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December 2016
Science & Policy:
What’s on the EU's agenda?
2
EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE
Strategy and Work Programme Coordination Interinstitutional, International Relations & Outreach
SCIENCE & POLICY: WHAT'S ON THE EU'S AGENDA?
1 December 2016
The DG JRC's monthly briefing to the scientific community, N° 53
Table of Contents
1. Activities of the European Institutions 3
1.1 European Commission 3
1.2 Council 3
1.3 European Parliament 5
1.4 Committee of the Regions (CoR) 9
1.5 European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) 9
2. Conferences & Meetings 10
2.1 DG JRC Conferences and Meetings 10
2.2 Further European Conferences and Meetings 11
2.3 International Conferences 13
3. DG JRC News 15
October Highlights 15
Correspondence: Strategy and Work Programme Coordination Interinstitutional, International Relations & Outreach– DG JRC European Commission, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11 Office: CDMA 05/155 [email protected] Prepared by Elisebha Fabienne Platzer
3
1. Activities of the European Institutions
1.1 European Commission
Date Event Subject
12-13 January Visit of the College of
Commissioners to Valletta
The College of Commissioners is travelling to Valletta for its traditional visit to the incoming Presidency of the Council of the
European Union
All meetings of the College of Commissioners
1.2 Council
Date Event Venue/Location
1-5 December Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council Brussels
6 December Economic and Financial Affairs Council Brussels
8-9 December Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council Brussels
8-9 December Justice and Home Affairs Council Brussels
12 December Foreign Affairs Council Brussels
12-13 December
Agriculture and Fisheries Council Brussels
13 December General Affairs Council Brussels
14 December Political and Security Committee Brussels
15-16 December
European Council Brussels
19 December Environment Council Brussels
4
16 January Foreign Affairs Council Brussels
23 January Agriculture and Fisheries Council Brussels
24 January Economic and Financial Affairs Council Brussels
All meetings of the Council
5
1.3 European Parliament
Plenary Sessions
Date Event Subjects Venue/Location
1 December EP Plenary
Among others: EU-Ghana Stepping Stone Economic Partnership Agreement; liability, compensation and financial security for offshore oil and gas operations; Commissioners' declarations of interests– Guidelines; address by Beji Caid Essebsi, President of the Republic of Tunisia
Brussels
12-15 December
EP Plenary
Among others: Situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2015; North-East Atlantic: deep-sea stocks and fishing in international waters; CAP tools to reduce price volatility in agricultural markets; a coherent EU policy for cultural and creative industries; rights of women in the Eastern Partnership States; Energy Union package; EU-Algeria Framework Agreement on the general principles for the participation of Algeria in Union programmes; Annual Report on human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter 2015; debates on foreign affairs issues in the presence of the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (tbd); Implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (Article 36 TEU); preparation of the European Council meeting of 15 and 16 December 2016 Council and Commission statements; Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel; market access to port services and financial transparency of ports; Aviation Strategy for Europe; joint debate: accession of Ecuador to the EU-Colombia and Peru Trade Agreement;
Strasbourg
Committee Meetings
1 December Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector
Among others: Hearing of Mr Vladimir Šucha, Director-General, Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) and of Mr Giovanni De Santi, Director, Joint Research Center (DG JRC).
Brussels
6
5 December Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector
Among others: Exchange of views with representatives from the National Parliaments of Germany, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom on the parliamentary investigations into emissions measurement in the automotive sector; presentation of the study on ‘Car emissions – Differences in EU and US legislation’
Brussels
5 December Committee on Transport and Tourism
Among others: An Aviation Strategy for Europe; Logistics in the EU and multimodal transport in the new TEN-T corridors; amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 concerning the opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail; repeal of Regulation (EEC) No 1192/69 of the Council on common rules for the normalisation of the accounts of railway undertakings; approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles; exchange of views with Commissioner Violeta Bulc
Brussels
5 December Committee on Fisheries
Among others: Specific conditions to fishing for deep-sea stocks in the North-East Atlantic, provisions for fishing in international waters of the North-East Atlantic and repeal of Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002; sustainable management of external fishing fleets; characteristics for fishing vessels (recast); an integrated European Union policy for the Arctic; Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Government of the Cook Islands; Report on the ICCAT mission by the Committee on Fisheries to Vilamoura, Portugal, from 15 to 19 November 2016
Brussels
5 December Committee on Budgetary Control
Among others: ECA Special Report 27/2016 (Discharge 2015): Governance at the European Commission — best practice?
