Brussels News Update, Jannuary 2021

Hey, welcome to the Brussels News Updates (BNU), EuChemS newsletter for policy makers, chemists, entrepreneurs and citizens with an interest in chemistry. The BNU newsletter will keep you up to date on the latest chemistry-related and science-policy news, awards, consultations and upcoming events in Europe. This month, we are inviting you to join our EuChemS @Global Women’s Breakfast online event and to read about the changes at the EuChemS Executive Board.

At the policy level, Portugal has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Innovation Council acquired financing to invest in start-ups and STOA entered into a partnership on AI with the OECD’s Global Parliamentary Network. We also bring our readers’ attention to the upcoming ERC grants, the European Sustainable Chemistry Award (ESCA) and the EFMC Prizes.

We hope you will find interesting news in the January BNU edition and invite you to tell us what you would like to read about in the coming 2021 issues of the BNU.

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You can read the full newsletter online here!

European Highlights, Research, Innovation, Education, Entrepreneurship

EuChemS 1st @Global Women's Breakfast 2021 
The European Chemical Society cordially invites you all to join our 1st Global Women’s Breakfast on Tuesday 9 February 2021, 10:00 CET, on Zoom.

During this online event, panellists from the European Chemistry community will discuss diversity empowerment in the chemical sciences. Focus will be given to leadership development, building professional networks and STEM education for school-age girls.

Read more about it here.

EuChemS Executive Board: 2021 changes 
The year 2021 starts with some changes at the EuChemS Executive Board.
On 1 January, Professor Floris Rutjes started his mandate as the EuChemS President. He succeeds Professor Pilar Goya, who will continue to serve at the Executive Board as the Vice-President.

Read our full debrief here.

Portugal takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union
On 1 January 2021, Portugal has officially taken over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Germany, 35 years after its accession to the European Union. This is the fourth time that Portugal chairs the Council of the European Union. Portugal is part of the Trio Presidency during the period from 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2021, with Germany and Slovenia.

Given the current global pandemic situation, Portugal is committed to promoting a resilient, social, green, digital and global Europe. ‘Time to deliver: a fair, green and digital recovery’ is Portugal’s motto for its 6-month Presidency.

Read the full article here.

 

European Innovation Council Fund for start-ups
Earlier in January, the European Commission announced in a press release the first round of direct equity investment through the new European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. EIC acquires a financing of around €178 million to invest in 42 start-ups and SMEs.

Read the full article here. 

Partnerships on AI between STOA and OECD’s Global Parliamentary Network
The panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) and the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) are entering into a partnership on artificial intelligence (AI) with the OECD’s Global Parliamentary Network (GPN). Joining forces will enhance the dialogue and exchange of best practices across Parliaments on AI related issues. Subsequently, it will boost the outreach, relevance and value of both organisations to parliamentarians, policymakers and citizens worldwide.

Read our full debrief here.

New rule on transparency of the EU risk assessment in the food chain

On 21 March 2021, the new regulation on the transparency of risk assessment in the food chain will become applicable. This regulation aims at ensuring more transparency of the EU risk assessment in the food chain, increasing the independence of studies used by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), strengthening the governance and the scientific cooperation of EFSA to guarantee its long-term sustainability, and developing comprehensive risk communication.

Read our full debrief here.

Consultations & Roadmap

European Commission Public Consultations and Roadmaps
A number of consultations and roadmaps put forward by the European Commission are currently open:

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) public consultations
A number of consultations put forward by ECHA are currently open.
You can take a look at them here.

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) public consultations
A number of consultations put forward by EFSA are currently open.
You can take a look at them here.

Fundings, Nominations & Awards

European Sustainable Chemistry Award (ESCA) 
EuChemS recognises the achievements of individual scientists and teams through the European Sustainable Chemistry Award (ESCA). The European Sustainable Chemistry Award is intended to be a prestigious scheme which will raise the profile of sustainable chemistry and be a spur to innovation and competitiveness.

Deadline: 1 February 2021

Submit your nomination here.

