Magazine

Current issue 2-2026

Equity in frontier research 


Who gets to define research questions, own data and benefit from results when projects span continents and deep power imbalances? This edition of the ERC Magazine explores equity as a core part of excellent science, from evolving codes of conduct to new models of collaboration. At its centre is the TRUST code, a set of practical principles for fair and inclusive research, introduced in an op‑ed by Doris Schroeder, one of their architects, and complemented by lawyer and ethics expert Pamela Andanda on the role of values. The issue follows researchers working in highly polarised political debates, in long‑term partnerships between European and African institutions, and in fieldwork with Indigenous communities, while astrophysicist Marijke Haverkorn and South African science diplomat Daan du Toit ask who gets access to the world’s largest radio telescopes. Across these stories, equity and trust emerge not as optional extras, but as daily practices of sharing power, voice and responsibility in frontier research.

Harriet & Liselot

Excellence through equity 

By Harriet Bulkeley and Liselotte HøjgaardThe complex and interconnected challenges facing our world make a compelling case for strong, equitable and long-term international research collaboration. Scientific questions do not stop at borders, and neither does the search for…
By Harriet Bulkeley and Liselotte HøjgaardThe complex and interconnected challenges facing our world make a compelling case for strong, equitable and…
By Harriet Bulkeley and Liselotte HøjgaardThe complex and interconnected challenges facing our world make a compelling case for strong, equitable and long-term international research collaboration. Scientific questions do not stop at borders, and neither does the search for…

Articles of the current issue

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kant

Equitable research is not rocket science

In this op-ed, Doris Schroeder argues that equitable research partnerships do not require ever more technical rules, but clear, accessible ethics grounded in fairness, respect, care and honesty. Drawing on the development of the TRUST Code, she…
Meerkat telescope

Big science, fair access

From the first test antennas of Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR, add link) to the vast arrays of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA, add link), radio astronomy has become a story of mega infrastructures. They promise exquisite data on everything from the…
human rights posters

When equity becomes politically contested

Some projects confront questions of equity not because they cross borders, but because they cut straight through highly polarised debates. Sociologist Marta Bucholc examines how human rights are invoked and contested in Mozambique, Senegal, Poland,…
Baltimore meeting group portrait, 1992

Who writes the rules of science?

Astronomers who gathered in Baltimore in 1992 thought they were drafting a charter that would change their field. Three decades later, one of its authors calls it ‘tame’. Joris Vandendriessche and Anna Cabanel use this and other moments – from…
ideas bulbs

Why values – not just rules – are needed to stop ethics dumping

In international research, formal ethical rules have proliferated, yet unethical practices continue to surface in new forms, especially in resource constrained settings. In this op-ed, Pamela Andanda argues that only a values-based approach can…
Harriet & Liselot

Excellence through equity 

By Harriet Bulkeley and Liselotte HøjgaardThe complex and interconnected challenges facing our world make a compelling case for strong, equitable and long-term international research collaboration. Scientific questions do not stop at borders, and…
Afrab

Beyond good intentions and checklists

Research partnerships across borders raise difficult questions: who decides what knowledge is produced, who owns it and who benefits from it? For ERC-funded teams working across different cultures, institutions and power imbalances, equity is not a…
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