To continue to drive excellent research, the ERC must be safeguarded from political steering. While the Commission’s proposal to expand the ERC is welcome, proposed changes like the reduction of the President’s term are concerning.
📄 https://bit.ly/4nxoFL4

#FP10 @erc.europa.eu

The crazy thing is not what is happening. What will happen is inevitable for several reasons. The crazy thing is that they talk about war, finance, people lives, etc. as kids would talk about a Monopoly game. That is the craziness described in the history books. But now we are part of it, living it.

"It's important to follow your instinct and go for it." Sonia María García Blanco. "I was hesitant to tell my colleagues that I was applying for an ERC grant. In the end, it turned out I was good enough to get it. If I had listened to others, I wouldn't have even applied."

@nicolomaccaferri.bsky.social is investigating how light can be used to understand and manipulate matter at an extremely detailed level. His work could lead to computers powered by light instead of electricity – faster, more energy-efficient, and more environmentally friendly.
tinyurl.com/ycx7rmu6

@nicolomaccaferri.bsky.social undersöker hur ljus kan användas för att förstå och manipulera materia på en extremt detaljerad nivå. Arbetet kan leda till att framtida datorer drivs av ljus i stället för elektricitet – snabbare, mer energieffektivt och mer miljövänligt #forskning
tinyurl.com/3yu4nsvd

Proud to have our work appear in SCIENCE!!!

We need, more than ever, the Churchills, not the weak and insidious Chamberlains.

The report identifies factors that limit innovation in Europe: fragmentation, both of markets and of regulatory frameworks, incl different national implementations of EU legislation, no true financial union, incompatible standards, insufficient R&D funding, risk-averse regulatory culture.

Before the upcoming publication of the #MFF proposal outlining the architecture of #FP10, EUA underlines the need to safeguard the bottom-up character of the ERC, MSCA, EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition. The FP10 proposal must ensure that the ERC maintains its full independence.

Congratulations! The new Advanced Grant winners are great news.
But yet again, many scientists - around 260 - with ground-breaking ideas were rated as excellent, but remained unfunded due to a lack of funds at the ERC. Hope that more funding will be available in the future!

My first task is to hire an Associate/Senior Editor for @natrevelectreng.nature.com. Would you be interested in joining me to shape the journal? Pls DM me if you have any questions💡Apply by 1 Jul.
@natureportfolio.nature.com @springernature.com
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

Check out the new preprint from our lab entitled “Ultrafast interband transitions in nanoporous gold metamaterial” arxiv.org/abs/2506.08536 🧵

New changes in @erc.europa.eu policies and the new working programme are amazing!!!! 🤩

If your test for ground-breaking discoveries can’t detect the discovery of RNAi, or of CRISPR-Cas9, or the cryoEM resolution revolution or Alphafold2, maybe it’s not a very good test.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I would also increase the trust and support to the European researchers, as there so many good ones who, for many reasons, do not have access to top funding because they do not belong (or refuse to be part of) to the any “academic family/clan”! Then I agree 100% on the plan!

Don’t miss this fantastic panel discussion next week!

Room has been assigned. The panel discussion will be in room 203B!

If you are attending @optica.org #CLEO Conference do not miss the opportunity to attend our panel session on May 5th 6.30-8pm (room TBD) entitled “Next-Gen Photonic Metamaterials: Innovations in Light, Heat, Devices, and AI” (see below for more details).

A problem with all these journals publishing ridiculous corrections instead of retracting articles is that a 'correction' will become associated with terrible fraud.

And the editors talk about 'decriminalizing retractions' and removing that stigma.

Fraud is fraud, not matter how you call it.

Check out our new perspective on layered materials, from the fundamental science to technological applications in opto-electronics published open access in 2D Materials @ioppublishing.bsky.social! Thanks @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social, @kawresearch.bsky.social and @erc.europa.eu for the support!

Welcome to our newest postdoc Cristian Ramirez Gutierrez, who will investigate the optical properties & light harvesting of coralline algae!
🌎🦑🧪🌊
heidiburdett.wordpress.com/2025/04/09/w...
@umeaunimarine.bsky.social @nickkamenos.bsky.social @nicolomaccaferri.bsky.social @umeauniversitet.bsky.social

Looking forward to this symposium! Thanks for inviting me at @in2ub.bsky.social to showcase the research we are doing at @umeauniversitet.bsky.social!

📢Meet the invited speakers for the Optical Materials Topical Meeting at #EOSAM2025:

🔹 Monika Fleischer
🔹 @nicolomaccaferri.bsky.social
🔹 Ambra Gianetti

Submit your work and share the stage with them!

🚨Submission Deadline: April 10!🚨
🔗 www.conftool.com/eosam2025

More details: tinyurl.com/yz9r95w4

Some Republicans criticized Trump.
"This is the most shameful and embarrassing moment I have ever seen in the Oval Office."

Underfunding is a serious threat when universities face increased responsibilities to respond to multiple changes/challenges 🚨

70% of universities identify underfunding as one of the top 3️⃣ obstacles for improving learning and teaching.

#EUATRENDS="https://buff.ly/4k27IXJ" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">ATRENDS 2024: buff.ly/4k27IXJ