The Scientific Advice Mechanism is a service created by the European Commission which provides independent science advice on request directly to European Commissioners.
The Mechanism consists of three parts: the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, an expert group consisting of up to seven leading scientists; SAPEA, a consortium of five European academy networks collectively representing around 120 academies and learned societies across Europe; and a unit within the European Commission (Unit RTD.02 Science Policy, Advice and Ethics) which serves as a secretariat to the Advisors.
Group of Chief Scientific Advisors
The core of the Scientific Advice Mechanism is the European Commission's Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, an expert group consisting of up to seven leading scientists, selected by the European Commission assisted by an independent identification committee. The Advisors are supported by a dedicated secretariat, Unit RTD.02, informally known as the "SAM Unit", staffed by the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and Joint Research Centre.
The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors currently consists of the following five members, with two vacancies as of January 2025:
| Name | Portrait | Role in the Group | Academic position | University or institution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naomi Ellemers5 | Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioural Sciences | Utrecht University | ||
| Nicole Grobert6 | Chair | Professor of Nanomaterials | University of Oxford | |
| Eric Lambin7 | Professor of Geography and Sustainability Science | Université catholique de Louvain and Stanford University | ||
| Nebojsa Nakicenovic8 | deputy chair | Director | The World in 2050 | |
| Eva Zažímalová9 | Professor of Plant Anatomy and Physiology | Institute of Experimental Botany at the Czech Academy of Sciences |
Previous members of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors include:10
- Julia Slingo (2015–2016)
- Henrik Wegener (2015–2017)
- Cédric Villani (2015–2017)
- Janusz Bujnicki (2015–2020)
- Pearl Dykstra (2015-2020)
- Rolf-Dieter Heuer (2015-2020)
- Carina Keskitalo (2016-2021)
- Paul Nurse (2016-2021)
- Éva Kondorosi (2020-2023)
- Maarja Kruusmaa (2020-2024)
- Alberto Melloni (2020-2024)
SAPEA
SAPEA brings together around 120 academies, young academies and learned societies. Its role as part of the Scientific Advice Mechanism is to provide high-quality, independent evidence to underpin the Scientific Opinions produced by the Chief Scientific Advisors. SAPEA has the ability to convene experts from some 40 countries across Europe, spanning the disciplines of engineering, humanities, medicine, natural sciences and social sciences.
The SAPEA consortium brings together six umbrella networks jointly representing Europe's academies:
- Academia Europaea11
- All European Academies12
- European Academies Science Advisory Council13
- European Council of Applied Sciences and Engineering14
- Federation of European Academies of Medicine15
- Young Academies Science Advice Structure16
At present, SAPEA is funded by a grant from the European Union's Horizon Europe programme through to May 2029.17
Scientific advice
The Scientific Advice Mechanism has issued advice in the form of Scientific Opinions, explanatory notes or statements, supported by evidence review reports, on the following topics:18
| Topic | Date | Evidence review and scientific opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Glyphosate | June 2016 | [1] |
| Light-duty vehicle real-drive CO2 emissions | November 2016 | [2] |
| Cyber-security in the European Digital Single Market | March 2017 | [3] |
| New techniques in agricultural biotechnology | April 2017 | [4] |
| Food from the oceans | November 2017 | [5] |
| Novel carbon capture and utilisation technologies: research and climate aspects | May 2018 | [6] |
| Authorisation processes of plant protection products in Europe | June 2018 | [7] |
| A scientific perspective on microplastics in nature and society | January 2019 | [8] |
| Transforming the future of ageing | July 2019 | [9] |
| Making sense of science for policy under conditions of complexity and uncertainty | July 2019 | [10] |
| Towards a sustainable food system for Europe | April 2020 | [11] |
| Adaptation to climate change-related health effects | June 2020 | [12] |
| COVID-19, future pandemics and other crises in the global context | November 2020 | [13] |
| Biodegradability of plastics in the open environment | December 2020 | [14] |
| A systemic approach to the energy transition in Europe | June 2021 | [15] |
| Improving cancer screening in the European Union | March 2022 | [16] |
| Strategic crisis management (with European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies) | November 2022 | [17] |
| Sustainable food consumption | June 2023 | [18] |
| AI in science | April 2024 | [19] |
| One Health governance | November 2024 | [20] |
| Solar radiation modification | December 2024 | [21] |
History
Until 2016, science advice in the European Commission was provided by a single Chief Scientific Advisor who reported directly to the President of the European Commission. The last Chief Scientific Advisor, serving from 2012 to 2014, was Dame Anne Glover.
On 1 November 2014, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker asked Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science in his mission letter to "make sure that Commission proposals and activities are based on sound scientific evidence and contribute best to our jobs and growth agenda". Following this, on 13 May 2015, Juncker announced the establishment of the Scientific Advice Mechanism. The first seven members of the Advisors were identified, following a European call for nominations, in January 2016.
In December 2016, SAPEA was officially launched to support the Advisors by providing scientific evidence review reports. Its funding was renewed in 2020 and again in 2025.
External links
References
"Who we are – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/scientific-advice-mechanism/who-we-are/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"Academies and Networks – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/sapea/academies-and-networks/ ↩
"About the secretariat – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/sam-secretariat/about-the-secretariat/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 16 April 2024. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"About the Advisors – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/about-us/group-of-chief-scientific-advisors/about-the-advisors/ ↩
"Academy of Europe: SAPEA". ae-info.org. Retrieved 28 March 2019. https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Acad_Main/Activities/SAPEA ↩
"SAPEA: Science Advice for Policy by European Academies -". Retrieved 28 March 2019. https://www.allea.org/asap-academies-sciences-advice-to-policy/ ↩
"www.easac.eu". easac.eu. Retrieved 13 January 2025. https://easac.eu ↩
"SAM: Scientific Advice Mechanism". euro-case.org. Retrieved 28 March 2019. http://www.euro-case.org/index.php/sapea.html ↩
"SAPEA | FEAM". feam.eu. Retrieved 28 March 2019. https://www.feam.eu/policy-priorities-2/sapea/ ↩
"YASAS is joining the SAPEA project – SAPEA". Retrieved 18 November 2022. https://sapea.info/yasas-is-joining-the-sapea-project/ ↩
European Commission. "CORDIS: Science Advice for Policy by European Academies". CORDIS: Science Advice for Policy by European Academies. Retrieved 13 January 2025. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101198044 ↩
"Advice – Scientific Advice Mechanism". Retrieved 10 October 2023. https://scientificadvice.eu/advice/ ↩