Slovenian universities and research stakeholders are decrying government interference in the appointment of a new head of the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS). The agency's management board appointed cardiologist Mitja Lainščak as acting director on Saturday 28 January, a few days after the government replaced four members of the board who disagreed with that decision, and had instead twice proposed economist Lidija Tičar Padar for the job.

As he was re-confirmed on February 9 as head of France's biggest research organisation, Antoine Petit floated a few attention-getting ideas in parliament - such as the possibility of starting a television channel for science.

France is now working with the European Commission and science and university associations to push for a new system of evaluating research in Europe, launching the Paris Call on research assessment.

President Biden's efforts to remake US R&D policy took a hit Monday, as his chief science adviser, Eric Lander, unexpectedly resigned following an internal White House investigation of claims he had bullied members of his staff.

The vast majority of research-focused EU bodies have never had a top leader from central or eastern Europe finds a new report that is demanding "affirmative action" to broaden the distribution of jobs across the bloc. This is a problem across the whole EU apparatus and risks bolstering political parties in central and eastern Europe that are hostile to Brussels, the report warns.

EU member states have voted to break the political deadlock that has been holding back the European Innovation Council's (EIC's) 2022 work programme. 

Disagreements persist over the use of lump sum funding in Horizon Europe, as the European Commission gears up for broader implementation over the next couple of years. At a meeting organised by the European Parliament's panel for the future of science and technology (STOA), Horizon Europe rapporteur Christian Ehler MEP debated the pros and cons of lump sum funding, with policymakers in the Commission. Meanwhile, research stakeholders continue to call for caution and a slower rollout of the new system.

A number of national research organisations have been taken aback by the urgency of a request by the European Commission to appoint representatives to negotiate a new research assessment system in Europe.

The US has unveiled a range of measures to make it easier to attract people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, in a further effort to move away from the exclusionary rhetoric of the Trump era. They include a new initiative to facilitate researcher exchange, and a host of tweaks to visa rules to make entry easier.

Germany's Jülich Supercomputing Centre has added a quantum computer to its existing high performance computing infrastructure, enabling the centre to get involved in practical applications of quantum computing at a very early stage, as the technology moves out the lab and into commercial use.

Start-ups and SMEs promised equity funding by the European Innovation Council (EIC) will have to wait "a number of months into 2022" for the financing, as the European Commission struggles with setting up the fund under Horizon Europe.

Switzerland-based early career scientists awarded funding by European Research Council (ERC) grants may have to move to another country to do their research.

The EU urgently needs better intelligence about China's science and technology system to avoid being taken advantage of, warns a new report.

What are the main six debates to watch this year in European research policy?

Horizon Europe Missions will reach full steam this year. The €1.9 billion two-year plan for the missions saw the light of day last autumn, with the European Commission launching the first calls in the last weeks of 2021.

With the COVID-19 crisis still underway and a climate crisis looming, an international group of senior researchers is pushing the world's biggest economies to reform the way they manage collaboration on emerging technologies. In coming years, argues a group participant, David Delpy, professor of medical photonics at University College London, the world risks conflict over who controls and benefits from a range of emerging technologies from climate control to 6G wireless networks.

Countries and universities are once again engaged in a war for talent over researchers, entrepreneurs and students as the world emerges in fits and starts from a pandemic-induced slowdown in international migration.

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a significant blow to EU R&D investment growth, according to data published in the 2021 edition of European Commission's industrial R&D scoreboard.

The EU's proposed artificial intelligence act fails to fully take into account the recent rise of an ultra-powerful new type of AI, meaning the legislation will rapidly become obsolete as the technology is deployed in novel and unexpected ways. Foundation models trained on gargantuan amounts of data by the world's biggest tech companies, and then adapted to a wide range of tasks, are poised to become the infrastructure on which other applications are built.

A row between the European Parliament and the Council over whether unspent money in the previous Horizon 2020 EU research and innovation programme should be rolled into the 2022 Horizon Europe budget remains unresolved - and could repeat itself again next year. 

A patent waiver will not help guarantee COVID-19 vaccines equity around the world and instead richer countries should back compulsory licensing, says a new report by the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA).

First impressions of Horizon Europe are in, as the research world gets to grips with the €95.5B research programme.

The US is set to fund prizes, challenges and research projects to create so-called "democracy affirming technologies" that allow open societies to reap the benefits of innovation without sacrificing privacy or accountability.

Europe needs to build eleven new international research labs at a cost of €4.16 billion, according to the latest roadmap from the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), published on 7 Dec., as the European Commission called for a review of funding sources for the shared facilities.

The research and higher education plans of the new german government include a new national technology transfer agency, better living support for students, and more job security for early career academics.

The UK announced a safety net to make sure Horizon Europe grant winners receive funding if association to the research programme remains on ice.