Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA 3)

Expected outcome of the project:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Provide at the request of the Commission targeted scientific evidence in a timely and transparent manner to inform the production of advice by the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and possibly other expert groups managed by the Unit. The evidence should be of the highest scientific quality, developed by complete and independent evidence analysis and synthesis, and respect timelines and policy needs;
• Strengthen the links between European science academies and ensure active participation of the academies that are associated in the networks that make up the Consortium and include experts from other organisations. In carrying out this process, the Consortium will ensure wide geographical and gender diversity, coverage of all relevant academic fields, and interdisciplinarity. An open and inclusive approach will be used, involving experts who are not Academy Fellows, early- and mid-career and senior of various, relevant backgrounds. These approaches aim at increasing the range of the available scientific evidence to be considered and the excellence of the expertise provided;
• Develop novel and improve existing forms of scientific input to address short-term needs in a timely, reliable, policy-relevant and efficient manner, e.g. fast evidence-gathering tools and literature reviews, short-term evidence reports, and expert consultations on high-priority, short-term policy initiatives.
• Further develop SAPEA’s internal database to access an up-to-date pool of top-quality experts in various academic fields, in combination with other networking approaches that can be called upon at short notice.
• In coordination with the Unit, engage with citizens, stakeholders, scientific communities and policy-makers to disseminate and promote the work of the Scientific Advice Mechanism and possibly other expert groups managed by the Unit, and to monitor, assess and report on the impact and uptake thereof;
• Increase awareness of the significance of science-to-policy advice and ensure outreach to larger audiences, including in the Member States, through targeted communication actions, novel information products, media outreach, and policy monitoring processes, while ensuring consistent internal and external communication;
• Include an ‘early alert’ mechanism to signal topics and challenges that may become relevant for the Commission and the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors—identified through techniques such as Horizon scanning and consultation, including through the academy networks.
• Formulate in their outputs—mainly the Evidence Review Reports—evidence-based options and conclusions, but not policy recommendations, in response to the request.
• Develop procedures and quality controls for the use Artificial Intelligence within the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM).

Expected impact of the project:

• An enhanced capacity for sound evidence-informed policy-making by providing reliable, state-of-the-art, policy-relevant and publicly accessible scientific evidence to the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors and possibly other expert groups managed by the European Commission’s Unit in charge of the Scientific Advice Mechanism (‘the Unit’) in a timely, efficient and transparent manner;
• A demonstrably more open and inclusive dialogue about major societal challenges via a transparently managed, interdisciplinary approach and a wide engagement of the scientific community;
• An increased societal awareness of the role of science advice to policy- and decision-making, by developing capabilities to accurately communicate science advice, including the degree of uncertainty of specific scientific knowledge;
• An improved transparency of the EU policy-making process, including through the possibility of active engagement with the wider public and wide involvement of the scientific community.

Scope: Better Regulation is a priority for the European Commission, and so is the use of scientific evidence to inform policy-making. Scientific advice is necessary, and it must be excellent, independent, timely, relevant to European Union (EU) policy-making and as interdisciplinary as required to address all dimensions of the policy issue at stake.

In this regard, the Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (‘SAPEA’) Consortium has a proven record of providing scientific evidence to the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (‘GCSA’), within the framework of the Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (‘SAM’). SAM consists of the GCSA, SAPEA, and a dedicated secretariat in the Commission’s Unit responsible for the management of the GCSA.

The project duration is up to 5 years.

This grant will be awarded without a call for proposals according to Article 195(e) of the Financial Regulation and Article 24(3)(b) of the Horizon Europe Regulation.

The activities needed by the Commission require a large network of academics across all academic disciplines—this can only be accomplished by the consortium of academy networks identified below (Academia Europaea (and its hubs at Cardiff University and the LMU Munich), All European Academies (ALLEA), Euro-Case, Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM), and the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC). The academy networks bring together the expertise of nearly all national academies across Europe and even beyond and can thus reach essentially all scientists in Europe. The Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS) additionally amplifies the voices of academics at earlier stages of their career, particularly important for the expected outcome of involving more early- and mid-career scientists in scientific advice. Furthermore, relying on the academy networks guarantees openness: any new academy or learned society that associates with one of the academy networks will thus become part of SAPEA as well.

In addition, the members of the Consortium identified here have already successfully worked with one another and with the Commission and its Chief Scientific Advisors on the activities described above since 2016, in the first and second SAPEA projects, under the coordination of acatech.

The general conditions, including admissibility conditions, eligibility conditions, award criteria, evaluation and award procedure, legal and financial set-up for grants, financial and operational capacity and exclusion, and procedure are set out in Annexes A to G of the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024[[European Commission Decision C(2022)7550 of 6 December 2022 (as amended), available here.]].

Funding rate: 100%

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