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Special issue - February 2007 |
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INTRODUCTION
 “EIROforum has become a major player in European science”
He has been the Director General of the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) since 2001, covering
essentially the period during which the EIROforum collaboration has matured. Today, Bill Stirling talks about
his experience as chairman of this group, its past and its directions for the future.
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| Bill Stirling (left) with the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik |
What is the value of EIROforum today?
EIROforum is a very positive collaboration where seven institutes share their
experience of science at the highest level. One of our aims is to develop the
scientific capabilities of Europe in the complicated environment of national
science, science funded by the European Union, intergovernmental
science like ours, and world science.
We try to create sufficiently long-term strategies to be in a position to
answer the really important scientific questions of the future, to motivate
our staff, to find the necessary funding and to balance the international
programmes of our institutes with the national needs of our Member
Countries. For many of these issues our relationship with the European
Commission is of growing importance to us.
Personally, I am always struck by the fact that the questions I consider
important in the context of the use of synchrotron radiation across
Europe are very similar, in many ways, to the issues other EIROforum
organisations face in the development of particle physics, or space
science, for example.
The big European infrastructures have been developed outside the
European Union and its research policy. However, collaboration with the
European Commission is intensifying over the years. Will this tendency
continue and expand?
At the moment, organisations such as the ESRF are set up to satisfy the
scientific needs primarily, but not only, of their Member States. However,
I can see the stronger implication of the European Commission through
the different schemes in FP7, the Marie Curie Fellowships and so on. It is
clear that some of our science, such as particle physics, can only operate
at a supranational level, but that is not the case for the science carried out
at all the EIROs.
Of course, there are programmes that will benefit us. The European
Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap represents
a very direct way in which Europe can and will influence the future of the
EIROforum members, since some of us feature in this roadmap. The
creation of the European Research Council (ERC)(1) is of crucial importance
for the future of excellent science in Europe, including science carried
out by the EIROforum partners.
What effect will the ERC have on the EIRO institutes?
The European Research Council, if it is properly supported, will represent
a fundamental shift in science funding in Europe. The effects on
the EIRO members will initially be indirect. We run research infrastructures
that provide scientific services in a wide range of fields to
European scientists. The ERC will be providing money to the very best
researchers to carry out their scientific research. Therefore, facilities
like those in the EIROforum will benefit because these researchers will
use them. In general I am very enthusiastic, because the ERC’s purpose
is to support excellence in research. This will undoubtedly “boost”
European science but there is still a risk that juste retour at the national
level might dampen the positive effects of the ERC. I hope that the
ERC will be strong enough to resist this tendency.
You have chaired EIROforum for the last six months. How did this mandate
change your perspective of EIROforum?
I am fascinated by the range of activities in which EIROforum is involved.
There is hardly a day without an e-mail suggesting that EIROforum
participate in a science exhibition, a science conference, a recruitment
fair… the list is endless. EIROforum has matured to the extent that it
is now accepted as a major player in European science. It is considered
as an essential participant at major scientific events in Europe and
increasingly, worldwide. This is not really surprising because, after all,
each of the EIROforum organisations is a leader in its own scientific field.
(1) Under the 7th Framework Programme, the ERC has become a new financing
agency through which the European scientific community chooses to support
research into emerging fundamental domains.
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