Professor Matthias Kleiner, Member of EUROHORCs Steering Committee and President of the DFG, details the work of EUROHORCs in promoting collaboration and innovation in European research, and outlines the role the organisation can play in future in an interview with Research Europe.
Firstly, could you offer an insight into the work and structure of EUROHORCs? What are the benefits of close collaboration between research heads?
EUROHORCs is an informal association of Heads of European Research Councils, comprising both research funding organisations (RFO) and research performing organisations (RPO). It thus assembles the major publicly funded research organisations in Europe which together oversee 25 billion euros of annual national research funding – a sum which amounts to 85 per cent of the total research funding budget in Europe. The main mission of EUROHORCs is to represent the interests of research nationally and internationally, based on the dedication of the members to promote excellent research at the highest level. EUROHORCs takes its responsibility in providing independent policy advice on research issues and in joint initiatives to support free and researcher-orientated cross-border collaborations.
In order to achieve these goals, EUROHORCs acts as a platform to deliver policy statements and to create joint activities. Since its formation in 1992, EUROHORCs has become a major and successful player in Europe through its contributions to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA).
The structure of EUROHORCs mirrors the powers of its members. All decisions are taken by the General Assembly which meets twice a year. The General Assembly elects the president, two Vice Presidents and six other members of the Steering Committee which meets four times a year. The Vice Presidents and the members of the Steering Committee are represented according to the diversity of European research councils, also respecting the different interests of funders and performers.
Can you elaborate on your role as a member of the Steering Committee? What are your principle duties and what have you achieved since you took this role?
The Steering Committee serves the role of the executive body of the General Assembly. It is thus immediately responsible for the preparation of decisions to be taken by the EUROHORCs members. Furthermore, the members of the Steering Committee, in support of the EUROHORCs president, take an active part in Working Groups and in dealing with policy issues in the European Research Area (ie. the European Commission and inter-council discussions). Among others, these concern EUROHORCs’ influence on the EU Framework Programme. Some major topics are simplification, innovation, industry-academia links, research infrastructure and, last but not least, the open questions regarding Joint Programming.
EUROHORCs is actively participating in the development of the European Research Area. How is EUROHORCs helping to shape future policies and are there any specific areas in the current ERA that need significant development?
EUROHORCs has been the driving force in the formation of a highly recognised action plan to set an agenda for the promotion of excellence in science in Europe. In collaboration with the European Science Foundation (ESF) – 39 of the 45 members of EUROHORCs being members of ESF – in 2009 we published the EUROHORCs and ESF Vision on a Globally Competitive ERA and a Road Map for Actions. This publication contains two parts; first, a vision statement on the ERA which addresses the European and national stakeholders at the political level. The second part contains 10 action items specifically assigned to the competencies of EUROHORCs members and the ESF. As such, this Road Map is a substantial landmark and immediate contribution on shaping the ERA according to the needs of excellent research conditions. I have enjoyed my role as the Chair of the joint EUROHORCs-ESF Task Force, since this action plan shows that apart from policy declarations, as strong representatives of European science, the members of EUROHORCs are major actors and contribute to highly important issues by using their own means within their roles. In short: the Road Map is an authoritative commitment to the implementation of actions.
The EUROHORCs-ESF vision on ERA detects a number of issues which have to be overcome by various stakeholders in a complementary way. If Europe wants to offer a high-class research area, investments into a world-class research infrastructure, education and university system, open access to the output of publicly funded research, and the establishment of quality-assured data are indispensable. On the way to achieving these frameworks, EUROHORCs’ members will cooperate professionally, standing always for curiosity-driven research and scientific excellence.
Are there any plans afoot to increase international collaboration outside the EU?
Openness to the world is essential and the EUROHORCs-ESF Road Map tackles this requirement directly by one of the action points – ‘Connect European Research to the world’. All of the leading European research councils have, and must have, close international relationships at the institutional level. Not only will ERA benefit strongly from these interactions but we will also create a platform for issues like peer review, improvement of joint funding possibilities, data sharing and assessment, and also develop criteria to enhance excellent collaborations and access to knowledge in the global research area.
EUROHORCs created the EURYI award to encourage and promote innovative research. The final award was issued in 2007. Are there any plans to create a successor?