ERC Grants: Call calendar 2021 — Tentative dates

  • Starting Grants | ERC-2021-StG
    Open: tbc
    Deadline: 9 March 2021
  • Consolidator Grants | ERC-2021-CoG
    Open: tbc
    Deadline: 20 April 2021
  • Advanced Grants | ERC-2021-AdG
    Open: tbc
    Deadline: 31 August 2021

The dates are subject to the adoption of Horizon Europe and the ERC Work Programme 2021.
Website: https://erc.europa.eu/

EFMC Prizes 2021: Call for nominations

  • EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist or Chemical Biologist in Industry
  • EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist or Chemical Biologist in Academia
  • EFMC-YSN PhD Prize

Deadlines:
You can submit nominations for the 3 prizes until 31 January 2021.
Uploading the necessary documents will be possible until 3 February 2021

Website: https://bit.ly/3izvWcF

EuChemS Events

In the current environment and status of COVID-19, some events recognised by EuChemS are being postponed or cancelled.
For more details on the upcoming events from the EuChemS Events Calendar, which is being updated on a regular basis, please click here.

EuChemS @Global Women’s Breakfast 2021
9 February 2021
Online
Visit the website! 

1st Greenering International Conference
15-17 February 2021
Lisbon, Portugal
Visit the website!

Read the full BNU newsletter here

EuChemS aisbl - Rue du Trône 62, 1050, Brussels, Belgium; www.euchems.eu. Produced for EuChemS by Nineta Hrastelj, Laura Jousset and Jelena Lazić. This newsletter has been carefully prepared and only contains correct information to the best of EuChemS´ knowledge, however this does not exclude the possibility of existence of incorrect information. EuChemS cannot be liable for the use or misuse of any information, whether correct or incorrect, present at this newsletter. Intellectual property belongs to its rightful owners, always explicitly traceable on each article. Compilation Copyright © 2020 EuChemS

Céline Wittwer, SCS
22.01.2021

Launch of the new SCS Website

We are proud to announce the official launch of the new SCS website. The aim of the project was to provide a modern website with clearly structured content that also fulfills the today's safety standards. The site reflects the four business areas in which SCS is active: Events, Networks, Awards and Publishing.

Structure and Content
Notable the direct access buttons on the home site provides an easy access to all relevant contents. The portals of our thematic and social communities reflects the activities of the divisions, sections and networks and bundles the information per target groups. We not only provided information about current and future initiatives but we have also prepared the SCS history in archives.

Member login
We are still migrating the membership data to the new platform and the process should be finished by early next week. All our members will receive an activation mail to check their data and to set a new password. 

We are confident that the new improved website will serve the community and pose an accurate platform for scientific exchange in all fields of chemistry as well as for networking.

 

David Spichiger, Céline Wittwer, SCS
20.01.2020

Registration open for the online version of IUPAC GWB2021 in February

The IUPAC Global Women’s Breakfast is an annual initiative aiming to enhance diversity in science – in 2020, nearly 250 individual events took place in more than 50 countries across the globe and included 3 events in Switzerland. Although this year’s event, Empowering Diversity in Science, cannot take place in its usual form, as an alternative we would like to invite you to an evening of trivia and virtual networking!

IUPAC GWB2021 - Happy Hour Trivia virtual event taking place on Tuesday, February 9th from 17:30 to 19:30.

Additional information and registration is available until February 3rd using this link. The event is open to anyone (all genders) working and/or studying in Switzerland.

Céline Wittwer, SCS
08.01.2021

RSC Prizes: nominate your candidate

Nominations close in four categories of RSCPrizes at 5pm (GMT) on 18 January. So if you know someone who deserves recognition, don’t miss this chance to celebrate their achievements.

Each year, the Royal Society proudly recognises excellence in the chemical sciences – but they need to make sure that the ways they reward and recognise modern scientific excellence are fit for today’s needs, and continue to deliver the maximum impact for chemical scientists, chemistry and society. This year they are excited to begin implementing the findings of that review – leading the way in evolving the ways that recognition takes place across the scientific community.

If you are thinking of nominating an individual or team for one of our prizes – perhaps for the first time – what are the things that you should be thinking about?
Click here for more information. 

Céline Wittwer, SCS
07.01.2021

swissethics publishes recommendations on research adapted to gender

Gender equity in research is an important issue: there are significant differences between men and women in many clinical drug trials, as well as in non-clinical trials with persons or in research projects of further use of health-related personal data and biological material.

The published recommendations address essential steps towards equitable research between the sexes, with ethics commissions playing an important role in the evaluation of the applications.

Links:
The recommendations are published in >German and >French.

Céline Wittwer, SCS
04.01.2021

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