After years of stalemate in the international climate negotiations, the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States in January 2009 presents an opportunity for a genuine breakthrough. Obama supports mandatory limits on US greenhouse gas emissions and favors renewed international engagement. But unrealistic expectations about how quickly the United States will move – and how far – could damage prospects for any sort of agreement next year in Copenhagen.
Dr. Alan Leshner (on the far left) speaks up for science diplomacy.
On July 15, 2008, during a hearing before the US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Science Education, Dr. Alan Leshner testified about the role that US non-governmental organizations play in cultivating, promoting, and coordinating international science and technology cooperations. Leshner, who is the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the AAAS journal, Science, argued for the use of international scientific cooperation to foster communication and cooperation among people of diverse nations and to promote greater global peace, prosperity, and stability.
In order to maintain its share in the global market, ensure sustainable growth and employment, and prepare for a knowledge-based society, the EU should invest in education, training, lifelong learning, research, and innovation. Other priorities include improving ITC infrastructures, diffusion, and literacy. In reality, this proposed remedy is not expected to solve all the competitiveness problems for each EU member state. However, it might counteract a trend that has seen several EU countries decline in competitiveness rankings under the combined pressure of the most advanced countries in the Triad (i.e., North America, Western Europe, and Japan) and the emerging economies. But even if the EU only succeeds in maintaining its current position, Europe will continue to contribute to the world a model of development and a system of values.
I met Prof. Julius Wess at a conference in Alessandria, Italy, on a wonderful spring day in 2007. Sitting next to him at dinner, I found that my table neighbor - one of the most distinguished theoretical physicists of our time - happened to be a friendly and gentle man. We talked about the current situation of physics in Vienna. He had the impression that Vienna had changed a lot since the fall of the Iron Curtain. This encounter took place about half a year before his unexpected death.
Despite his outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, Julius Wess is hardly known to the Austrian public. This is a short story about a fine man and superb physics.
The main objective of the 6th European Framework Program for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (FP6) was to support the creation of the European Research area. For that purpose, Networks of Excellence (NoE) were introduced as one of the new instruments. At the present time, as FP6 NoEs are approaching the end of their project duration, the European Commission has appointed an expert group to prepare recommendations on the future of Networks of Excellence (NoEs). The expert group has reviewed the implementation and experience of the NoE scheme and proposes launching a new Joint Research Initiatives (JRIs) scheme that builds on the NoE experience while, simultaneously, safeguarding some of the main achievements of the program.