Brussels
5 December Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Among others: Exchange of views with Martti Hetemäki, Chair of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB); European Semester for economic policy coordination: Annual Growth Survey 2017; Annual Report on EU Competition Policy
Brussels
7
5 December Committee on Culture and Education
Among others: Exchange of views with Commissioner Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner responsible for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport; implementation report on Erasmus +; an integrated approach to Sport Policy: good governance, accessibility and integrity; presentation by the European Commission of the Annual work programmes (Erasmus+ and Creative Europe);
Brussels
5 December Committee on Foreign Affairs
Agenda not yet available Brussels
5 December Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Among others: Conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part
Brussels
5 December Committee on International Trade
Agenda not yet available Brussels
5 December Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Agenda not yet available Brussels
5 December Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Among others: Cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws (text with EEA relevance); establishing a Union programme to support specific activities enhancing the involvement of consumers and other financial services end-users in Union policy making in the field of financial services for the period of 2017-2020
Brussels
5 December Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Among others: The Charta of Digital Fundamental Rights in the EU; Joint Way Forward (JWF) on migration issues between Afghanistan and the EU; exchange of views with Bernard Cazeneuve, French Minister of the Interior; combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA on combating terrorism; Annual Report 2015 on the Protection of the EU's Financial Interests - Fight against fraud;
Brussels
8
7 December
Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion
Among others: Fight against tax evasion and anti-money laundering: state of play of progress made at EU level;
8 December Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Agenda not yet available Brussels
8 December Subcommittee on Security and Defence
Agenda not yet available Brussels
8 December Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Agenda not yet available Brussels
8 December Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Among others: The status of fish stocks and the socio-economic situation of the fishing sector in the Mediterranean; the need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the Gender Pension Gap; Amendment to Directive 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work; cross-border exchange between the Union and third countries of accessible format copies of certain works and other subject-matter protected by copyright and related rights for the benefit of persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled
Brussels
12 December Committee of Inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector
Agenda not yet available Strasbourg
12 December Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Agenda not yet available Strasbourg
12 December Committee on Foreign Affairs
Among others: Exchange of views with the 2016 Sakharov Price Laureates
Strasbourg
All European Parliament Committee meetings
9
1.4 Committee of the Regions (CoR)
Date Event Venue/Location
1 December Joint CoR-EIB/JASPERS workshop on "Implementing the Urban Agenda for the EU: a smart city approach"
Brussels
1 December 11th Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE) Commission meeting
Brussels
1 December E-Health: Let's Find a Common Language (Assembly of European Regions) Brussels
2 December Independent Ukraine: Europe Balance Poznań, Poland
6 December Integration of third country migrants: role of local and regional authorities Brussels
7 December 120th CoR plenary session Brussels
