Česky
President Václav Klaus reappointed Jiří Drahoš as a head of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
19 Feb 2013
Physical chemist Jiří Drahoš has been heading the AS CR since 2009. Last December, the Academy Assembly – the highest body of the AS CR responsible for the foremost priority decisions related to the institution, re-elected Professor Jiří Drahoš by a secret ballot as the new candidate for the presidency for the period 2013–2017. Jiří Drahoš said he would like to change the funding of science and was planning to establish a forum for the cooperation of academics and industrialists.
ERC Advanced Grant for Eduard Feireisl
18 Feb 2013
Eduard Feireisl's ERC Advanced Grant proposal "MATHEF – Mathematical Thermodynamics of Fluids" has been selected for funding in the period 2013–2018. A great success of the Czech mathematics as this is the first ERC Advanced Grant for mathematics in the Czech Republic and the only one assigned to a Czech scientist this year. Eduard Feireisl was the chair of the Scientific Committee of the 6th European Congress of Mathematics in Kraków, 2012, and is also the chair of the Scientific Committee of Equadiff 13 in Praha, 2013. A call for a PhD. student to work in the grant is open; for details see the http://www.math.cas.cz/.
Great interest from ERC grantees in hosting early-career top US talent
18 Feb 2013
The recent initiative between the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and European Research Council (ERC) has been taken a step further since last summer. The agreement, which provides opportunities for early-career NSF researchers to join ERC-funded teams in Europe, seems to resonate with ERC grantees; just over 760 already showed great interest in hosting talent from the US.
ERC funds 60 innovative projects to bring 'blue sky' research towards market
14 Feb 2013
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the outcome of the latest round of its top-up funding scheme 'Proof of Concept'. Worth up to €150,000 each, these grants provide funding for researchers, who are already ERC grantees, to bridge the gap between their research and marketable innovation. In this call, a total of 60 grants have now been awarded, of which the final 27 were made public today. The first 33 grants were announced in September 2012.
The Application of Next Generation Sequencing
11 Feb 2013
Biology Centre CAS, Institute of Plant Molecular Biology in České Budějovice, organizes the 2nd Workshop on the Application of Next Generation Sequencing to Repetitive DNA Analysis in Plants. It will take place on February 13–15, 2013. More information here.
Euroscience Open Calls
6 Feb 2013
Euroscience is a European non-profit grassroots association open to research professionals, teachers, students, science administrators, policy-makers, etc. and generally to any citizen interested in science and technology and its links with society. It represents not only European scientists of all ages, disciplines and nationalities but also the business sector and public institutions such as universities and research institutes. Euroscience announced the Call for the following events.
Hotson: The idea of a fully marketized university system is ludicrous
17 Jan 2013
The Institute of Philosophy of ASCR on November 26–27, 2012 hosted two lectures by Howard Hotson, professor of early modern intellectual history at the University of Oxford and steering committee chair of the Council for the Defence of British Universities. You can read an interview with him. The lecture Understanding the Global University Crisis: The Marketisation of English Higher Education in International Perspective is available on-line.
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15 Dec 2012
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) celebrates fifty years since the signing of its founding convention. Over the last half century ESO has become the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory. The signing of the ESO Convention on October, 5, 1962 and the foundation of ESO was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries — Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. They had decided to join forces with the primary goal of building a large telescope that would give them access to the magnificent and rich southern sky. Operating three unique and world-class observing sites in Chile (La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor) ESO has become a leader in the astronomical research community. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, ESO and its partners (including the Czech Republic) are organising many events and public initiatives during 2012.
Nobel laureates meet Presidents of EU institutions to warn against cuts to the EU research budget
15 Nov 2012
A delegation led by Nobel laureates meets the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, to urge EU leaders to secure the future budget for research and innovation Horizon 2020. They will hand in an open letter, signed by 44 Nobel laureates and 6 Fields medallists, warning against the dramatic consequences of possible budget cuts in research and innovation. The delegation will also draw attention to a petition “No cuts on research” in support of this cause; to date signed by over 131 000 citizens in Europe and across the globe. These Europe-wide initiatives are launched ahead of the 22-23 November European summit on the overall EU budget for 2014 till 2020.
Statement by the ERC Scientific Council on the Open Letter from 42 Nobel laureates to EU leaders
26 Oct 2012
On 23 October, 42 Nobel laureates and 5 Fields medallists warned against cutting the future EU research budget, in an open letter addressed to EU Heads of State or Government and Presidents of EU institutions. This appeal comes ahead of a special European summit on 22 and 23 November, where leaders will decide the overall EU budget for 2014 till 2020. Researchers from various scientific fields and different parts of Europe immediately responded to the open letter by launching a petition for securing the EU research and innovation budget. The ERC Scientific Council is overwhelmed by the resonance the open letter had in the research community and in the media. The letter was published by over 20 top newspapers across Europe. The online petition has collected over 40,000 signatures in the first day, and the Scientific Council expects that many more researchers will rally to support this call, initiated by the younger generation.