25 years of EuroScience: Interview with former Secretary General Raymond Seltz
For 25 years of EuroScience, we will publish each month a short interview with some people who have witnessed and participated in the evolution of the association. This month, Raymond Selzformer Secretary General and current Deputy Secretary General, will give an overview of EuroScience from his point of view.
Raymond, you were the second Secretary General of EuroScience, and you are still Deputy Secretary General. What does EuroScience mean to you?
In 2000, I retired from the CNRS after eight years as director of the CNRS office in Bonn, Germany. In addition to liaison with German scientific organizations, the mission of this office also included Austria and the eastern countries of the former Warsaw Pact. EuroScience was the right place to continue to strengthen European scientific collaboration by giving a voice to its actors.
In your opinion, what was the most important reason for the creation of EuroScience?
In the political situation of the late 1990s, I see two reasons. One concerns Western Europe. The founders of EuroScience were aware of the fact that the rapid development of European research infrastructures and universities had to be accompanied by an organization which gives the possibility to its actors, the individual researchers, to participate in the process. Secondly, the Eastern countries of the former Warsaw Pact had a strong demand for participation in the construction of European science. The founders of EuroScience paid attention to this by inviting several Fr colleagues to the founding assembly in Strasbourg in 1997, despite the political situation.
In this context, it was EuroScience’s commitment to improve the future of young scientists in Europe. Before the creation of EuroScience, contacts had been made with the European Commission for the organization of a conference with the participation of young scientists from all European countries. It took place in 2002 in Bischenberg, a conference center in the Strasbourg region, with the support of the European Commission and the ESF (European Science Foundation).
What were the most important events in the evolution of EuroScience that you experienced?
An important event in the evolution of EuroScience was the choice of Strasbourg for its secretariat. Why Strasbourg and not Brussels? It so happened that the European Science Foundation (ESF), as well as the Council of Europe, were hosted by the City of Strasbourg. Both parties have been and still are facilitators in strengthening the European Union of Scientists.
But a bigger event was the first ESOF in 2004 in Stockholm. Thanks to Carl Johan Sundberg, the support of the Swedish community and the joint forces of the founding members of EuroScience, it was a great success.
As Secretary General, was there a moment, a situation, an event of which you were very proud of EuroScience?
All ESOFs from 2004 to today have been events of which a General Secretary can be proud.
The publication in 2005 by the Commission of “The European Charter for Researcherswith “The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers” was also a great day for EuroScience. It is something that is somewhat forgotten now but is still active and universities and research institutes are still expected to follow the recommendations of this code of conduct. Among other things, it deals with how to involve families if a researcher changes laboratory, for example: what about his family? Is there help for the wife or husband to find another job, find a school for the children, etc.? ? Between the mid-2000s and 2010, there were still many scholarships that were awarded to students. The official grants were divided into 2 or 3 to hire 3 people instead of one and give each one a third of the grant. These things are not allowed, but they were real. These elements were taken into account when drafting the “Code of Conduct”. The committee responsible for working on the “Researcher’s Charter” and the “Code of Conduct” was set up by the European Commission and the head of this committee was the President of EuroScience at the time, Jean-Patrick Connerade. Nowadays, things seemed to have evolved but there is still a lot to do for its full application.
Moreover, in 2007 we have already celebrated the 10and anniversary of EuroScience. This was an opportunity to set the next objectives in 10 years in a booklet with contributions from EuroScience members. We have already reached a quarter of this goal.
Many things have changed since you became Secretary General. In your opinion, how has EuroScience developed and adapted?
EuroScience was involved very early in science communication in the sense that we believe that science is culture. We have always wanted to make science accessible to everyone in society. The development of different media formats over the past 25 years has been of great help. The creation of the EuroScientist was a big change and a necessity in a context of growing influence of social networks and allowing everyone to submit scientific articles and discuss them.
AT ESOF 2006 we had the first contribution “Science meets poetry” by Jean-Patrick Connerade, former president of EuroScience. This continued in all other ESOFs until 2018.
But also Other events were organized as a seminar in Strasbourg supported by the European Commission on “Science through television”, the participation in “Women in TV science productions”, a project of the European Commission, and the organization of several “European Science TV & New Media Festivals” in Strasbourg, Paris and Lisbon.
Over the past ten years, EuroScience has also been increasingly involved in European projects such as RRI TOOLS and New Horizon. This underlines that EuroScience is also a player on a European scale. This has limits without increasing office staff or the help of dedicated volunteer members.
Can you think of times when EuroScience encountered problems?
Over the years, the ESOF science program has seen an increase in science policy contributions and growing interest from participants from the European Commission. This development, coupled with the dissemination of searing scientific discoveries in public media, has made ESOF’s original concept of showing the impact of science and technology on society less relevant.
But EuroScience can be very flexible and react to changes. For example, with the pandemic in 2020, under tough pandemic restrictions, the success of the latest ESOF in Trieste showed a revival of the ESOF model to be consolidated in 2022.
Would you like to say something about EuroScience?
To young career researchers, I would say “Think Europe”. Your career begins in your national university community. This community can be federated in a European Association which facilitates international relations in your discipline. But scientific research requires more and more transdisciplinarity. In this regard, EuroScience offers you additional support with the Marie Curie Association and Eurodoc via ESOF which gives you the opportunity to network. And the Euroscientist also offers you a space to communicate about the ups and downs of your young career.
With the Corona pandemic, scientists from academic and private research organizations are confronted with old problems in a new form. Among them, the ethics of research and communication, the relationship between academic research and private research or even the limits of the precautionary principle. EuroScience has addressed these issues in workshops and conferences and we are happy to receive your contribution to the association and to the Euroscientist.
Biography:
Raymond Seltz was born in Alsace in 1934 into a family of winegrowers. He obtained his doctorate in nuclear physics at the University of Strasbourg and began his career at the CRN (Center for Nuclear Research) in Strasbourg where he completed most of his research with a two-year break at the University of Minnesota. Back at the CRN in Strasbourg, he held the position of CNRS research director and then director of the CRN until 1992. In 1992, he moved to Bonn, Germany, as director of the CNRS office and scientific attaché at the ‘French Embassy. It was also the year he was elected secretary general of Euroscience at its general assembly in Fribourg. Back in Strasbourg on his retirement in 2000, he created the Euroscience secretariat.