8 December Integration, cooperation and performance of health systems - Stakeholder consultation by Rapporteur Birgitta Sacrédeus (SE/EPP – NAT commission)
Brussels
14 December Working Group Turkey (Meeting No 19) Brussels
2 February 12th Natural Resources (NAT) Commission Meeting Brussels
22 February 8th ARLEM (Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly) Plenary Session
Brussels
Further events of the Committee of the Regions
1.5 European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Date Event Venue/Location
6 December Labour Provisions in Trade Agreements: design, implementation and stakeholder involvement
Brussels
8 December COP22 debriefing public debate Brussels
10
9 December Evictions of Roma Brussels
13 December 12th meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) Brussels
3 March European Migration Forum – 3rd meeting Brussels
30-31 March Your Europe, Your Say! 2017 Brussels
Further events of the European Economic and Social Committee
2. Conferences & Meetings
2.1 DG JRC Conferences and Meetings
Date Event Organiser Venue/Location
1 December
Science and Technology Studies (STS) Contro-Corrente Seminars: Harro van Lente
DG JRC Ispra, Italy
2 December
European Learning Initiatives for Nuclear Decommissioning and Environment Remediation (ELINDER)
DG JRC Bratislava, Slovakia
5 December
EU-China Joint Workshop on Water DG JRC Ispra, Italy
5 December
12th Annual Conference of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA)
EPAA, EC, DG JRC Brussels
6 December
MYGEOSS final workshop: Open Data, Open Source, Open Minds
DG JRC, DG RTD Brussels
6-7 December
Kick-off event of the smart specialisation platform on agri-food
DG JRC, COST Florence, Italy
11
12-13 December
DanubeHack 2.0 DG JRC, EC, Slovak Presidency of the
Council
Bratislava, Slovakia
13 December
Launch of the Competence Centre on Text Mining and Analysis & Conference on Text Mining in Policy Making
DG JRC Brussels
8 February Citizen Science and Open Data: a model for Invasive Alien Species in Europe
DG JRC, COST Brussels
Further upcoming DG JRC events
Further upcoming events in the EU Newsroom Calendar
2.2 Further European Conferences and Meetings
30 November-
2 December
9th SET-Plan Conference 2016 and Central European Energy Conference (CEEC X)
EC, Slovak Presidency of the Council
Bratislava, Slovakia
1 December
State aid in the management of the ESI Funds EC Brussels
1 December
Launching the Digital skills and jobs coalition – Boosting Europe’s digital skills
EC Brussels
1-2 December
European cluster conference 2016: CLUSTERS 4.0: Shaping smart industries
EC Brussels
1-2 December
25 years of MEDIA : Investing in creativity, building the future
EC Brussels
2 December
H2020 Info Day: Customised computing and ICT innovation for manufacturing SMEs
EC Brussels
5 December
12th Annual Conference of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA)
EPAA Brussels
12
5 December
Research and innovation for achieving the sustainable development goals (SGDs) in the European context: current state of play and ways forward
EC Brussels
5 December
Europe as a global actor EC Brussels
5-8 December
European nuclear safeguards training seminar EC Brussels
5-8 December
European Summit on Digital Innovation for Active and Healthy Ageing
EC Brussels
5-9 December
The European Vocational Skills Week EC Brussels
6-7 December
The 2016 EU Agricultural Outlook Conference EC Brussels
6-7 December
Non-Animal Approaches - The Way Forward EC Brussels
7 December
Cultural heritage, disaster resilience and climate change: the contribution of EU research and innovation
EC Brussels
8-9 December
Digitising European industry working groups meeting
EC Brussels
8-9 December
Launch event of the European human biomonitoring initiative (#HBM4EU)
EC, Slovak Presidency of the Council
Brussels
9 December
The value of mutual learning in policy making (MLP)
EC Brussels
12 December
2016 Export Control Forum EC, Slovak Presidency of the
Council Brussels
12 December
Public procurement professionalisation workshop I – guidance, templates and training
EC Brussels
13
12-14 December
Modelling in Plant Health – how can models support risk assessment of plant pests and decision-making?
