What's going on?

The Constitutive Assembly of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) took place on 1 December 2022. The Assembly, which brought together the organisations that signed the Agreement for Reforming Research Assessment by 17 November and have confirmed membership in the coalition, officially launched CoARA and decided on the terms of its governance and operations. 

The 19^th Annual Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society Forum (STS forum) took place at the Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto (Japan), 2-4 October 2022, with the participation of nearly 1,000 global leaders in science and technology, policymaking, business, and media from over 80 countries, regions, and international organizations.

An extensive co-creation exercise throughout the first half of 2022 that gathered the interests and perspectives of +350 organisations from over 40 countries led to the publication of an Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment on 20 July. 

Science Europe, the European University Association, and Dr Karen Stroobants, supported by the European Commission, present an agreement on the reform of research assessment, the result of over six months of co-creation with more than 350 organisations from over 40 countries.

This morning (8 July), Science Europe & the European University Association, with the European Commission, hosted the 3rd stakeholder assembly of the reform of research assessment initiative.

Science Europe will contribute to the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) 2022 with sessions on several key topics: the green and digital transition, research careers, open science, and the reform of research assessment systems.

The European reform of research assessment initiative is taking shape, and the Reform of Research Assessment Agreement is almost final. Soon, the process of establishing a coalition before the end of 2022 will start.

On 10 June, the Competitiveness Council adopted Conclusions on Research Assessment and the Implementation of Open Science.

Science Europe welcomes the Council Conclusions on research assessment and open science as they recognise the need for a renewed approach to research policies and practices to evolve towards a more positive research culture.

Science Europe welcomes the DFG position paper "Academic Publishing as a Foundation and Area of Leverage for Research Assessment" on two important and timely topics.

The reform of research assessment initiative continues to take major steps forward, with several milestones on the horizon this month.

On Friday 25 February, the ERA Forum met for the first time to discuss the implementation of the ERA Action Plan and Council Conclusions on the new governance of the ERA.

The European Commission initiative to reform research assessment continues to develop at pace. A first public political announcement about the initiative was made as part of the Paris Open Science European Conference 2022 (OSEC2022) on 4 and 5 February.

Science Europe supports the call for open and barrier-free science collaboration between European countries, including Switzerland and the UK, made in the newly-launched Stick to Science initiative.

In 2021, the European Commission conducted an extensive consultation on reforming the research assessment system. Science Europe and several of its members were involved in this consultation.

From 1 to 12 November, United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) took place in Glasgow (UK), bringing together world leaders, scientists and activists to discuss how to accelerate actions towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.