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Updated daily at www.ResearchResearch.com 20 November 2014 Geoghegan-Quinn leaves mixed legacy – p13 ERA Less is more, or is it? – p5 Archiving Cologne collection’s comeback after construction collapse – p6 Commission bids Glover a silent farewell Researchers call for clarification as CSA post is left to expire A TENSE RELATIONSHIP between the European by Laura Greenhalgh [email protected] Commission and the chief scientific adviser to its pres- ident ended in unceremonious fashion this month, as work,” said Mark Downs, the chief executive of the Anne Glover was quietly relieved of her duties. UK’s Society of Biology. Glover’s mandate as CSA expired with the tenure Others linked Glover’s departure to her support for of president José Manuel Barroso on 31 October, but genetic modification, following a campaign by envi- her contract with the Commission lasts until February. ronmental groups to have the CSA post abolished. But However, on 11 November, she received an email according to Wilsdon: “Characterising this as some informing her that the function of the CSA had ceased sort of anti-science agenda from the Juncker presi- to exist, meaning she was free to leave if she wished. dency is incorrect—there’s no evidence of that.” Glover’s departure was expected, but many observers On 14 November, the European Academies Science were hoping that the incoming president Jean-Claude Advisory Council asked Juncker to clarify his inten- Juncker would appoint an immediate successor. tions. This was echoed in a statement from Paul Nurse, Instead, they say, the developments show that science the president of the UK’s Royal Society, who said: “If advice is not high on Juncker’s agenda. “It’s a combi- the Commission has a plausible plan for ensuring that nation of indifference and being too busy—it’s a low scientific evidence will be taken seriously, it needs priority,” says James Wilsdon, of the Science Policy to start sharing it with people soon, otherwise it will Research Unit at the UK’s University of Sussex. encourage those who portray the Commission as out This conclusion is seemingly supported by the of touch and not willing to listen to informed advice.” explanation from a Commission spokeswoman, who Some believe that Glover’s position should be rein- says that the CSA post has “simply expired” and the stated, but others argue that the Anglo-American president has “not yet decided” how to deal with inde- model of an individual CSA is not tenable in Europe, pendent scientific advice. where committees are usually employed to offer col- According to a Brussels source, Glover sent numer- lective advice at both the national and EU levels. ous messages to Juncker after he was elected to make “Europe is not a single monarchy, and if you don’t the case for the CSA post to be continued, including have a network you cannot accomplish much,” says requests for meetings. However, she received no reply. Jerzy Langer, a member of the Polish Academy of This illustrates the frosty nature of the relationship Sciences. “Glover is a superb individual, but she didn’t between the CSA and the Commission—a matter on have much influence.” which Glover has spoken frankly in recent months. Both options remain open to Juncker. “The way “The most worrying aspect of this was the cur- he formulated the email to Anne leaves him plenty of sory way in which it was dealt with,” says Wilsdon. “I room to say: ‘I never said there wouldn’t be a CSA’,” thought they might take longer to reach a decision, says the Brussels source. “He could claim there’s been and spend time talking to people. But Juncker refused a huge misunderstanding.” to engage in a serious way with Glover, which strikes It is also possible that Juncker me as utterly self-defeating.” will do nothing, believing he has the Every new opportunity As the news broke, research leaders expressed their right structures in place already. “He for research funding annoyance that the CSA post was not being renewed. could just ignore it, as he has ignored from every sponsor in the EU, US & beyond “This sends a signal that science and its role in policy- all previous debates on the CSA, and making has been downgraded at a time when Europe delay a decision until nobody’s asking Independent news needs to do all it can to support innovation through for it any more,” says the source. “It’s Direct from Brussels an effective, realist and evidence-led policy frame- a very popular political tactic.” Issue No. 398 2 editorial Research Europe, 20 November 2014 Edited by Colin Macilwain [email protected] Tel: +44 20 7216 6500 Fax: +44 20 7216 6501 Unit 111, 134-146 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AR elsewhere “It would be good to find something Wrong rift totally unexpected.” Fabiola Gianotti, the next director-general of the particle