European Research Area Research Articles

Europe 2020 and the European Research Area: the response by three small European countries

Both Europe 2020 and the European Research Area initiatives seek to better prepare the European Union (EU) to compete in the future. Towards this end, both programs encourage more scientific publications and international collaboration by the European member-states. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the smallest EU member-states and their respective universities (Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Malta), and how they have responded to these efforts. Our observation periods are divided between 2005–2010 and 2011–2016 with the latter being after the announcement of Europe 2020 in 2010. Our findings are that all three universities published many more articles in the second period. In addition, two of the universities had higher collaboration scores. However, while more international collaboration is usually associated with a higher impact of articles, our results are somewhat mixed. It seems that smaller countries benefit from international collaboration, but they must not move too far away from any distinctive scientific competences they have already developed. We also provide detailed mapping of the countries with whom the universities collaborated.

Introduction: Measuring the impact of arts and humanities research in Europe

The idea for a special section of Research Evaluation for measuring the impact or public value of arts and humanities research (AHR) emerged from the 4-year HeraValue project that started in 2009. HeraValue was funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) organization, a collaborative effort between more than 20 European research funding agencies to support transnational humanities research. The HeraValue project sought to explore how different stakeholders make implicit and explicit statements and judgements about the value of AHR. These research areas had seen persistent failures in the development of performance measures, a failure that might be damaging but could be explained by dissonances between different stakeholder groups.

‘Publication favela’ or bibliodiversity? Open access publishing viewed from a European perspective

A number of initiatives exist in European countries to support open scholarly communication in humanities and social sciences. This article looks at the work of Open Access in the European Research Area through Scholarly Communication (OPERAS), a consortium of 36 partners from all over Europe, including many university presses, that is working to build a future European infrastructure to address the challenges in open access publishing. Their initial study, OPERAS‐D, revealed a variety of models among the partners influenced by national cultures. Although the partners’ activities were found to be fragmented, they also reflect the ‘bibliodiversity’ that exists in European societies. To address the challenge of fragmentation, it is argued that, by following a cooperative model, European actors can benefit by sharing expertise, resources, and costs of development for the good of all. As a future infrastructure to support open scholarly communication across Europe, OPERAS aims to coordinate a range of publishers and service providers to offer researchers and societies a fully functional web of services to cover the entire research lifecycle.

ГЛОБАЛЬНІ ВИКЛИКИ ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ УКРАЇНИ

The article analyzes the reasons for the current state of development of the system of professional higher education of Ukraine; analyzed the global challenges of the beginning of the 21th century for the air defense system of Ukraine; and providing insights into international best practice of using external management models in higher education. On the basis of system approach, the analysis of a range of international conceptual, analytical and statistical documents as well as methods of empirical research, the effects of modern challenges on reforming the higher education system have been explored. An emphasis is made on the need to build an attractive and competitive system of professional higher education in Ukraine that will be integrated into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). The key directions to respond to challenges are offered: 1) ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens to free professional higher education on a competitive basis and equal access to high-quality professional higher education; 2) reorganization of the system of management of professional higher education, red tape reduction, decentralization, ensuring the autonomy and responsibility of higher education institutions; 3) the transformation of universities into centers of independent thought that are able to prepare professionals and generate ideas for accelerated modernization of the country; 4) ensuring fair competition between higher education institutions as a guarantee of high quality of professional higher education; 5) establishing an appropriate linkage between the labor market and the system of professional higher education; 6) integration of Ukraine’s professional higher education into the world and European education and research communities on the principles of human-centeredness, scientific substantiation, readiness for systemic changes, realistic strategy and step by step action; 7) ensuring fair competition in the educational services market through objective higher education quality assessment; 8) a combination of collegial and managerial approaches in higher education institutions management along with wide stakeholder engagement.

