave their in principle approval of a proposal to that effect.

The then European ICSU Members provided their input with guidance for a successful merger with two documents:

  • 17.10.2016: Perspectives on and strategy proposals for the proposed ICSU-ISSC merger (PDF)
  • 12.05.2017: Feedback to draft strategy document (PDF)

SCIENCE POST-COVID-19

The Covid-19 pandemic puts human well-being around the globe to an unprecedented test. The nature of the crisis greatly increased the demand for scientific expertise and the brokering role of science organisations, such as academies, in assisting policy-making to address the resulting challenges. What are the implications of this development for the role of science in addressing other societal and environmental challenges at a global level? Has it affected the standing of science in society? Are there lessons to be learnt in relation to academies’ science for policy advisory work? These were some of the questions addressed at the Annual Meeting 2021.

Serving as input to consider these and other questions, two national initiatives and two global projects with ISC involvement were presented:

  • Finland, Anna Mauranen: „Bending, but not breaking: from the coronavirus pandemic to strengthening Finland’s crisis resilience“ (PDF)
  • United Kingdom (British Academy), Dominic Abrams: „Shaping the Covid decade“ (PDF)
  • ISC, Inès Hassan: „Covid-19 global outcomes scenarios” (PDF)
  • ISC, Heide Hackmann: „The new normal for science: Towards a new ISC strand for work“ (PDF)

Open data in science in europe

This statement with recommendations is based on the workshop “Open Data in Science: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe” that the then European Members of the International Council for Science (ICSU) organised in Brussels in January 2018, in partnership with the All European Academies (ALLEA). The event benefited from presentations by representatives of science organisations, public research funders, the publishing and the policy sector, and input from the 80 meeting participants from across Europe and representing science academies, research performers, funding bodies, international science organisations and government agencies.

Documentation

Sustainable Development Goals

At a science meeting , the science community’s efforts to help achieve the SDGs and the interplay of its contributions at national, regional and international level were discussed. The meeting took place on 10 September 2019 in Amsterdam, following the Annual Meeting of the European ISC Members.

Documentation

Future Earth

Future Earth is a 10-year initiative to advance Global Sustainability Science, build capacity in this rapidly expanding area of research and provide an international research agenda to guide natural and social scientists working around the world. It also serves as a platform for international engagement to ensure that knowledge is generated in partnership with society and users of science. Future Earth is built on many decades of international research on global environmental change carried out by programmes (DIVERSITAS, IGBP, IHDP, WCRP) initiated and co-sponsored by the International Council for Science. For more information.

Regional Workshop for Europe

During a transition and transfer period from these previous programmes to Future Earth, the European ICSU Members organised a regional workshop in May 2013 for the European stakeholders and as part of a series of workshops around the globe that served as platforms to discuss and provide recommendations on the development of Future Earth. The workshop focused on identifying options for implementing Future Earth in Europe and building interfaces between global, regional and national levels.

The workshop gathered some 100 representatives from the science community, national global environmental change committees, programmes and projects, research funding organisations, policy makers and organisations at the science-policy interface. The event was co-organised by the French Academy of Sciences and the European ICSU Members, with the support of the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC).

For more information: workshop report (PDF) and website

UNCSD / Rio +20

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20 in short, was the third international conference on sustainable development and aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals of the global community. Hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro on 13-22 June 2012, it was follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit / United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and marked the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. During 2011-12, the International Council for Science (ICSU) represented the international scientific community in the run-up to and at the Rio+20 conference itself with a range of activities. For more information

Rio +20: Regional Workshop for Europe

To ensure European input into the process, the European ICSU Members coordinated a Rio+20 “Regional Science and Technology Workshop” for Europe in Helsinki, Finland, on 12-14 October 2011. This was part of a series of regional workshops that were organised to inform the intergovernmental Rio+20 preparatory meetings. These workshops gave each region’s scientific and technological community the opportunity to provide joint input for the regional preparatory processes and to discuss their views with policy makers and other key actors, thereby feeding region-specific scientific knowledge, issues and concerns into the Rio+20 Conference .

The Helsinki Workshop brought together renowned natural scientists, social scientists and engineers from across Europe to discuss the main themes of the Rio+20 conference from the point of view of the European scientific and technological community. There was also representation from North America, from the other main stakeholder groups of society (Major Groups) and from high-level policy making circles.

The main workshop outcome is a joint statement with key issues and concerns from the European scientific and technological community:

  • Green economy in the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development
  • Institutional framework for sustainable development
  • New and emerging challenges