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Plenary meetings

The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors holds plenary meetings several times a year. You can download the agenda and minutes of these meetings from this page.

17 January 2024
(39th meeting)

The Advisors

  • Held a workshop to take stock of their past experiences in the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and reflected on its functioning and its future developments, including the impact of its deliverables;
  • Reflected on key priorities for the next Commission.
14 March 2023
(37th meeting)

The Advisors

  • Discussed the ongoing scientific opinion on ‘Towards sustainable food consumption’ and possible candidate topics for future scientific advice.
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chair of the SAPEA board) and SAPEA representatives and exchanged information on progress of their ongoing work, ideas on potential immediate and long-term topics and scoping workshops for them.
14 December 2022
(36th meeting)

The Advisors

  • Discussed the ongoing scientific opinion on ‘Towards sustainable food consumption’ and possible candidate topics for future scientific advice;
  • Met with Greg Drozd, Secretariat-General, and exchanged information on foresight activities with focus on strategic foresight reports;
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chair of the SAPEA board) and SAPEA representatives and exchanged information on progress of their ongoing work, ideas on potential immediate and long-term topics and the development of a communication strategy and topic specific communication plans.
11 October 2022
(35th meeting)

The Advisors

  • Discussed the ongoing scientific opinion on ‘Strategic crisis management in the EU', ‘Towards sustainable food consumption’ and possible candidate topics for future scientific advice.
  • Met with Barbara Prainsack, chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE); exchanged information on ongoing work; discussed candidate topics and the potential role of ethics therein.
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chair of the SAPEA board) and SAPEA representatives to exchange information on progress of their ongoing work, ideas on potential immediate and long-term topics and the development of a communication strategy and topic specific communication plans.
  • Met with Kristian Krieger (DG JRC), who presented an overview of the staff working document (SWD) ‘Supporting and connecting policymaking in Member States with scientific research’.
9 June 2022
(34th meeting)

The Advisors

  • Discussed the ongoing scientific opinion on ‘Strategic crisis management in the EU’ and possible follow-up activities for their scientific opinions ‘Cancer screening’ (published 2 March 2022) and ‘A systemic approach to energy transition in Europe’;
  • Exchanged ideas and are ready to begin work on the topic ‘Sustainable food consumption’ (working title) pending a mandate from Commissioner Gabriel (Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth);
  • Reported on their recent exchanges with the chair and vice chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and their agreement to strengthen synergies between the two advisory groups, particularly in the field of crisis management;
  • Met with Sandrine Dixson-Declève, chair of the Expert Group on the Economic and Societal Impact of Research and Innovation (ESIR) and agreed to further explore areas of common interest and to discuss potential opportunities for collaboration and synergies;
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chair of the SAPEA board), Jacek Kolanowski and  Moniek Tromp (Chair and Vice Chair of the Young Science Academies), and SAPEA representatives who informed about the progress of their work, exchanged ideas on potential immediate and long-term topics, informed about SAPEA’s staffing situation and its revision of quality guidelines.
2 March 2022
(33rd meeting)

The Advisors

  • Discussed the ongoing scientific opinion on ‘Strategic crisis management in the EU’ and follow-up activities for their scientific opinions ‘Cancer screening’ (published 2 March 2022) and ‘A systemic approach to energy transition in Europe’.
  • Exchanged ideas on potential future topics.
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chairman of the SAPEA board), Jacek Kolanowski and Moniek Tromp (Chair and Vice Chair of the Young Science Academies), and SAPEA representatives who informed about the progress of their work, exchanged ideas on potential immediate and long-term topics and updated participants on the successful response for the conference on ‘Scientific advice under pressure’ to take place on 27-28 April 2022 in Brussels.
2 December 2021
(32nd meeting)

The Advisors

  • Met with Jean-Eric Paquet (Director-General of DG RTD) and Joanna Drake (Deputy Director-General of DG RTD) and exchanged views on strengths and challenges of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and possible ways towards an evolution of the scientific advice mechanism.
  • Discussed ongoing topics ‘Strategic crisis management in the EU’ and ‘Cancer screening’.
  • Exchanged ideas on outreach activities and possible options for engaging with international counterparts.
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chairman of the SAPEA board), Moniek Tromp (Vice chair of the Young Science Academies), and SAPEA representatives who informed about the progress of their work and about the conference of the Scientific Advice Mechanism on ‘Scientific advice under pressure’ to take place on 27-28 April 2022 in Brussels.
16 September 2021
(31st meeting)

The Advisors

  • Met with Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, and exchanged ideas on possible avenues for future cooperation on foresight activities.
  • Met with Patrick Child, Deputy Director-General of DG RTD, and exchanged views on strengths and challenges of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and possible ways towards an evolution of the scientific advice mechanism.
  • Discussed ongoing topics ‘Strategic crisis management in the EU’ and ‘Cancer screening’.
  • Exchanged ideas on outreach activities and possible options for engaging with international counterparts.
  • Met with Antonio Loprieno (Chairman of the SAPEA board), Jacek Kolanowski and  Moniek Tromp (Chair and vice chair of the Young Science Academies), and SAPEA representatives who informed about the progress of their work and informed participants about its annual conference in April 2022 related to COVID-19 and crises more broadly.
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