Structure
ESF is structured as follows:
- Governing bodies
- Science Connect Division
- Community of Experts
- Expert boards
Governing bodies
The annual assembly is the highest level decision making body of the ESF. It elects the ESF president, the Executive Board, ratifies the budget and accounts and admits new members. The assembly delegates are appointed by ESF member organizations.
The Executive Board sets and direct the overall strategy of the ESF and coordinates the relations with EU and other institutions. The Executive Board consists of the ESF president and 3 to 8 member organizations. The Executive Board meets twice a year.
The President officially represents the ESF to the public and in relations with other national or international organizations.
The Chief Executive is responsible for the implementation of the strategy and policy set by the Executive Board, for administration of the ESF office and its finance and for ensuring the execution of the decision of the assembly and the Governing Council.
Science Connect Division
Science Connect is ESF's Expert services division dedicated to support scientific decision-making through a range of science-support services, such as Grant Evaluation, Career Tracking, coordination of EU-funded Projects and the hosting of scientific platforms and Expert Boards.
According to the ESF website, the Community of Experts is a network of international recognized experts that covers the full spectrum of the scientific landscape (Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Engineering Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Life and Biomedical Sciences). [5] Its role is to sustain scientific collaboration and support excellence in research grant peer-review and proposal evaluation across all scientific disciplines.
ESF's Community of Experts comprises two colleges:
- The College of Review Panel Members. Review Panel Members have a broad expertise in several scientific disciplines and their mission is to build consensus during the evaluation of research proposals.
- The College of Expert Reviewers. Expert Reviewers are scientists specialized in a specific scientific domain and are in charge of assessing and evaluating several types of proposals such as fellowship applications and research projects.
Expert boards
Since 1974 ESF has set up and hosted expert boards and committees in several scientific domains. These include space sciences; radio-astronomy frequencies; nuclear physics; marine and polar sciences; and materials science. At present ESF hosts the following Expert Boards:
European Space Sciences Committee (ESSC)
Established in 1974, the ESSC provides unbiased, expert advice to the space scientific community including the European Space Agency, the European Commission, EU national space agencies. Over the years, the ESSC has become the reference body in Europe for independent scientific advice on space matters and a key partner for international research collaboration.
Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC)
NuPECC's aim is to strengthen European collaboration in nuclear physics through the definition of a network of complementary facilities within Europe. NuPECC issues recommendations on the development, organization and support of European nuclear physics and particular projects.
Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF)
Established in 1988, CRAF represents all the major radio astronomical observatories in Europe. CRAF initiates and encourages scientific studies aimed at reducing radio astronomy interference at source and the effects of interference. Throughout the years CRAF has become an active voice in Europe and engages with other groups of radio astronomers in discussions with international organizations that decide on the use of radio spectrum.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about $9.9 billion, the NSF funds approximately 25% of all federally supported basic research conducted by the United States' colleges and universities. In some fields, such as mathematics, computer science, economics, and the social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing.
Science policy is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Topics include the funding of science, the careers of scientists, and the translation of scientific discoveries into technological innovation to promote commercial product development, competitiveness, economic growth and economic development. Science policy focuses on knowledge production and role of knowledge networks, collaborations, and the complex distributions of expertise, equipment, and know-how. Understanding the processes and organizational context of generating novel and innovative science and engineering ideas is a core concern of science policy. Science policy topics include weapons development, health care and environmental monitoring.
The German Research Foundation is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding budget of €3.3 billion.
The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific Council, its governing body consisting of distinguished researchers, and an Executive Agency, in charge of the implementation. It forms part of the framework programme of the union dedicated to research and innovation, Horizon 2020, preceded by the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The ERC budget is over €13 billion from 2014 – 2020 and comes from the Horizon 2020 programme, a part of the European Union's budget. Under Horizon 2020 it is estimated that around 7,000 ERC grantees will be funded and 42,000 team members supported, including 11,000 doctoral students and almost 16,000 post-doctoral researchers.
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of European interests in national research agencies.
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific public charitable organization. The organization's mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science and society.
The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) was once a government institution in Belgium for supporting scientific research until it was split into two separate organizations:
Expenditures by Canadian universities on scientific research and development accounted for about 40% of all spending on scientific research and development in Canada in 2006.
The Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration is a Swiss graduate school of public administration. In 2014, the independent foundation was integrated into the University of Lausanne.
The Dutch Research Council is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of Dutch science by means of subsidies and research programmes. NWO promotes quality and innovation in science. NWO is an independent administrative body under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. NWO directs its approximate budget of 1 billion euros towards Dutch universities and institutes, often on a project basis. Also, NWO has its own research institutes and facilitates international cooperation. Current president of NWO since April 1, 2021 is Marcel Levi. Former NWO presidents include Stan Gielen, Peter Nijkamp and Jos Engelen.
Aurora Borealis is a proposed European research icebreaker, comparable to the world's strongest icebreakers, planned jointly by a consortium of fifteen participant organizations and companies from ten European nations. If built, she would be the largest icebreaker ever built as well as the first icebreaker built to the highest IACS ice class, Polar Class 1.
Dirk Berg-Schlosser is professor emeritus of political science at University of Marburg in Germany.
The Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics, commonly known as MIFP, is a private independent non-governmental institution created in order to unite scientists in different countries around the world working in all fields of physics. MIFP is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to provide efficient and flexible management of international collaboration projects and teaching programmes, to ease and increase the communication between leading researchers in different areas of fundamental and applied physics, and to organize international scientific meetings, workshops, schools and conferences. It is located in Marino, Rome, Italy.
The German National Library of Science and Technology, abbreviated TIB, is the national library of the Federal Republic of Germany for all fields of engineering, technology, and the natural sciences. It is jointly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the 16 German states. Founded in 1959, the library operates in conjunction with the Leibniz Universität Hannover. In addition to acquiring scientific literature, it conducts applied research in such areas as the archiving of non-textual materials, data visualization and the future Internet. The library is also involved in a number of open access initiatives. With a collection of about 8.9 million items in 2012, the TIB is the largest technology and natural science library in the world.
The European Marine Board is a pan-European network comprising national organizations engaged in marine research. Its members include research funding organizations, such as research councils and ministries; research performing organizations like national marine research institutes; and nationally based consortia of higher education institutes, including university consortia.
Science Europe is an association of major research funding organisations (RFOs) and research performing organisations (RPOs). It was established in October 2011 and is based in Brussels.
Boris Yuriyevich Sharkov is a Russian physicist.
The Czech Science Foundation (GACR) was established in 1993 as an independent public organisation supporting basic research in the Czech Republic. On the basis of calls for proposals and a public competition, the Czech Science Foundation provides financial support for both experienced and young and early-stage researchers. It also funds international projects on a bilateral basis in cooperation with several partner agencies as well as projects carried out within international research programmes. It is one of two major government-supported research funding agencies in the Czech Republic, the other being the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR).
Athena Coustenis is an astrophysicist specializing in planetology. Dr. Coustenis, a French national, is director of research, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, at LESIA, at the Paris Observatory, Meudon. She is involved in several space mission projects for the European Space Agency (ESA) and for NASA. Her focus is on gas giant planets Saturn, Jupiter and their moons, and she is considered a foremost expert on Saturn's moon Titan.
The Research Foundation – Flanders is a Belgian public research council, based in Brussels. The Flemish research council aims to sponsor ground-breaking research and innovation. Much of this work involves supporting researchers and undertakings in association with the universities and institutes of Flanders, including Ghent University, University of Leuven, University of Antwerp and Free University of Brussels, among others.
