Advisory group said it expects to be kept on, as it delivered new report
The EU’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors said that it expects its setup and role to continue into the next European Commission term due to start on 1 November, as it published an opinion paper on European science advice.
“I have no indication that there will be a modification related to the Scientific Advice Mechanism,” Rolf Heuer, the chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors that forms part of the SAM alongside input from learned academies, told Research Professional News on 26 September.
Heuer said he was “confident” that the SAM would continue within the Commission’s R&D department “in the same way as during the previous years”. However, he said that final confirmation could only come when the new Commission term starts.
Speaking at the Commission’s Research and Innovation Days conference in Brussels on the same day, deputy group chairwoman Pearl Dykstra echoed Heuer’s comments. “There are no indications that we would not continue,” she said. “We’ve proven to be successful—and we also see that other countries are adopting our model, so that’s quite encouraging.”
Ursula von der Leyen is due to take over the Commission presidency from Jean-Claude Juncker, who completely revamped the organisation’s science advice setup when his term started in 2014. He scrapped the post of an individual chief scientific adviser reporting directly to him and replaced it with the SAM, which reports to the research commissioner.
The incoming president will set the tone for how the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors works, Dykstra said. “We are very carefully studying Von der Leyen’s commission letters to see what her plans are, so we can use them as a hook or hanger for how we can position our advice,” she said.
Earlier in the day, the group made public its recommendations on how science can better support European policymaking. It presented three broad recommendations, calling for early and regular engagement, high quality and communication of uncertainties.
“Scientists and policymakers should define the questions for policy advice together, involving stakeholders and the public, to ensure robust and high-quality science advice,” the group said. It called for the representation of diverse viewpoints across disciplines, including natural sciences, engineering, medicine, social sciences and humanities.