Free movement of people and capital and the standard of transnational academic mobility: Principles of governance in the European Research Area

The project of establishing a European community since World War II has been further advanced by adding - besides the four freedoms of free movement of goods, persons, services and capital - a fifth freedom – the free circulation of researchers, knowledge and technology – that intends to promote community building at the level of higher education and research and by creating of a European Research Area (ERA). Based on a study of academic careers of postdocs in Switzerland and secondary data, the paper aims to analyse the key governing principles implied in the standard of transnational academic mobility of ‘human capital’ as well as the experiences of individual researchers in coordinating their interests and lives in this context. We refer to the theoretical framework of the economics of conventions and regimes of engagements by Boltanski and Thévenot. We show that the policies, values and norms of the ERA and the standard of geographic mobility are, at their core, based on four conventions – industry, market, project and fame. This arrangement forces researchers to establish themselves as academic self-entrepreneurs in the knowledge market. In consequence, the mobility requirement of the ERA governance regime makes it difficult for individuals to engage in an individual plan, in familiarity and in exploration.

Early‐life dietary and epigenetic influences on childhood musculoskeletal health: Update on the UK component of the ALPHABET project

AbstractThe ALPHABET project, funded through the European Research Area Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life Biomarkers call, aims to expand the knowledge base regarding interactions between diet, epigenetics and offspring health, characterising biomarkers that may inform future health strategies. This review focuses on the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)‐funded component in which the aim was to (1) generate and collate early‐life epigenetic data and (2) investigate early diet and epigenetic marks as predictors of later bone health. The project builds on a wealth of evidence implicating environmental factors, such as maternal diet and body composition, as influences on the long‐term health and development of the offspring, and that these relationships might be mediated at least in part through epigenetic signals. Experimental studies in animal models have demonstrated that manipulation of maternal diet during pregnancy leads to altered offspring epigenetic marking and phenotype. Human studies convincingly demonstrate associations between early environment and later health and disease for outcomes across musculoskeletal, respiratory, neurodevelopmental and cardiometabolic health. The priority now is to find ways in which such observations can be translated into improved lifelong health. A key approach is to identify early biomarkers of adverse health outcomes and then to test these, and subsequent interventions, in trials aimed at identifying strategies to optimise health throughout the life course. The ALPHABET project will inform this process for musculoskeletal outcomes, and the project as a whole should help elucidate not only novel mechanisms, but also potential strategies to reduce the burden of musculoskeletal, respiratory, neurodevelopmental and cardiometabolic disease in future generations.

Assessment of the impact of meteorological conditions on pyrheliometer calibration

Pyrheliometer calibration must be done following strict procedures in order to ensure the required robustness and accuracy. These procedures are described in the ISO 9059:1990 and ASTM E 816 – 15 international standards. However, their application requires information that may not always be available or may be subjective, inaccurate or incomplete, as for example, the determination of “percent of cloud coverage” or “the existence of clouds 15° around the Sun”. The irradiance measurements made by the reference and test instruments involved should also be collected over wide periods after, close to and before solar noon, which might not always be the case depending on the weather conditions during calibration. When those data are not available, the standard cannot be applied properly, and the experts have to decide which data can be used for the calibration. In this study, the abovementioned two main standards for pyrheliometer calibration were thoroughly reviewed, and a harmonized protocol is proposed that uses only the main data recorded. Nineteen field pyrheliometers were calibrated to verify the proposed procedure, and the results show its robustness. After calibration, we analyzed the variability in the calibration constant and the influence of some experimental conditions on the calibration results. As in previous references, the results show that variations in solar elevation and wind speed during the day still influenced the calibration constants of most of the test devices. On the contrary, neither the angle between the wind direction and the solar azimuth nor Linke turbidity seemed to influence the calibration constants calculated. The influence of the Linke turbidity is low as the viewing geometry of all involved pyrheliometers is very similar to each other and as low turbidity prevailed. The correlation between the solar elevation and the wind speed was analyzed and calibration constants were found to vary linearly with solar elevation and wind speed, respectively. Pyrheliometer calibration measurement testing was carried out in Summer 2014 at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA) in the context of the Solar Facilities for the European Research Area 2 Project (SFERA2).

Institutional attention to European policy agendas: exploring the relevance of instrumental and neo-institutional explanations

This article addresses how European policy initiatives in higher education, research and innovation are diffused in the European higher education research and education area. Based on an instrumental and an institutional perspective, specific expectations are developed as to how policy diffusion might unfold, and, through an in-depth analysis of the strategic plans of 19 higher education institutions in Latvia and Norway, the article identifies factors that potentially mediate European policies into the strategic agenda of universities and colleges. The findings show that European Union membership and policy area seems to matter for the attention given to European policy initiatives, while administrative capacity at institutional level have less or quite mixed effects. The article concludes that both instrumental and institutional perspectives are of value in explaining how European policy diffusion takes place.