The EUROHORCs’ EURYI award scheme has proven to be an innovative and successful model for promoting the independence of young talented researchers. It allowed young scientists with the potential to become world-class leaders to create their own team in Europe. The further development of this scheme after 2007 is a very illustrative example of how EUROHORCs interacts and supports the creation of the European Research Council: The ERC adopted the EURYI pilot model and made it one of its two pillars – the ERC Starting Grant. As such, the scheme has become a worldwide prestigious award which is excellently administered.
What vehicles does EUROHORCs utilise to disseminate its work and that of its associated research bodies? How important is it to educate the public about the importance of scientific research to their lives?
EUROHORCs regularly publishes and communicates through readily available web-accessible policy documents. Again, one of the Road Map tasks directly addresses the relationship between science and society. There are still many efforts required to improve the public understanding of science and the need for basic research! A lack of students willing to enter a research career is one of many serious symptoms. EUROHORCs’ members fund high quality researchers at universities and non-university institutions, among scientific criteria following recommendations on the enhancement of public dissemination of research results.
Could you offer an insight into the ‘Money follows Researcher’ scheme and how this has encouraged knowledge and personnel transfer? Are there still many boundaries to these types of exchange and how can they be removed?
The freedom of mobility for researchers within Europe is still hampered by many administrative obstacles. While EUROHORCs pleads for a free European labour market for researchers, some of the obstacles can be overcome by the research councils themselves. The ‘Money follows Researcher’ scheme is one of the instruments to relieve researchers from unwanted burdens. This scheme allows the transfer of grants from one country to the other on the basis of an agreement between EUROHORCs members. Of course there are complications, mostly due to national regulations preventing transnational funding, and therefore EUROHORCs’ endeavour will be to convince national legislators to provide adequate conditions in order to enable research in Europe to be carried out by the best people in the best places, without boundaries.
EUROHORCs has played a central role in the creation of a European Grant Union. Can you explain the reasoning behind the formation of this union and how it will function?
The creation of a Grant Union is the ultimate vision of free flow of funding sources between European research councils for the benefit of transnational research groups. Until now, joint research projects between European researchers have suffered from uncertainties of funding modes because the national agencies’ review and decision procedures were not sufficiently compatible. I believe that the mutual trust between European funding agencies as they are organised within EUROHORCs will lead to agreements on assessment criteria in order to avoid multiple jeopardies, resulting in lean procedures. There are a number of ways to achieve this, among these setting up joint review panels – which is almost standard practice for EUROHORCs’ research funding organisations. Besides the EUROHORCs’ ‘Money follows Cooperation Line’ scheme which allows for funding smaller projects abroad, one of the recent successfully established instruments for the creation of the European Grant Union is the so-called ‘Lead Agency Procedure’. In bi- or multilateral collaborations, one of the funding agencies coordinates the administration of the joint research proposals, leading to a funding recommendation which is accepted by the other participating funding organisations. I strongly believe that this model will have a tremendous impact and will facilitate cross-border funding.
How do you see the organisation changing in the future? What are your plans for 2011; are there any new areas that you wish to focus on?
ERA is developing fast and the scene has a number of actors, some of which have overlapping interests but none of which have a unique and strong mandate for the interest of research by competence. While EUROHORCs has played a major role in the past, it is still perceived as an informal association. The other leading research organisation in Europe, ESF, has been recognised for its funding schemes financed by its members, most of these being members of EUROHORCs.
EUROHORCs and ESF have worked closely for a long time, the Road Map being the most prominent result of the cooperation. We observe, however, some serious redundancy and ironically, a blur of focus in our joint activities which has led to an unwanted and untimely lack of a strong voice of science in Europe.
Therefore, EUROHORCs and ESF have decided to create a qualified merger of both institutions. This new organisation will be built on the membership representing the European research organisations funding and performing public research, with a lean but effective governance structure, along with adequate office support. Members will contribute directly to transnational activities without the creation of new funding schemes. The main feature of this organisation however will be the active representation and involvement of scientific committees which will not only supply advice but legitimise the leadership of the organisation. We are currently examining practical options with a short timeline in order to bring the new governance into place. I am convinced that the year 2011 will mark a substantial and far-reaching change, from the perspective of excellent research in Europe.
This interview was published by Research Media in the International Innovation Healthcare publication: www.researchmedia.eu on February 18, 2011.
