EU-ANSA Statement on Research Engagement

Current challenges, including the geopolitical situation and climate change, require system-based approaches building on transdisciplinary collaboration. Future EU-funded research should support interdisciplinary collaboration, promote cross-sectoral engagement and develop evaluation mechanisms to deliver and assess the effectiveness and sustainability of integrated approaches. EU Agencies have a role to uphold the trust of citizens in policy making and can make a difference in supporting the European Research Area (ERA), individually and even more so collectively. EU-ANSA welcomes the proposal for establishing Horizon Europe 2028-2034 and stands ready to support the proposed collaborative research.ⁱ

EU-ANSA commitment

• The EU Agencies within EU-ANSA and their networks have been established to produce and translate science for policy. Agencies welcome the Opinion on One Health governance in the EU and consider to be an asset to support policy because of their science perspective, their networks, expertise and current or future tasks on research topics.ⁱⁱ
• EU-ANSA’s members are experienced knowledge brokers with insight into the challenges in translating and delivering science for policy, including identifying areas where current knowledge is weak or insufficient for definitive policy action.
• EU ANSA has a strong representation from Agencies from medicine, health, social science and humanities domains; the collective knowledge covers a vast range of scientific disciplines who regularly engage with each other to advocate for and deliver inter- and transdisciplinary research (e.g. One Health and bi-lateral collaborations).
• EU-ANSA is well placed to identify and implement multidisciplinary, collaborative research actions to improve the quality and use of policy-relevant research to address complex societal challenges and restore trust in science.
• The EU Agencies invite the European and national funding programmes and research policy makers to make active use of this large knowledge ecosystem and call for pro-active involvement of EU Agencies in the programming of future research agendas.

Background

In 2018, the European Union Agencies Network for Scientific Adviceⁱⁱⁱ (EU–ANSA) published the EU-ANSA agencies' engagement in the EU research knowledge cycle, acknowledging that the technical and regulatory agencies that provide scientific advice to EU policymakers are both a source and a user of knowledge. Agencies have a deep understanding of the research knowledge available, as well as where knowledge gaps limit the quality of the scientific advice produced.

In 2022, learning from COVID-19, EU-ANSA published: Strengthening EU-ANSA Agencies’ cooperation and preparedness to support evidence-based policymaking in times of crisis. This reflection paper encourages policymakers to capitalise on the added value of the EU agencies to provide a more holistic response to global threats such as COVID-19, advocating for a strengthened inter-agency approach in support of the delivery of scientific advice to policymakers to build a stronger, more resilient Europe.

Later in 2022, the ONE Conference discussed the added value that Agencies provide in support of research. Agencies help to shape research agendas, facilitate uptake of research outcomes, and foster impactful research in support of regulatory science and policy. EU Agencies are knowledge centres, bringing together know-how to inform policy makers.^iv