OPEN INNOVATION CONCEPT AS A PART OF INTEGRATION OF UKRAINE INTO EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA

Topicality. The integration of Ukraine into European Research Area (ERA) offers additional opportunities for the development of the national research system through the potential entry of new innovation and technology markets and facilitating the communication between Ukrainian scientists and researchers from EU countries. Priority 5 of the ERA roadmap contains tasks to improve the access to publications, open scientific data and knowledge, the introduction of state support for innovation activities and new procedures for the transfer of knowledge, protection and effective use intellectual property for the purpose of optimal exchange and transfer of scientific knowledge for the disclosure of the science potential and promoting the creation of a competitive economy. This indicates that the concept �Open Innovations" is the leading element of scientific innovation. Aim and tasks. The purpose of the article is to study the innovative "conceptual space" and to create the methodological basis for the implementation of the modern international innovative conceptual apparatus "Open innovation" in the Ukrainian economic scientific discourse. Research results. Discussion of significance each of the concepts defined in the article is important and perspective in scientific and methodological sense. The formation of innovative discourse takes place at the junction of many disciplines: technical, economic, linguistic, philosophical, and social. The practice of innovative activity will determine the most effective and demanded in the future. The paradigm Open Innovation 2.0 is based on the concept of Shared Values / Development Strategy and the Model of Innovations "Quadro Helix". The essence of this paradigm means that civil society joins with business, academia, and government sectors to drive changes far beyond the scope of what any one organization can do on their own. Conclusions. The cultivation and organization of an innovative ecosystem with common innovation platform allows to combine competition, active user participation and innovation. It is crucial for the success of innovative activities.

Centre for Genomic Regulation - a hub for Integrative Biology in Barcelona.

Centre for Genomic Regulation - a hub for Integrative Biology in Barcelona.

VERAM, for a sustainable and competitive future for EU Raw Materials

The project, VERAM “Vision and Roadmap for European Raw Materials”, aims to deliver a mapping of on-going initiatives on non-food, non-energy raw materials (including metals, industrial minerals, aggregates and wood) at European, Member State, and regional levels both from the Research and Innovation (R&I), industry, and policy perspectives. Moreover, based on a comprehensive gap analysis, VERAM will propose a common long term 2050 Vision and Roadmap in coordination and cooperation with all stakeholders across the value chain. For the first time, two European Technology Platforms (ETPs) together with their corresponding European Research Area Networks (ERA-NETs) are joining forces to develop a common roadmap.

SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE EURASION ECONOMIC UNION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Introduction. The article is a comparative study of the formation and functioning of science and higher education system in the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, conducted by defining comparison criteria. Materials and methods . Methodologically, the research is based on general scientific and special methods of cognition of political, social and economic processes, including analysis, synthesis, analogies, generalizations, comparison. The comparative method helped to develop parameters for comparing the scientific and educational complex of the two integration entities. Results of the study . The analysis revealed that the scientific and educational complex of the EU and the EAEU are comparable by a number of characteristics, which indicates their typological congeniality and the existence of similar principles of functioning. At the same time, there are some factors unique for the EAEU that influence science and higher education. These factors derived from the historical, geographic and national specific background allow the EAEU to effectively use the mechanisms of scientific, technical and educational cooperation. In addition, the comparative analysis unveils problems in this cooperation, which can be solved by drawing on European experience. Discussion and conclusion . Current scholarly literature pays insufficient attention to the potential of scientific and educational interaction for promoting integration processes in the EAEU. It is important to elaborate models for adapting the experience of the European Union in organizing and financing the European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area to create and develop similar models in the EAEU, taking into account local specific characteristics, as well as the achievements of the Asian system of science and education. In this regard, it is useful to carry out research in the field of networking between the academic community and innovative companies of the EAEU member states and Asian countries to find out new formats of communication.

