European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism
Scientific advice on the topic:#
Successful and timely uptake of Artificial Intelligence in science in the EU#
Call for nominations of expert#
As part of the SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) consortium, Academia Europaea are pleased to issue a call for the nomination of experts to take part in a new SAPEA evidence review on ‘Successful and timely uptake of Artificial Intelligence in science in the EU’. The deadline for nominations is 14 August 2023.
What will the Working Group do? #
SAPEA will draft an Evidence Review Report on the uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in scientific research in the EU, covering all disciplines. This Report will then inform a Scientific Opinion of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA). There are 4 main topics to be addressed:
- What impetus could AI give to scientific productivity and what benefits, challenges and risks would AI-enabled research bring to the European innovation ecosystem and the society as a whole?
- What is the impact of AI on the scientific process, and its potential to re-shape science and its governance practices?
- How can the EU best prepare for the impact and requirements of AI on the education and careers of the scientists and researchers of today and tomorrow, and what skills and competencies should education policies prioritise in this context?
- How should the Commission (through policy initiatives, regulation, communication, and outreach) facilitate responsible and timely AI uptake by the scientific and research communities across the EU?
Why this topic?#
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager, responsible for the
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) and A Europe fit for the digital age
, has
asked the Group of Chief Science Advisors to deliver advice on the topic of ‘Successful and timely
uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in science in the EU’ by the first quarter of 2024.
Who can be nominated?#
You can nominate experts who may or may not be Members of Academia Europaea (MAE). The request for advice focuses on application of AI to discrete academic disciplines, interdisciplinary topics, and grand challenges, and information and data literacy for the digital age in the context of research and innovation. However, a systemic, multi-level approach will also be required, with a consideration of interrelated themes such as research assessment and evaluation, scientific publishing, copyright and intellectual property, geopolitical science in the context of AI (e.g., geopolitical implications of AI and security aspects).
How to make a nomination#
For further details, please read the Call for Nominations document which includes important information about the areas of expertise required, criteria for selection, and expected workload and timelines.
Nomination should be accompanied by a detailed curriculum vitae, together with a short statement on how the nominee’s experience meets the areas of expertise identified in the Call for Nominations document.
Please send nominations or any queries you may have to AE Cardiff Hub member Rafael Carrascosa Marzo (CarrascosaMarzoR@cardiff.ac.uk) before the deadline of 14 August 2023.
SAPEA call for nominations of experts#
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager, responsible for the
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) and A Europe fit for the digital age, has
asked the Group of Chief Science Advisors to deliver advice on the topic of ‘Successful and timely
uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in science in the EU’ by the first quarter of 2024. The main question
to be answered by the Scientific Advice Mechanism is:
How can the European Commission accelerate a responsible uptake of AI in science (including providing
access to high quality AI, respecting European Values) in order to boost the EU’s innovation and
prosperity, strengthen EU’s position in science and ultimately contribute to solving Europe’s societal
challenges?
The
Scoping Paper for the current request can be found attached to this email (confidential until
published).
To answer this question, the Advisors will prepare a Scientific Opinion containing policy
recommendations. In order to inform this Opinion, SAPEA is requested to assemble a
working group
of experts and to organise
several expert workshops to gather the relevant evidence. The evidence
will be synthesised by the working group in an
evidence review report containing conclusions and
evidence-based options for EU policy.
This call for nominations offers to the academies the opportunity to exclusively nominate experts for
these activities (participation in the working group and in the expert workshops) and could raise the
visibility of your academy’s work on a European level. You can nominate fellows or members of your
academy as well as experts who are not fellows or members your academy. In addition, please send
us recent publications of your academy relevant to the topic.
Please address your nominations to CarrascosaMarzoR@cardiff.ac.uk by the deadline of 14 August 2023. Nominations of experts should please be accompanied by:
- a detailed curriculum vitae.
- a short explanation on how the nominee’s experience meets the areas of expertise needed.
- letting us know whether you have checked your experts’ availability (to participate as working
group members or experts in an expert workshop) before nominating them.
Non-exclusive examples of
areas of expertise that may be of relevance are provided below:
- application of AI to disciplines ranging from the STEM fields (physics, chemistry,
nanotechnology…), to medicine and health sciences, and social sciences, economics and the
humanities
application of AI to interdisciplinary topics and grand challenges (e.g. climate change
modelling).
- AI-related fields such as data science, statistics, modelling, automation and robotics.
- Epistemology and foundations of science in the context of AI.
- Research assessment and evaluation, scientific publishing, copyright and intellectual property,
peer review.
- Education about information and data literacy for the digital age.
- Human-Computer Interaction.
- Cognitive adaptations to AI.
- AI policy and legislation.
- AI application to research and innovation.
- Geopolitical science in the context of AI (e.g., geopolitical implications of AI).
- Cybersecurity and defence.
Through this call for nominations, SAPEA will identify experts with applied knowledge in the areas of
expertise described above to participate in evidence-gathering
expert workshops. In addition, through
this call for nominations, SAPEA will also identify experts with a very wide knowledge and
understanding of the use of AI in science to assemble a
small working group.
Timeline: Expert workshops will take place between October 2023 and January 2024. The evidence
review report will be published at the end of February 2024. For more details, please see
ANNEX 2.
Selection of experts: A SAPEA appointed Selection Committee will be responsible for the composition
of the working group. The working group will select the experts for the expert workshop. Criteria for
selection are detailed in
ANNEX 3.
Participating experts will not receive any fee. Travel costs to the in-person meetings will be
reimbursed. Members of the working group are required to complete a Declaration of Interests form
that will be assessed by SAPEA before contributing to the scientific report (experts participating in
expert workshops will not be required to fill out this form before participating in the activities).
The organisational lead network for the topic is
Euro-CASE, working closely with
AE,
ALLEA,
FEAM and
YASAS, the other European Academy Networks in SAPEA.
If you have questions or would like further information, please email
CarrascosaMarzoR@cardiff.ac.uk.
Professor Antonio Loprieno
Chair of the SAPEA Board, President of ALLEA
Download the
document.
