A new partnership between the CNRS and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre
On January 6th 2025, the CNRS and the European Joint Research Centre (JRC) signed a cooperation agreement to structure and drive sustainable collaboration on scientific expertise between the two organisations.
This agreement reflects the ambition shared by the CNRS and the JRC, namely to reinforce the role of science in European public policy, structure exchanges between researchers and decision-makers, and provide new collaboration opportunities for French researchers.
Two fields already appear to be particularly promising for this enhanced collaboration - nuclear energy, because of the JRC's long-standing expertise and France's major role in this area, and the humanities and social sciences whose increasing integration into European public policy is opening up new interdisciplinary fields. Recently at a meeting in Brussels between CNRS Humanities & Socal Sciences and the JRC, the two participant organisations confirmed their shared desire to make progress together on issues of ethics, scientific integrity, scientific diplomacy and science for public policy.
Beyond these two key themes, this cooperation agreement paves the way for broader collaboration in all the scientific fields covered by the two institutions. Digital technology, artificial intelligence and data science are now core European priorities and are areas of mutual interest.
The CNRS community considers this cooperation to be above all a scientific and strategic opportunity. The JRC regularly hosts experts from European public institutions for expert missions, secondments or specialist positions. These roles are located at the heart of the European decision-making process which means scientists can contribute their expertise and experience to achieve a direct and lasting societal impact beyond their contributions within the traditional academic framework. (JRC Recruitment Portal)
Several CNRS scientists already collaborate with the JRC in the context of European projects, modelling work or specific expertise but this partnership will mean this can be taken further. It will facilitate mobility, open up access to JRC infrastructure and provide new opportunities to take part in the work of European Commission teams.
This strategic partnership testifies to the CNRS's commitment to investing fully in the production of high-level European and international expertise by providing new opportunities for its researchers at all stages of their professional careers.
The Joint Research Centre
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) was created in 1957 in the framework of the Euratom Treaty. The JRC is the European Commission's department but, unlike other DGs, it carries out 'direct actions' namely its own research work in its European institutes.
This multidisciplinary laboratory employs around 2800 researchers, engineers and experts from all EU Member States working on six sites across Europe, in Ispra (Italy), Petten (Netherlands), Karlsruhe (Germany), Seville (Spain) and Geel and Brussels in Belgium. Its laboratories, testing platforms and advanced modelling capabilities enable researchers to produce evidence-based knowledge for European policy-making purposes.
Historically the JRC focused on nuclear energy but its mandate now covers many areas including the climate, energy, materials, digital, AI, economics, health and social sciences. Its work is based on the three following pillars:
- Anticipation: understanding and predicting future challenges beyond current crises to feed into future policy directions;
- Integration: bolstering the capacity to interconnect different scientific and policy areas within the European Commission while promoting a systemic approach;
- Impact: supporting decision-makers in measuring and assessing the effects of public policies to ensure their relevance and effectiveness.
The JRC is thus at the interface between science and public policy and is a key stakeholder in producing scientific expertise to support European decision-making.