Switzerland selected to head national research organisations in Europe for the first time

[idw]

Dieter Imboden, SNSF Research Council President, appointed as President of EuroHORCs (European Heads Of Research Councils) in Vienna Positive European signal for Swiss research: On 8 October, Dieter Imboden, President of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) was appointed the new president of EuroHORCs (European Heads Of Research Councils). This is the first time that a Swiss representative will preside over this established science policy-making platform which is a key partner to the European Union in European research policy matters.








The appointment of Switzerland as a non-EU country, to lead the association of heads of national research organisations and public research institutions in Europe is a significant and positive signal for Swiss research. Dieter Imboden, new president of EuroHORCs as of 2009, considers this "recognition of the active research policy-making role of Switzerland (a comparatively small nation) in Europe and the SNSF, and a clear indication that research in our country continues to command the highest regard in the international arena."


Aim: Strengthening the European research area
EuroHORCs was established in 1992. As the common voice of "research performers" and "research funders", the association is primarily a science policy-making platform and thus an important partner to the European Union in European research policy matters. A pre-eminent aim of EuroHORCs is the development and strengthening of the European research area permitting the free movement of researchers and the circulation and exchange of scientific findings and technologies in Europe. In all, over 40 European research organisations are represented in EuroHORCs. The Swiss National Science Foundation became a member shortly after EuroHORCs was founded.


Initiatives launched
To promote the development of the European research area, EuroHORCs launched various initiatives. In 2003, the association initiated the European Young Investigator Awards (EURYI) to attract the best young researchers from all over the world to Europe. In addition, the scheme initiated by EuroHORCs entitled "Money Follows Researcher" increased the mobility of researchers in Europe by allowing the latter, under certain conditions, to carry on nationally funded projects abroad. A revised, future-oriented roadmap is entirely devoted to matters regarding cooperation in sectors such as "peer review" (application evaluation by experts), administrative processes or "open access" (access to scientific publications). Dieter Imboden is confident that, "EuroHORCs can provide the brains and necessary flexibility to continue raising current research policy topics in the future and generate ideas that can be realised in cooperation with European partner organisations".


Recognition of commitment to science policy-making
For Dieter Imboden, Professor of Environmental Physics in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the ETH Zurich since 1988 and President of the Research Council of the SNSF since 2005, this appointment to the presidency of EuroHORCs pays tribute to his increasing commitment to science policy-making over recent years. He regards the primary aim of his three-year presidency as "improving the partnership between the national research organisations that award approximately two-thirds of public research funding and the EU, and working towards a proper role assignment between national and European research funding".


Contact
Swiss National Science Foundation
Press and Information Service
Alan Knaus
Wildhainweg 3
CH-3001 Bern
Phone +41 (0)31 308 23 77
e-mail: aknaus@snf.ch


Photos
Photos of Dieter Imboden can be downloaded at:
http://www.snf.ch > Media > CV's and pictures > Dieter Imboden


Weitere Informationen:
- http://www.snf.ch > Media > Press releases

Quelle: idw