EC, European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO)
Parma, Italy
11 January Informal meeting of EU Political Directors EC, EEAS, Maltese Presidency of
the Council Floriana, Malta
16-17 January
Forum on leadership policy for equality and learning; Take it to the student
Maltese Presidency of the Council
St. Julians, Malta
17-18 January
Information and networking days on Horizon 2020 big data public-private partnership topics 2017
EC Brussels
19-20 January
Maltese Presidency Workshop On Climate Change EC, Maltese Presidency of the
Council St. Julians,
Malta
24 January Economic workshop: Fiscal policy and public investment for relaunching potential growth
EC Brussels
25-26 January
Seafood safety: new findings and innovation challenges
EC Brussels
3-4 May Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Research & Innovation
EC, Maltese Presidency of the Council
Valletta, Malta
2.3 International Conferences
Date Event Organiser Venue/Location
2-3 December
Global Conference "Improving Data on International Migration"
International Organization for Migration (IOM) Global,
Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), DG JRC Knowledge
Centre for Migration and Demography, Federal Foreign Office of Germany and the
USA
Berlin, Germany
5-9 December
International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions
IAEA Vienna, Austria
14
6-7 December
Joint international meeting on the Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) market. Scenarios analysis and emerging challenges for LEAs
INTERPOL, Research Centre on security and Crime (RiSSC)
Lyon, Frace
8-9 December
Science Forum South Africa Science & Technology
Department of the Republic of South Africa
Tshwane, South Africa
9-11 December
The 7th Kwang-Hua Forum on Innovations and Implementations in Earthquake Engineering Research
College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University
Shanghai, China
12-14 December
Beyond Technological Innovation and Diffusion. The Drivers of Economic Change and Economic Coordination: from Knowledge and Technology to Organizational Learning and Industrial Dynamics
University of California Berkeley
Berkeley, USA
12-16 December
American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
AGU San Francisco,
USA
14 December
The League of the European Research Universities (LERU) Launch event: Interdisciplinarity & the 21st century research-intensive university
LERU Brussels
14-17 December
COP 13 to the Convention on Biological Diversity
COP Cancun, Mexico
7-13 January 2017
16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering
WCEE and Chilean Association of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering- ACHISINA Santiago, Chile
16-17 January
OECD Ministerial Meeting of Health and High Level Policy Forum: Putting People at the Centre. The Future of Health
OECD Paris, France
27-28 January
European Cancer Congress 2017 (ECCO2017) European Society of Radiology Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
16-20 February
AAAS 2017 Annual Conference American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Boston, US
22-24 February
2017 World Ocean Summit The Economist Bali, Indonesia
22-26 February
International Conference on Human and Organizational Aspects of Assuring Nuclear Safety – Exploring 30 Years of Safety Culture
IAEA Vienna, Austria
15
20-24 March Land and Poverty Conference 2017: Responsible Land Governance—Towards an Evidence Based Approach
The World Bank Washington D.C.,
USA
18-23 June STARMUS IV Festival Norwegian University of
Science and Technology, The Research Council of Norway
Trondheim Norway
3. DG JRC News
2015 DG JRC Annual Report
2015 Overview of the scientific process of the EU Agencies network for
scientific advice (EU-ANSA)
November DG JRC Newsletter November 2016
Open The EU is recruiting researchers - Call for expressions of interest
November Highlights
3-4 November 5th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region: Innovative
Flows- Water, Knowledge and Innovation in the Danube Region
Under the title “Innovative Flows- Water, Knowledge and Innovation in the Danube Region“, the Forum put a strong emphasis on the challenges and perspectives of water management and research and innovation. The key question to answer was how to best transform political commitment into operational policies and measures.
7 November Science meets regions
Together with the Committee of the Regions a conference was organised to examine the challenges of evidence informed policy-making at regional level. It brought together representative of EU regional authorities and scientists to exchange views on evidence-informed decision-making process at regional level.The outcomes of discussion fed into a high level panel debate that took place during the Science meets Parliaments 2016 on the next day, the 8th of November, at the European Parliament. The debate's title was: "Science for Better European Evidence-Informed Policy-Making: Importance of the International, National and Regional Dimension".