A call for stakeholders to boost integrated pest management in Europe: a vision based on the three-year European research area network project

ABSTRACTRecent years have seen an increasing effort towards the development and adoption of sustainable crop protection strategies, especially in the EU. Several policy frameworks have been put in place including the EU framework Directive (128/EC/2009) on the sustainable use of pesticides. Consequently, all EU Member States developed National Action Plans to ensure the implementation of the general principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by all professional pesticide users starting from January 1, 2014. On the other hand, there are also difficulties related to the adoption of IPM in Europe and worldwide which seek for a better understanding of factors hindering IPM uptake. This paper presents the potential role that each actor of the food chain may have – called here stakeholders – to ensure a higher level IPM adoption in Europe. The information reported here is a summary based on several discussions held within a three-year European Research Area Network project on Coordinated Integrated Pest Management (ERA-Net C-IPM; http://c-ipm.org/).

Teaching Responsible Research and Innovation: A Phronetic Perspective.

Across the European research area and beyond, efforts are being mobilized to align research and innovation processes and products with societal values and needs, and to create mechanisms for inclusive priority setting and knowledge production. A central concern is how to foster a culture of "Responsible Research and Innovation" (RRI) among scientists and engineers. This paper focuses on RRI teaching at higher education institutions. On the basis of interviews and reviews of academic and policy documents, it highlights the generic aspects of teaching aimed at invoking a sense of care and societal obligation, and provides a set of exemplary cases of RRI-related teaching. It argues that the Aristotelian concept of phronesis can capture core properties of the objectives of RRI-related teaching activities. Teaching should nurture the students' capacity in terms of practical wisdom, practical ethics, or administrative ability in order to enable them to act virtuously and responsibly in contexts which are often characterized by uncertainty, contention, and controversy.

Фундаментальні цінності європейського простору вищої освіти (2010 – 2018 рр.): пріоритетні орієнтири діяльності науково-педагогічних працівників

The article enlightens that the rapid pace of transformational changes, which are inherent in a globalized world, during the twenty years of the Bologna process launching led to the expansion of its value space coordinate system and increase in the tools of fundamental values of higher education approval and implementation among the participating countries and European organizations. It is grounded that during the Bologna process and EHEA development to the list of fundamental values (academic freedom, institutional autonomy, indivisibility of teaching and research, preservation of the European humanism traditions) were added: state responsibility for higher education system, involvement of students and academic staff in the governance of higher education, following the academic integrity, democracy, human rights, higher education quality assessment, mobility, inclusiveness, etc. taking into account the national legislative frameworks. It is presented that an important step towards strengthening fundamental values is the establishment of the European Higher Education Area and European Research Area, as well as their consolidation in the near future. The EHEA and ERA creation in the Bologna process system led to the development of the higher education institution’s development strategy, in particular defining its mission, vision, aim, etc., where values are the main basis and guide for institution and society in general and also for academic staff. The university’s academic staff are obliged to identify themselves with the institution’s values, be their carriers in the students’ environment and society, be active their «transmitters». The main value principles implementation in higher education not only consolidates the Bologna process participating countries, but also ensures the implementation of the EHEA and ERA strategies globally and their distribution in the world.

Европейское исследовательское пространство в действии: программа “Горизонт 2020”

The European community’s response to a sweeping growth of value of intellectual resources in late the late XX – early XXI century was to initiate seven consecutive framework programs, aimed at support and intensification of European scientific co-operation during the period from 1983 till 2013. The new phase, which influenced higher education and the European scientific community, was the Lisbon Process, aimed at increase of Europe’s competitiveness and creation of Europe of Knowledge. European scientific community’s goal became the achievement of a unified research and area. In the article the author offers a detailed analysis of the most voluminous program for support of research and innovation in the history of the EU – “Horizon 2020” with a total budget of 80 billion euro aimed at the completion of European Research Area. The author considers three pillars, which the program is based on: excellent science, industrial leadership, and societal challenges. The article examines economic and political circumstances, which have led to the adoption of the Horizon 2020. The author concludes that the program reflects the interests of the scientific community: it consistently accentuates such problems as climate change and Europe’s technological gap in relation to the U.S., both of which threaten dire consequences and can only be addressed by scientists. However, it prioritizes the interests of a small group of leading researchers connected to leading universities and transnational corporations, which become to be identified as the European scientific community.

