EuChemS Brussels News Updates, July 2019

Hello and welcome to the July edition of Brussels News Updates, the monthly EuChemS newsletter keeping you up-to-date on the latest science-policy issues, news and upcoming events and awards.

From unveiling another EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award to joining chemists from across the world in Paris at the 47^th IUPAC Congress, without forgetting the many major developments in the European Commission and Parliament, it has been a busy few weeks. But BNU is here to keep you in the loop and bring you the latest on our activities, upcoming events and much more besides!

Happy reading

You can read the full newsletter online here. 

---

European Highlights, Research, Innovation, Education, Entrepreneurship

EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award unveiled on the island of Crete
On 25 and 26 June, Chania, on the Greek island of Crete, witnessed the unveiling of the first regional EuChemS Historical Landmarks Award plaque, awarded to the industrial complex of ABEA. The site was to become in the 19^th century, through the spectacular contribution of chemistry, a major player in the regional development of the island through the making of soaps derived from olive oil. Read the full story.

Chemists from across the world celebrate IUPAC centenary
A week-long event combined the 47^th IUPAC Congress, the IUPAC General Assembly, and the celebrations of its 100-year anniversary. A EuChemS exhibition stand enabled participants to come and talk to our team, better understand the goals and activities of EuChemS and to find out more about upcoming events and projects. Read our full debrief on the event here.

Post-elections Brussels update
With the European Parliament political groups now formed, Members of the Parliament (MEPs) divided themselves into the different Committee groups. The Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), which played an important role in the formulation of the next EU research programme Horizon Europe, has retained many of the leading MEPs on the dossier, including Dan Nica, Christian Ehler and Jerzy Buzek. Read the full update here.

Finland begins EU Presidency
Finland began its third EU Presidency this month following the six-month Presidency of Romania. Finland has chosen the motto of ‘Sustainable Europe, sustainable future’ and has set priorities linked to strengthening the EU’s position as a global leader in climate action whilst preparing to play an important role in finalising Horizon Europe. Click for more information.

EU chemicals latest
It has been a busy month for EU chemicals legislators. First up, the latest European Chemical Agency’s (ECHA) Committee for Risk Assessment on which EuChemS sits, met in order to discuss the increasing list of topics that the EU agency is looking at, with a special focus on microplastics.  Meanwhile, policymakers, scientists and representatives from associations and industry attended the EU conference on EU Chemicals Policy 2030, which aimed to lay out the central aspects of the EU’s chemical policy in the coming years. Read the full debrief here.

Pesticides and bees
The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has outlined how it plans to review its guidance on the risk assessment of pesticides and bees in the EU. More regular consultations with stakeholders and pesticide experts from EU Member States will take place throughout the process. A full public consultation and workshop will take place when the document has been drafted. Read more about this here.

---

Consultations & Roadmap

Take part in co-designing Horizon Europe!
Are you a scientist or interested citizen?  Take part in the 20-minute survey to shape EU science! EuChemS will in turn also prepare an official response, to which you can also contribute by contacting us directly.
More information here.

Industrial emissions - evaluating EU rules
EU rules on industrial emissions aim to prevent or reduce pollution and waste generation from certain large industrial installations. The European Commission has launched a public consultation in order to assess how the EU rules are working and whether they benefit the public and industry.
If you would like to contribute to an EuChemS response, please drop us a line.
Deadline for feedback: 20 August 2019

---

Fundings, Nominations & Awards

European Chemistry Gold Medal
Every two years, the exceptional achievements of one scientist working in the field of chemistry in Europe are rewarded. The winner is awarded a gold medal and the opportunity to give the opening lecture at the next EuChemS Chemistry Congress (ECC). 
Deadline: 30 September 2019
Website: https://www.euchems.eu/awards/european-chemistry-gold-medal/

Horizon 2020: Sustainable Nano-fabrication
The challenge is to establish industrial scale manufacturing of functional systems based on manufactured nanoparticles with designed properties for use in semiconductors, energy harvesting and storage, waste heat recovery, medicine, etc.
Deadline: 3 September 2019
Website: https://bit.ly/2xJJLP1

---

EuChemS Events

12th International Conference on the History of Chemistry (12ICHC)
29 July – 2 August 2019
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Website: https://bit.ly/2XMeQMp

6th International Conference on the Chemistry and Physics of the Transactinide Elements (TAN 19)
25 – 30 August 2019
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Website: https://bit.ly/2qtx72Q

Chemistry meets Industry and Society: a creative showcase conference
28 – 30 August 2019
Salerno, Italy
Website: https://bit.ly/30wVMDB

XX Euroanalysis 2019
1 – 5 September 2019
Istanbul, Turkey
Website: https://bit.ly/2JGjUx2

