Science for policy

GeoPolicy: Proposed cuts to EU science funding could slow future research and innovation

Chloe Hill October 23, 2020

State of the Union 2015. Credit: Martin Schulz. Distributed via Flickr

As a European scientific union with over 20,000 members, the EGU is well positioned to provide feedback on the current and future state of research and innovation funding in Europe. The recent cuts to the EU’s 2021-2027 research budget from European Parliament’s initial proposal of €120 billion to the current proposal of €81 billion (at 2018 prices), will not only affect researchers througho ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: How to become a Seconded National Expert for the European Commission

Chloe Hill February 28, 2020

Nicolas Sifakis, a scientist and former Seconded National Expert who is currently working for the European Research Council Executive Agency.

The European Seconded National Expert programme is a fantastic opportunity for scientists who are currently working in a national, regional or local public administration of an EU member state or an intergovernmental organisation to gain experience working within a European policy institution. In most cases, secondments are between six months and four years during which time the Seconded National ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: My experience with the EGU’s science-policy pairing scheme

Solmaz Mohadjer January 28, 2020

Solmaz Mohadjer and MEP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri

“Thanks for coming, but no time for celebratory drinks,” I told my colleagues. I arrived in Brussels right after defending my doctoral thesis to brief the Finnish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Miapetra Kumpula-Natri and her team about the impact of sea-level rise and climate change on the coastal communities of the Baltic Sea. Climate science? Baltic Sea? EU Parliament? I was soon bombar ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: One American’s way into the European Commission

Aaron McKinnon September 27, 2019

The EU Commission's Blue Book Trainees Oct 2017 - Feb 2018. Credit: EU Commission via Twitter

An unsolicited email to a LinkedIn connection holding the title “science communicator” led me to the European Commission. My journalism master’s thesis was now complete, and I was in hasty pursuit of a career in citizen engagement of science. The EGU’s Policy Officer Chloe Hill responded to my spontaneous request for career direction and forwarded me a running list of science-policy traineeships a ...[Read More]