Embracing variety

Pär Omling, the head of the European Science Foundation and a former vice-president of Science Europe, tells Jenny Maukola why the ERA needs diversity.

Since the European Commission presented its concept of a European Research Area—a common market for scientific knowledge—in 2000, there have been repeated claims that national governments and funding agencies should be doing far more to make it happen.

But according to Pär Omling, a Swedish physicist and member of the board at Science Europe, an association of research organisations and national funding agencies, these claims are sometimes overdone. It’s important, says Omling, to step back a few years and acknowledge that Europe has already made great strides in defining and working towards common goals.