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7-10 November Thirteenth Plenary Session of the Group on Earth Observations
The GEO-XIII Plenary and Exhibition took place in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation from 7 to 10 November 2016. JRC scientist Max Craglia attended the Plenary Session. On 8 November, he represented the European Commission at the 4th Programme Board meeting, and on 9 November he co-chaired the side event on Citizen GEOSS. The Citizen GEOSS event aimed at discussing the latest developments in citizen-based observation techniques and volunteered geographic information applications and their potential integration into GEOSS. It featured the winning applications of the MYGEOSS calls for innovative apps addressing citizens' needs as well as other relevant activities such as Citizens' Observatories and other citizen science activities.
7-18 November DG JRC at COP22
As the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the JRC regularly provides scientific and technical advice for the development and implementation of EU policy in a range of thematic areas central to international climate negotiations. In this capacity the JRC also advises the EU's delegation to Marrakech, Morocco. In addition, the JRC advances the EU’s goals for global action in other ways too: it produces analyses and reports on key themes, and at events it showcases its work and brings the EU’s scientific and technical perspective in debates engaging other Parties’ negotiators and experts. DG JRC participation at COP22: JRC experts spoke at official UNFCCC special events, and at side-events held at the EU Pavilion. At these events the JRC showcased its work and contributed to a technical perspective of the debates engaging Parties' delegates and experts on thematic areas that are the focus of current and upcoming negotiations. For detailed information on DG JRC's contributions please follow the link.
8 November Science meets parliaments 2016
Following on from the success of Science meets parliaments in 2015, the JRC will organise the 2016 edition on 8 November 2016 in Brussels. The event brought together Members of the European Parliament (MEP) and scientists in a series of bilateral meetings, as well as the now established Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) MEP-Scientist Pairing Scheme.
10 November EU Workshop on Migration Data
In the framework of activities of the Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography, the JRC is organised a one-day workshop on Migration Data on Thursday 10 November at JRC Ispra. The workshop brought together relevant Commission services and EU agencies that play a key role in collecting and analysing migration data, including FRONTEX, EASO, FRA and eu-LISA. The aim of the workshop was to share information, identify gaps and highlight the areas which can benefit the most from this joint effort.
14-17 November Course: Nuclear data processing and use in nuclear applications
The main objective of the course was to explain how to process nuclear data libraries and prepare them for use in nuclear applications. Introductory lectures on neutron induced nuclear data, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, deterministic and Monte Carlo methods in nuclear applications will be given. Nuclear data processing codes and tools such as NJOY, JANIS and SANDY were presented through practical exercises.The following topics were treated: Nuclear data libraries and databases, tools for formatting and processing of nuclear data, integral benchmarking of nuclear data, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of nuclear data, deterministic and Monte Carlo methods for neutron transport.
16 November Marine sustainability in an age of changing oceans and seas: JRC-EASAC joint report
The JRC and the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) held a promotion event of their published joint report on 'Marine sustainability in an age of changing oceans and seas'. A detailed summary of the report is also available. With the aim to promote the joint report of DG JRC and EASAC and thus further support policy-making, a series of events are organised in EU Member States and Associated countries. The approximately half-day events are hosted by EASAC-member and national Science Academies. The report aims at contributing to the governance challenge of integrating various aspects of marine policy (fisheries management, biodiversity conservation and marine environmental protection) as part of a coherent ecosystem approach. It considers how current scientific knowledge on marine ecosystems and the organisation of science can support an integrated
17
approach to management of the seas. The report looks at a number of key aspects for sustainable development in changing oceans and seas, and particularly highlights the key scientific challenges in addressing these issues. The report presents both recommendations from science for policy development, and recommendations on policy for science.
17-18 November A Year Without A Winter: Fictions and Policy
A Year Without A Winter: Fictions and Policy Inspirational Workshop Series is organised in collaboration with Arizona State University. The cultural spaces into which policy makers intervene are saturated with images and narratives. From works of art and literature, to trends in food and fashion, aesthetic forms, practices and preferences shape the way people comprehend the world. Political theory has long recognized the aesthetic domain as a powerful political force—at once a potential ally and a dangerous antagonist. Likewise, artists must negotiate the political implications of their work, whether by seeking to engage more deeply or to distance artistic values from explicit political aims. In this workshop we engage the arts not merely as a source of entertainment or propaganda, but as a mode of world-making on par with science and politics. The workshop interrogates narratives of climate and climate change that are emerging in the context of the arts and transdisciplinary scholarship and considers how creative interventions can unlock new ways of thinking about our relationship to the environment and our political agency within it.