Academic Mobility in an Emerging European Research Area: Perception and Realization of its Instruments among PhD Candidates

Studia Migracyjne – PrzeglÄ d Polonijny » 2018 (XLIV) » Nr 3 (169) » Academic Mobility in an Emerging European Research Area: Perception and Realization of its Instruments among PhD Candidates A A A

Efficiency in knowledge transmission in R&D project networks: European renewable energy sector

This study analyses the efficiency in knowledge transmission of organizations and local regions participating in European R&D projects in 2000–2013 within renewable energy (RE) sectors (wind, solar, sea, geothermal, and biomass) using social network analysis (SNA). A review of the collaborative R&D consortium networks as technological transfer structures and public policy support issues was carried out. Then, not only is the traditional SNA centrality perspective of actors employed to identify key players who bridge less connected areas, but also the structural hole approach is applied based on the relative position, role, and potential redundancy of collaborations from the overall network perspective. It reveals that networks of organizations and local regions are neither completely random nor homogenous in terms of cohesion and efficiency. Additionally, the existence of areas between core and peripheral nodes (structural holes) is confirmed. Higher education and research centers, which show a greater influential position and higher experience, take advantage of them. Research concludes that the efficiency in terms of knowledge transmission is not always positively correlated with high centrality values. The most emergent RE sectors still appear less efficient according to the rankings produced integrating both approaches. This paper makes a novel academic contribution to RE policy makers since a new application of centrality and efficiency perspectives is applied. As a result, policy makers should consider it in detail when designing public RE projects with the aim of building an efficient European Research Area.

Towards better integration of environmental science in society: Lessons from BONUS, the joint Baltic Sea environmental research and development programme

Integration of environmental science in society is impeded by the large gap between science and policy that is characterised by weaknesses in societal relevance and dissemination of science and its practical implementation in policy. We analyse experiences from BONUS, the policy-driven joint Baltic Sea research and development programme (2007–2020), which is part of the European Research Area (ERA) and involves combined research funding by eight EU member states. The ERA process decreased fragmentation of Baltic Sea science and BONUS funding increased the scientific quality and societal relevance of Baltic Sea science and strengthened the science-policy interface. Acknowledging the different drivers for science producers (academic career, need for funding, peer review) and science users (fast results fitting policy windows), and realising that most scientists aim at building conceptual understanding rather than instrumental use, bridges can be built through strategic planning, coordination and integration. This requires strong programme governance stretching far beyond selecting projects for funding, such as coaching, facilitating the sharing of infrastructure and data and iterative networking within and between science producer and user groups in all programme phases. Instruments of critical importance for successful science-society integration were identified as: (1) coordinating a strategic research agenda with strong inputs from science, policy and management, (2) providing platforms where science and policy can meet, (3) requiring cooperation between scientists to decrease fragmentation, increase quality, clarify uncertainties and increase consensus about environmental problems, (4) encouraging and supporting scientists in disseminating their results through audience-tailored channels, and (5) funding not only primary research but also synthesis projects that evaluate the scientific findings and their practical use in society – in close cooperation with science users − to enhance relevance, credibility and legitimacy of environmental science and expand its practical implementation.

European R&D networks: a snapshot from the 7th EU Framework Programme

ABSTRACTRecent empirical studies have investigated the territorial impact of Europe’s research policies, in particular the contribution of the European Framework Programmes to the integration of a European Research Area. This paper deepens the analysis on the integration and participation of peripheral regions, by focusing on the differences in intensity and determinants of inter-regional collaborations across three groups of collaborations. We consider collaborations among more developed regions, between more and less developed regions, and among less developed regions. Building on the recent spatial interaction literature, this paper investigates the effects of physical, institutional, social and technological proximity on the intensity of inter-regional research collaboration across heterogenous European regions. We find that the impact of disparities in human capital and technological proximity on regional R&D cooperation is relevant and differs across subgroups of collaborations. Moreover, despite the efforts of integrating marginal actors, peripheral regions have lower rates of collaborations.