European-funded Projects Research Articles

GEOSTAR deep seafloor missions: magnetic data analysis and 1D geoelectric structure underneath the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea

From 2000 to 2005 two geophysical exploration missions were undertaken in the Tyrrhenian deep seafloor at depths between -2000 and -3000 m in the framework of the European-funded GEOSTAR Projects. The considered missions in this work are GEOSTAR-2 and ORION-GEOSTAR-3 with the main scientific objective of investigating the deep-seafloor by means of an automatic multiparameter benthic observatory station working continuously from around 5 to 12 months each time. During the two GEOSTAR deep seafloor missions, scalar and vector magnetometers acquired useful magnetic data both to improve global and regional geomagnetic reference models and to infer specific geoelectric information about the two sites of magnetic measurements by means of a forward modelling.

Public health research – multidisciplinary, high-benefit, undervalued

The major health problems faced by policy-makers and practitioners at national and local levels require public health approaches. However, public health research is the “poor relative” of biomedical research: it is worthy, but not rich. In the European Commission's health research programme, biomedicine gets 90% of the funding, whereas public health research gets less than 10%. This pattern is repeated nationally in most countries, reflecting public policies to support industries – pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices – where profits are to be made, rather than not-for-profit, public health research. SPHERE, a study coordinated through the European Public Health Association, conducted bibliometric analyses across public health research themes and mapped the European and national structures and priorities for research. Whilst most European countries have national strategies (and some programmes) for public health, few have public health research strategies and the coordination of public health research is weak. Three further studies are being undertaken. In STEPS, the contribution of civil society organizations in the new EU member states to public health research will be discussed at national workshops with the ministries of health, the science/research councils and the national public health associations. In PHIRE, thematic Sections and the national member associations together evaluate the impact of European-funded health projects within member states. In FAHRE, the specific theme of food and health will be addressed, bridging industry and non-profit research sectors. Arguments for public health research can be made through lobbying at European level, but researchers and practitioners also need to influence the development of public health research within individual countries – leading to a European Public Health Research Area.

REALIZING ‘EU-TOPIA’:

The paper seeks to provide an insider's view into the implementation of goals set by the European Commission for socio-economic research. By analysing project coordinators’ responses to questionnaires (n=88), several aspects of the emergence of a European social science research community are examined. Focus is placed on three ‘European Added Values’, defined within two subsequent calls for research proposals and funding opportunities: framework programmes 4 and 5 (1994–1998, and 1998–2002 accordingly). These ‘Added Values’ will set the expected features of European-funded research projects, and will include: (1) transnationality – the involvement of researchers from a variety of EU states; (2) applied research – the potential implementation of outcomes in socioeconomic policy; and (3) interdisciplinarity – the integration and collaboration of different disciplinary perspectives. These ‘ideals’ were tested against reports as to the reality of the research practices, and found to have a significant compatibility, as well as several discrepancies, with the objectives set out by the EU research committee. This paper allows for an understanding of the dynamics of European research consortia, and the factors involved in the success or failure in attaining the overarching goals of the EU Commission.