22 November European Innovation Policies for the Digital Shift
DG JRC and DG CONNECT held a conference on European Innovation Policies for the Digital Shift in Brussels on 22 November. The objective of the conference was to discuss innovation policies for the Digital Single Market focusing on: digital innovation and entrepreneurship, the role of standards and intellectual property rights for digital innovation, financing of innovation in the digital age. This event was the Final Conference of the three-year European Innovation Policies for the Digital Shift (EURIPIDIS) research project, which aims to improve understanding of innovation in the ICT sector and of ICT-enabled innovation in the rest of the economy. The conference was attended by European Commission staff, policy analysts, representatives from the ICT industry, and academia working on issues related to the Digital Economy.
22 November TTO Circle: Evaluation of intangibles and novel technologies: art or science?
On 22 November, the 3rd edition of the annual best practices workshops of the European TTO Circle was held in Brussels. The focus of this workshop was the evaluation of intangibles and novel technologies. The lack of practical evaluation methods of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) is the main challenge that the stakeholders are facing in the commercialization of IPRs. This lack often results in an investors' reticence to commit funds for their exploitation. One of the key objectives was, therefore, to discuss different methods to evaluate in the best possible way Intellectual Property, with an emphasis on the several practices undertaken in the private sector. This event was an opportunity for TTO Circle's members and external actors to share their experience and their modus operandi for Intellectual Property evaluation. The workshop was divided in two sessions: in the first, actors working in private sector gave an overview of their approach to the IP valuation process. The second session was focused on the case studies of IP evaluation presented by the members of the TTO Circle
24-25 November 22nd MARS Conference
The 2016 MARS Conference provided a platform to present Member State experiences and other observations regarding the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), including developments in shared management. During the Conference, challenges and opportunities for image use, aspects of performance and the future outlook of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were also discussed. The Conference took place in Lisbon.
24-25 November ECIBC Plenary 2016: When Science and Policy collaborate for Health
This year Plenary’s theme was the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC): when Science and Policy collaborate for Health. Day 1 focused on Science for Policy Development and day 2 on Policy for Science Implementation.
28-30 November International conference on social statistics
The speakers at the international conference 'Towards more agile social statistics', organised by Eurostat, included
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high-profile policy makers, academics, and statistical experts from Europe and around the world. Sessions addressed topics such as increasing the relevance of statistics on asylum and migration, statistics in intra-EU mobility, the future of population statistics, the use of new data sources in social statistics, combining and estimating data, new ways of monitoring labour mobility and transitions, and more flexible statistical outputs. As well considered were recent developments in the methods and organisation of social statistics. The conference addressed broader questions about the role of social statistics to guide and assess policy within a rapidly changing and diversifying society. The overall aim was to examine how social statistics can become more agile– responding rapidly and flexibly to meet new user needs through the adoption of innovative methods.
29-30 November Space Weather & Critical Infrastructures Summit
Since five years have passed from the initial "Space Weather & Critical Infrastructures" event, the Summit on 29-30 November 2016, in Ispra, aimed to take stock of space-weather risk reduction efforts in the EU over the past years and to identify remaining gaps that still need to be addressed. Co-organized by the leading Joint Research Centre scientists together with other international partners and academia this event aimed to increase awareness of space-weather impacts among the stakeholders, and encouraged continued efforts towards risk assessment, preparedness and targeted response. The focus of this event was primarily the EU, however the international participation, and in particular from the US, is also sought in light of the recent publication of the US National Space Weather Strategy. Participants were expected to represent diverse stakeholder groups, such as government (decision makers, crisis managers), industry, and the scientific and engineering communities.
All DG JRC news