Celebrating D.I. Mendeleev’s Periodic System: a Historical Perspective
10 – 13 September 2019
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Website: https://bit.ly/2Lm0PDq

GDCh-Wissenschaftsforum Chemie 2019 (WiFo 2019)
15 – 18 September2019
Aachen, Germany
Website: https://bit.ly/2Oolcgk

---

Other Events

ICSD 2019: 7^th International Conference on Sustainable Development
4 – 5 September 2019
Rome, Italy
Website: https://bit.ly/2E3RICX

European Research and Innovation Days
24 – 26 September 2019
Brussels, Belgium
Website: https://bit.ly/2uNYJBS

Workshop on integrated sustainable nitrogen management
30 September – 2 October 2019
Brussels, Belgium
Website: https://bit.ly/2JGSCX7

---

EuChemS aisbl - Rue du Trône 62, 1050, Brussels, Belgium; www.euchems.eu. Produced for EuChemS by Nineta Hrastelj, Alex Schiphorst and Marta Kucza. 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 © 2019 EuChemS

IAESTE – Your partner for international exchange

The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) is an organization for the exchange of students at higher education institutions wishing to obtain technical experience abroad.

The aim of IAESTE is:
to provide science & engineering students with training experience abroad that is relevant to their studies to offer Swiss employers well-qualified and motivated foreign trainees to be a source of cultural enrichment for trainees and their host employers

Interested in a traineeship abroad?
Are you enrolled at a Swiss university or an institute of applied science? Would you like to gain international work experience? Are you open-minded and interested in intercultural exchange? If this applies to you, an IAESTE traineeship is exactly the right choice for you.

Interested in foreign interns?
By employing a foreign trainee…
…you enlarge your international network.
…you strengthen the intercultural competence of your team and enrich your daily working life.
…you contribute to the promotion of Swiss students as young professionals, as for each internship in Switzerland, one internship abroad will be available for a Swiss student.

More information on https://www.iaeste.ch/en/

 

 

---

David Spichiger, SCS
17.07.2019

 

1st Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum, Basel, 09.09.2019

1^st Basel Sustainable Publishing Forum -
Dialog with Learned Societies:
Sustainable Solutions for Successful Transition to Open Access

Monday 9 September 2019
Kollegienhaus, University ofBasel, Petersplatz 1, Basel, Switzerland
www.sci.fo/619

Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing that was launched in September 2018. The plan is supported by an international consortium of research funders, named cOAlition S. Plan S requires that, as of 2021, all scientific publications resulting from public funding is published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms. While the principles and implementation guidelines have been clearly stated and updated recently, many concerns were raised, especially concerning the stability of the evaluation system and the stability of the research ecosystem.



At the center of these concerns are Learned societies which often strongly rely on publishing revenues to ensure the viability of all the activities done for their scientific communities. This dialog day aims to bring together representatives of Learned Societies to hear from them and understand the challenges that they are facing to transition/flip their journals to Open Access.
After getting the big picture from representatives of cOAlition S, we will hold open discussions with a broad range of stakeholders, including various publishers and publishing platforms. This will be a unique opportunity to share with and learn from other learned societies and help each Learned Society face its own challenges and identify sustainable and scalable solutions for successful Open Access transition.

The University of Basel and the MDPI Sustainability Foundation look forward to welcoming you in Basel!

---

Conference Chairs

• Ed Constable, Department of Chemistry, University of Basel
• Max Bergman, Social Research and Methodology Group (SRaM), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Moderator

• Silke Bellanger, University Library, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Advisory Program Committee

• Saskia C. J. de Vries, Sampan -academia and publishing, Leiden, The Netherlands
• Johan E.C.V. Rooryck, Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

Speakers

• Alicia Wise, Information Power, Winchester, United Kingdom
• Jan Erik Frantsvåg, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
• David Spichiger, Swiss Chemical Society, Bern, Switzerland
• Anke Berger, Swiss TPH, Basel, Switzerland
• Kai Sassenberg, Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tuebingen, Germany
• Bart van Tiggelen, EuropeanPhysicsLetterAssociation Grenoble, France
• Michael Markie, F1000, London, United Kingdom
• Martin Rasmussen, Copernicus GmbH, Göttingen, Germany
• Martyn Rittman, MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
• Kathryn Sharples, John Wiley and Sons, Oxford, United Kingdom
• Brian Hole, Ubiquity Press, Berkeley (CA), USA

Conference Organizer

• Franck Vazquez, MDPI AG, on behalf of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, Basel, Switzerland

 

---

David Spichiger, SCS
12.07.2019

 

 

 

SCNAT Newsletter, June 2019/6

---

«I trust science, but…» – ScienceComm ’19
Der Schweizer Jahreskongress der Wissenschaftskommunikation am 19. und 20. September 2019 in Biel diskutiert das Vertrauen in die Wissenschaft. Jetzt anmelden! Weiter