physics laboratory Cern, sets her first goal. Horizon Magazine, 7/11/14. Anguish over losing the chief scientific adviser is “Proposals are only useful if they are largely confined to one side of the English Channel adopted, accepted and implemented properly on the ground.” The European Commission’s vice-president The departure of Anne Glover as chief scientific adviser to the president Frans Timmermans explains why the of the European Commission has been widely and unsympathetically por- Commission will collaborate with the European Parliament from the outset on trayed, at least in the UK media, as a symptom of anti-science sentiment future work programmes. Pan-European on the part of the Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Networks, 12/11/14. Scientific leaders who worked with Glover are understandably disap- pointed that the role hasn’t been retained. Some say that Juncker’s team “Those who fit in the category of ‘good sci- entists’ in the current peer-review-based doesn’t care about research, or that it takes issue with Glover’s well-publi- evaluation criteria may not always be so.” cised views, criticised by environmentalists, on genetically modified crops. Guillermo Orts-Gil, who leads a Max Planck nanotechnology research group in Germany, Neither assertion rings true. Research is more prominent in the EU’s says citizen engagement may soon equal budget plan—which Juncker was instrumental in framing as head of the citation rates in evaluations of job Eurogroup—than ever before. There is nothing in his public statements or performance. Euroscientist, 12/11/14. his reputation at the European Parliament (or back home in Luxembourg) “No must mean no.” to suggest that he carries any anti-science agenda in the sense of reject- European Green party spokesman Bart Staes ing scientific evidence in policy-making on ideological grounds. says it’s important for member states to have the right to opt out of trials of genetically And the idea that Juncker, a mainstream, pro-business conservative, modified crops. EurActiv, 12/11/14. is dropping Glover at the behest of the Greens is almost laughable. It is a fantasy to think that a handful of popular but poorly financed pressure “We definitely need to improve the tech- nology in all different energy sectors.” groups such as Greenpeace could hold such sway in Brussels. Giovanni De Santi, director of the Joint It is true that Glover made trouble for herself by taking a strident pub- Research Centre’s energy research institute, lic position on the issue of GM crops, which deeply divides EU member says the 2015 Strategic Energy Technology Plan should not attempt to prioritise too states. She struggled to acknowledge the case against the technology, much. Science Business, 13/11/14. last year describing it unhelpfully to The Scotsman as “a form of mad- ness”. Perhaps as a laboratory biologist, she was simply unaware of the “Maybe today we didn’t just land once, but twice.” powerful ecological arguments against GM crops. If so, her misunder- European Space Agency project manager standing may inadvertently demonstrate one of the reasons the CSA post Stephan Ulamec says a small bounce explains is not being renewed. the confusion about whether the Philae Different nations around the world have traditionally taken very differ- comet probe had landed. Science, 12/11/14. ent approaches to receiving scientific and technical advice. The concept “It is never entirely clear what the of a single CSA is essentially an Anglo-American one. The idea has never numbers really mean, especially in light of endemic corruption and misconduct.” taken root in France, Germany or any other major European nation, and Richard Suttmeier, a researcher of Chinese has not been employed in China or Japan. policy at the University of Oregon in the The idea of a single, politically appointed figurehead for science and United States, says reports that China may outspend the US on R&D by 2020 may be technology advice does not sit well with federalism or with the concept exaggerated. Nature, 12/11/14. of a democracy in which everyone should be allowed a voice. In Germany, for example, the influential Wissenschaftsrat is painstakingly constructed to reflect various different perspectives from all parts of the country. decade Everyone in Brussels is all too familiar with the infuriating tendency of the British to assume that theirs is the best way of doing things and “The research market is very that they are enduring any different approaches within the EU almost on sufferance. far away from being open.” Since Glover’s appointment by José Manuel Barroso in 2011, the onus Peter Nijkamp, chairman of the has been on advocates of the CSA approach to show that it can be genu- Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, says national research councils inely representative and effective.