From the president#
Dear members of Academia Europaea,#
This letter is to inform you that the Board of trustees has established a legal entity in Munich, Germany. The new entity in an EU member state will ensure Academia Europaea’s full eligibility for calls of the European Commission’s Framework programmes now and in the future, and the full engagement of our UK members in AE’s EC-funded activities. The plan to establish a legal entity in an EU member state was announced in the Annual General Meeting in Barcelona in 2022.
Academia Europaea Trustees sign the new AE legal entity in Munich: Stephen Evans, Paolo Papale, Ole Petersen, Marja Makarow, Donald Dingwell, Milena Žic Fuchs, Björn Wittrock, Eystein Jansen (from left to right)
AE has so far operated in nine (9) entities, the headquarters office in London, Regional Knowledge Hubs in Barcelona
, Bergen, Budapest, Cardiff, Munich, Tbilisi and Wroclaw, and the Data Information Centre in Graz. The sole legal entity amongst them is the headquarters office in London.
One of our major academy-level activities is provision of independent science advice to the European Commission for its policy-making through the Science Advice Mechanism
that consists of SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies), GCSA (Group of Chief Scientific Advisors) and a dedicate support unit in the Commission
The first SAPEA grant covered the years 2016-2022. Since then, SAPEA has delivered 10 Evidence Review Reports and three more, on artificial intelligence, crisis management and management of solar radiation are underway. The scientific experts authoring the Reports are drawn mostly from members of AE and the national academies. The AE Cardiff Hub
, together with Cardiff University have provided instrumental services to SAPEA, such as leading on evidence reviews and undertaking literature reviews, citation analyses and policy landscape mapping as well as the strategic development planning of SAPEA.
In the second SAPEA project 2022-2024, and due to Brexit, AE’s status was down-graded from SAPEA member to associated member not eligible for EC funding. The loss of the EC funds is compensated until the end of 2024 through a UK Government guarantee scheme for successful Horizon Europe projects.
The preparation of the call for the third SAPEA project starting in 2025 and extending to up to 5 years starts soon, and necessitated early action from the AE Board of trustees to ensure the full eligibility of AE to EC calls, even under conditions of re-association or continued non-association to Horizon Europe of the UK.
The Academia Europaea members will continue to be registered in the headquarters in London, as well as in the Munich AE legal entity.
The establishment of the Munich legal entity will be presented to AE’s members in the context of the Building Bridges 2023 conference in the Annual General Meeting to be held on 9 October in Munich.
In Helsinki on 21 September, 2023
Marja Makarow
President of Academia Europaea
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