3rd Workshop of the ESF MO Forum on Science Foresight for Joint Strategy Development

The 3rd Workshop took place on 17 and 18 January 2012 in Paris and was hosted by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm)

Objectives and Presentations

The objective is to progress in the development of the forum's recommendations:

  • By outlining the specific characteristics (e.g. principles, criteria) of science foresight.
  • By mapping and identifying good practices for science foresight (e.g. through publishers, scientific associations, MOs, other international institutions).
  • By identifying the needs and gaps of science foresight at the European level.

Open and Welcome

Open and Welcome by Richard Salives and Claire Giry, Inserm

  • Setting the scene and background information by Laura Marin, European Science Foundation

Objective 1: Science Foresight characteristics

National contexts of science foresight:

Objective 2: Mapping good practices for Science Foresight

Forum’s survey results:

Open discussion

Objective 3: Identifying needs and gaps of Science Foresight at the European level

  • Presentation of the Forum’s Recommendations framework by Andreas Trepte, Max Planck Society

Open discussion

On Good Practices

Introduction by Moderator: Karel Aim,  Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Debate: Identifying tools to analyse data to be covered in Science Foresight

Development of guidelines

Recommendations addressing 4 levels:

  • Level 1: Scientific Questions (how to identify the themes with overarching scientific relevance for Europe).Introduction by Karel Aim, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Discussant: Rudiger Klein, ALLEA; Debate and conclusions

  • Level 2: State of the art (how to develop tools to analyse the input and output data) Introduction by Jenny Nordquist, Swedish Research Council (VR)

Discussant: Ellen Veie, The Research Council of Norway; Debate

  • Level 3: Scientists (how to attract prestigious scientists in the respective research field to foresight exercises) Introduction by Andreas Trepte, Max Planck Society

Discussant: Anna Ledin, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Debate and conclusions

  • Level 4: Implementation (how to identify requirements and ensure that the recommendations will meet the requirements and expectations of the research councils) Introduction by Claire Giry, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm); Debate and conclusions

Wrap up session, list of actions and next step