This report explores the evolving challenges facing academic freedom and highlights the role of institutional autonomy, sustainable funding, research integrity, and supportive research environments in safeguarding it. It also identifies priorities for strengthening academic freedom across the European Research Area.

This report summarises the discussions from the fourth webinar in the NRFU–Science Europe Webinar Series 'Building Capacity in the Ukrainian Research and Innovation Ecosystem,' exploring ongoing developments in responsible research assessment and examining how evolving approaches to assessment can contribute to improving research quality, fostering positive research cultures, and recognising a broader range of research contributions and impacts.

By including environmental sustainability into the next Horizon Europe Framework Programme as an integral priority, the programme can help strengthen the resilience, efficiency, and competitiveness of European R&I systems.

This Annual Report provides an overview of the progress and achievements of Science Europe across the research policy topics that it worked on in 2025, including FP10 development, research culture, trust in science, research security, Artificial Intelligence, research assessment, environmental sustainability, inclusion, and open access.

Science Europe has joined a coalition of European research and innovation organisations in publishing a joint statement MSCA: Research Talent is Europe's Strategic Advantage.

Bottom-up research underpins long-term competitiveness and innovation. Science Europe supports creating a dedicated instrument in Horizon Europe 2028–2034 to strengthen collaborative, researcher-driven approaches. Complementing existing schemes, it would boost scientific capacity across Europe. Science Europe welcomes this momentum and stands ready to help shape the most effective implementation.

This report summarises the key outcomes of Science Europe’s webinar Driving Environmental Sustainability in Research Organisations: Building Institutional Strategies for Change, held on 23 January 2026. Bringing together experts from across the research and innovation landscape, the webinar examined how research organisations can develop and implement effective sustainability strategies, strengthen governance arrangements, and integrate environmental considerations throughout their activities.

This report summarises the discussions and recommendations from Science Europe’s webinar 'Equality and Inclusion: Strengthening Excellence in Research,' highlighting how research organisations, funders, and policy makers can foster more inclusive research environments, address structural inequalities and gender-based violence, and support under-represented groups across the research ecosystem.

The Bengaluru Roadmap and Action Plan is the outcome document of the 3rd Global Summit on Diamond Open Access, organised in Bengaluru, India, from 2-6 February 2026.