Wasser unter Druck – ProClim Flash Nr. 70
Die aktuelle Ausgabe des ProClim Flash, der Schweizer Zeitschrift für Klima und globalen Wandel, widmet sich in seinem Schwerpunkt der konfliktträchtigen Ressource Wasser. Weiter

Apply now for the Prix Schläfli 2020
The Swiss Academy of Sciences awards the Prix Schläfli to young scientists for excellent scientific articles resulting from Swiss PhDs in biology, chemistry, geosciences and astronomy. More

Gezeichnete Biodiversität
Schülerinnen und Schüler aus der ganzen Schweiz liessen sich von der Biodiversität künstlerisch inspirieren. Insgesamt 2394 Zeichnungen reichten sie beim jährlichen Zeichnungswettbewerb der Schweizerischen Vereinigung für Qualitäts- und Managementsysteme ein. Eine Jury, in der auch das Forum Biodiversität der SCNAT vertreten war, hat die besten Werke auszeichnet. Laut der Jury sind die meisten Arbeiten von hoher Qualität und zeigen ein gutes Verständnis dafür, was Biodiversität ist und welchen Bedrohungen sie ausgesetzt ist. Weiter

Shaping a sustainable research culture: freedom is a prerequisite for creativity 
One of the problems with scientific culture is growing pressure, summarizes Simone Schürle of the ETH Department of Health Sciences and Technology at this year’s «We Scientists 2035» workshop in Lausanne. And a mind focused on the struggle to stay afloat is rarely a source of fresh and bold ideas; some freedom is a prerequisite for creativity. Organized by SCNAT, the workshop brought together natural scientists from different career stages to discuss novel ideas about research culture and generate concrete actions for how it might be improved. More

On the origin of the elements: 150 years of the Periodic Table
The Swiss Physical Society and the Platform Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics (MAP) of SCNAT celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Elements (IYPT 2019) with a special symposium on 30 August 2019 in Zurich. Three overview talks will highlight the role of physics in the IYPT2019. Given by renowned specialists, they will cover the history of the discovery of the 118 elements, Big Bang and stellar nucleosynthesis, and the creation of heavy elements in stellar explosions. Each presentation will allow for enough time to answer questions from the audience. More

Was wird in Pärken von nationaler Bedeutung geforscht?
Am 29. Oktober 2019 organisiert Parkforschung Schweiz in Bern zum dritten Mal eine Tagung zur Forschung in Pärken von nationaler Bedeutung und Unesco-Welterbe-Stätten. Die Veranstaltung zeigt auf, welche Forschungsthemen in Schweizer Pärken untersucht werden, reflektiert Ergebnisse gemeinsam mit der Praxis und identifiziert Forschungslücken. Weiter 

Geoscience goes underground – 17th Swiss Geoscience Meeting
Knowledge of the shallow and deep underground has ever-growing importance in modern society. This is especially true for Switzerland, which has a longstanding tradition of exploring the deep that was acquired over the course of decades of building tunnels throughout its territories. The extraction of geothermal energy, building management, and land use planning will increasingly rely on knowledge of the near and deep subsurface geology. Besides the plenary session about this topic, 25 scientific symposia will cover the latest advances in research in geosciences. The Swiss Geoscience Meeting will be held on 22 and 23 November 2019 in Fribourg. More 

How can science contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals?
The current Gaia issue focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need of taking action now in order to start the transformation towards the desired state, and how this poses challenges to science and academia: How can science and research contribute to this transformation and produce the necessary knowledge to reach the SDGs? This issue entails various ideas for possible options and solutions. The Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries (KFPE) of SCNAT, in collaboration with researchers from the Global South and North, contributed with an article about leveraging research partnerships to achieve the 2030 Agenda. More

Forschende in der Krisenzone
Barry Marshall trank 1984 eine Bakterienkultur mit Helicobacter pylori und heilte sich wieder mit Antibiotika. So konnte der australische Arzt einen wichtigen Beleg dafür liefern, dass Magengeschwüre von Bakterien verursacht werden und nicht etwa durch Stress oder scharfes Essen. Wissenschaft ist da, um Grenzen zu sprengen. Und das geht nicht ohne Wagnis. Denn niemand weiss von vornherein, was sich hinter den Grenzen befindet. Wie Forschende sich mit der Gefahr arrangieren, lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe des Wissenschaftsmagazins «Horizonte». Weiter

 

---

Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz (SCNAT)
Haus der Akademien | Laupenstrasse 7 | 3008 Bern
Andres Jordi | Tel. 031 306 93 23 | www.scnat.ch
Fragen und Anregungen: