The preparations of the forthcoming Steering Platform meeting in Ljubljana (June 13, 2008) have already begun. They actually began in October at the meeting in Thessaloniki about which we report starting on this page. The Slovenian EU presidency (January-June 2008) supports the initiatives of the Platform and will include stakeholders from the region in several activities.
In this issue we report on several funding opportunities that can be explored by researchers in the Western Balkans: an overview is given ias well as specific input from EUREKA, Tempus, the Framework Programme and a special part on cooperation in the topic of climate change. Initiatives from Austria - the ASO Calls - specifically target scientific cooperation in biodiversity protection, climate change and energy scarcity on the one hand, and cooperation with Kosovo/UNMIK on the other hand. A new Swiss Programme shall focus on the Social Sciences as reported.
SEE-ERA.NET provides an update on the project activities: infrastructure donations will be acknowledged with a specific award, a conference on innovation was held in Thessaloniki and the White Paper published. Other projects, such as WEB-MOB, SCORE and ERA WESTBALKAN+ are also covered.
The Information Office has recently published two new reports: one on innovation infrastructures in the Western Balkan countries and one on mobility issues in the ERA. Both reports can be downloaded for free from the see-science.eu website.
Serbia is the country in focus of this issue - the Serbian Ministry of Science provided an insight into the S&T system and funding possibilities available in Serbia.
News from the region also covers a Round Table on Brain Circulation, the visit of Commissioner Potoènik in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dubrovnik conference on higher education reforms is covered on page 9 of this edition.
We conclude with short inputs on the issues of science in relation to gender and religion and recommendations for further reading.