Science with and for Society

Improving science teaching and encouraging more young people into the sciences have been key government objectives in Europe for years. The European Union (EU) funded S-TEAM project tackled the issue by looking at the teaching side of the equation. Completed in 2012, it was one of the first EU research projects to focus on Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) as a method of improving take-up in the sciences.

Europe’s religious mix is part of its rich history and culture, but even today there continues to be tensions about the rights and responsibilities of faith-based communities. Laws and traditions vary across Europe, and there are no easy answers to some disputes

Europe has always been a blend of cultures and communities, with a regular churn of people across the continent. Yet the mix can be complex, and some find the changes difficult. While there may be no perfect way to manage Europe’s ethnic and religious diversity, the European Union (EU)-funded research project ACCEPT PLURALISM has developed a guide to help deal with the challenges as they arise.

Professor Tom Sorell (University of Warwick) and Professor Heather Draper (University of Birmingham) have developped an ethical framework for companion robotics in the context of the ACCOMPANY project. In this blog post Professor Sorell explains what ethical questions the framework strives to answer.

The EUBORDERSCAPES is a European research project co-financed by the EU’s 7th Framework Programme. Launched in June 2012, the project tracks and interprets conceptual change in the study of borders. The central objective is to analyse the evolving concept of borders in relation to fundamental social, economic, cultural and geopolitical transformations that have taken place in the past decades. The major research task lies in understanding the complex construction of borders and their impacts in Europe.

Thanks to CHESS visitors to museums across Europe may soon be able to shape their own cultural experience before even leaving home or getting on a plane.

EU initiative OurSpace is an open source, easy-to-use tool designed to support anyone who needs to consult with large groups of young people, regardless of nationality or language boundaries.

Although science is often seen as a discipline concerned with hard facts, it can be difficult to separate research from its ethical, social and political setting. Researchers struggling to balance science with ethics can now count on advice from a European project, EGAIS, that looked at how best to handle the wider ethical context.

Open Government, engagement of young people, open participation, emerging technologies in the public sector, innovative mobile eGovernment, privacy, cloud of public services...

What is our vision of the societal challenge around Public Services? Which are the funding opportunities for these topics in the recently launched Horizon 2020 framework programme?

Mechthild Rohen, Head of the Public Services Unit in DG CONNECT speaks about this. Enjoy this short video.

The H2020 Information Day 'Innovation and Public sector' was held on 10 February 2014 in Brussels.

Information Day presenting ICT-enabled Public Sector Innovation in the new EU framework programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020.

The world of archaeology has changed considerably since the days when wealthy enthusiasts such as Heinrich Schliemann excavated the site he believed was ancient Troy while Arthur Evans unearthed the spectacular Minoan palace of Knossos in Crete. While the shovel and the trowel are still important tools for finding ancient structures and artefacts, many of the exciting discoveries and breakthroughs are today being made in laboratories - a long way from the ancient remains.

According to the European Union (EU)-funded research project SUME (Sustainable Urban Metabolism for Europe) as much as three-fourths of the European population lives in cities, but the rapid expansion of urban space is being driven more by market forces than by urban planning.

That means that land, fuel and public money is being wasted, a situation that presents a new challenge to town planners – how to curb so-called “urban sprawl” by saving space and resources. The answer? Help city authorities find smart solutions to mesh urban planning, and housing and transportation policies into their future development.

Interested in Open Government, eParticipation, mobile eGovernment, cloud of public services, use of emerging technologies in public sector, etc...?

Find your way and your funding opportunities in the new programme Horizon 2020. Read the flyer!

In Europe, one in seven children will leave school or training early. Many subsequently struggle to find a job and end up psychologically stressed. Meanwhile, their unemployment also impacts society and carries economical costs. The European Union (EU) has set a benchmark to decrease early school leaving (ESL) rates to one in ten children by 2020 – and in February 2013, an EU-funded study was launched in nine countries to help achieve this goal.

Virtual Museums are an exciting development that allows ‘visitors’ to explore their cultural heritage in an interactive way. The international V-MusT.net project created a network of institutions to produce sustainable tools and share know-how on establishing such virtual reality experiences.

Creative industries, which are often concentrated in highly innovative regional clusters, have real potential to become catalysts for sustainable growth. By identifying possible areas of co-operation between the creative and ICT sectors, an EU-funded project has sought to encourage and develop such potential.

Among the social and economic shifts challenging Europe is the growth of low-wage, low-skilled jobs filled by workers who face undesirable working conditions and uncertain future prospects.

This trend is raising concerns that large segments of the population  particularly women, youth, older workers, migrants and minorities may not reach the career and social security they otherwise could obtain.