Scientists, journalists, politicians and the people – how to square the circle?
In a post-truth, expert-dismissing era, how can we ensure government policies are derived from evidence based information? The European Science-Media Hub was set up by the European Parliament for this very reason, to help with science communication…
Attracting ERC grants – spotlight on Charles University Prague
How can universities attract more ERC grants? Zdeněk Strakoš at Charles University, Prague lets us in on their methods. Starting in 2008, he worked as an ERC Advanced Grant evaluator. Educated both in maths and computer science, he is currently a…
From the USA to the Nordic countries
What road would bring an American researcher to Europe and keep her there? Juleen R. Zierath, Professor of Physiology at the Karolinska Institutet tells us her story, and that of her research to prevent diabetes.
Women in science - Gender balancing at the ERC
In order to achieve equal access and participation in science, the United Nations declared 11/2 the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We took this opportunity to speak with Isabelle Vernos, a member of the ERC’s Scientific Council…
Research centres - UPB Romania's funding successes
Romania has recently started its 6 month presidency of the Council of the EU. We take this opportunity to interview Mihnea Costoiu, Rector of the University Politehnica of Bucharest (UBP).
Unconscious bias – avoidable or inevitable?
All decisions we make as humans are subject to implicit bias - simply a distortion in our thinking process, a cognitive shortcut we take to come to a decision. It comes in many forms, but all have the consequence of error prone decisions.It can be…
Finanțarea centrelor de cercetare – noul succes al Universității Politehnica din București (UPB)
România a preluat de curând președinția rotativă a Consiliului Uniunii Europene. În acest context am profitat de această ocazie și am avut un interviu cu rectorul Universității Politehnica din București, domnul Mihnea Costoiu.
Secrets of the PoC proposal evaluation process
Have you ever wondered what a grant proposal evaluator is looking for in a successful application? An evaluator for the ERC's Proof of Concept (PoC) grants gives her views. Maria Moura Oliveira is Director of technology commercialisation at the…
Small miracle in science funding
“A small miracle” – this is how Professor Klaus Bock, a long serving Vice-President of the ERC, describes the ERC's progress during its short existence. We asked the organic chemist to explain the six most decisive factors in its success.
