JRC Newsletter September / October 2010SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010 Not long ago I was at a...

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010

Not long ago I was at a NASA-sponsored meeting of about 500 researchers working in the various disciplines of ecology. One sentiment I heard many times was the need for increased

coordination and integration of research, both within ecology as well as with other disciplines. The field of Earth System Science started about 30 years ago in recognition of the need to integrate the various Earth system disciplines. In contrast, the considerably older field of ecology lacks the same level of integration, largely due to its greater complexity. But ecology and the technologies it utilises have now advanced enough to make a more coordinated, integrated approach possible. At the same time, the need to understand the impact of climate and other changes on natural systems makes it more urgent.

Progress is apparent in the coordination of biodiversity observations. Depending on your perspective, the amount of biodiversity information that exists globally is either overwhelmingly huge if you are trying to manage it, or spotty and inadequate if you are trying to understand how the natural world is changing, especially at a global scale. The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), for example, is starting to address these issues by facilitating the harmonisation of existing biodiversity observation systems. This will improve regional and global assessments and, by making it easier to combine data from different sources, provide new insights and help transform data into knowledge. The community of practice that GEO BON is building will help coordinate data gathering, allowing gaps to be filled and overlaps to be eliminated. The JRC is participating by developing the Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA), a web-based tool that brings together data from various sources and helps assess the health of protected areas.

Computer modelling, essential for understanding and predicting the impacts of change, is also becoming more

coordinated, though there remains much to do. Ecological models, and pertinent models in other disciplines, vary widely in the accessibility of their outputs, and interoperability is often low. While there may be practical reasons for this, such as funding constraints, access limitations decrease a model’s overall value and constrain the work of others who could utilise the outputs.

Viewing models as services that provide outputs upon request, though not practical for all models, is one way to increase their accessibility and integrate them with the work of others, with the additional benefit of fostering collaborations. The JRC is engaged here, for example, via “e-habitat”, a web service that combines data from a variety of sources to delineate environmentally similar habitats, useful for, among other things, mapping habitat change over time. We have been working together to increase model access, and since good collaborations have a tendency to grow we hope this will expand more broadly.

Our ability to observe, understand, and predict the changes that are occurring in natural systems, and to understand and communicate the implications of these changes, is limited not just by scientific knowledge but, significantly, by the level of integration among existing systems and models. We can increase this integration. A collaborative approach—while not always easy— is vital to solving some of the most important problems of our time.

Gary GellerDeputy Manager, NASA Ecological Forecasting Program

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

"Our ability to observe, understand, and predict the changes that are occurring in natural systems (...) is limited (...) by the level of integration among existing systems and models"

News Events Open positions

JRC Newsletter

Assessing the impact of change on natural systems

NEWS

CArEEr OppOrtuNitiEs At thE JrC

To reinforce its new corporate strategy 2010-2020, the JRC will launch a series of AD (administrator) research competitions at the end of September to create reserve lists of candidates across the different Institutes in Geel, Ispra, Petten, Karlsruhe and Seville. The research areas covered are: chemistry, biology and health sciences; physics; structural mechanics; quantitative policy analysis; spatial sciences; environmental sciences; energy sciences; and communication/information technology. Recruitment for the permanent positions will be done at either the AD6 or AD7 level.

Once the competition notice is published in the Official Journal of the European Union, candidates need to fill in an on-line application on the website of the European Personnel Selection Office (http://www.eu-careers.eu/). After the closing date, the JRC will evaluate the candidates’ cvs against a predetermined set of criteria.

Successful candidates will be called to spend one day at an Assessment Centre in Brussels.

This day will focus on assessing a series of key job-related competencies through computer-based verbal, numerical and

abstract reasoning tests, a detailed case study, a group exercise and a structured interview. All candidates will use their second language (English, French or German) with their first language (one of the official languages of the EU) being checked during the case study.

The whole procedure from the date of publication of the competition notice in the Official Journal to the creation of the reserve lists should last approximately nine months.

Potential candidates who wish to be informed about the competitions when launched, can send an e-mail to [email protected]

On 12 July the European Commission proposed changes to existing European rules to further improve protection for bank account holders. The JRC has contributed to the development of this directive proposal which amends existing European rules on deposit protection. In cooperation with the European Federation of Deposit Insurers, scientists at the JRC conducted an impact assessment of the proposed changes and of possible criteria to determine individual banks’ contributions to the guarantee funds based on their risk profiles.

The directive proposal amends current European rules on Deposit Guarantee Schemes to further enhance the protection offered to bank account holders. It aims to assure better coverage, faster payouts, less red tape, better information and long term responsible financing.

The JRC also contributed to the White Paper on Insurance Guarantee Schemes, adopted by the Commission at the same time. Together with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services, the JRC elaborated the methodology used for the quantitative part of its impact assessment. The White Paper presents

FiNANCiAl mArkEts http://finecon.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects_deposit_guarantee_schemes.htm

Proposals for enhancing consumer protection and confidence in financial services

Towards an open and competitive economy

options to improve protection against the risk that claims will not be met if an insurance company collapses, including the possibility of setting up Insurance Guarantee Schemes in all Member States.

The Joint Research Centre has played an important role in the development of deposit protection regulation in the past, by providing the Commission with scientific reports on the coverage level (2005), the possible harmonisation of funding mechanisms (2006/2007) and the efficiency of deposit guarantee schemes (2008).

New European rules can improve protection

for bank account holders

JRC to recruit permanent scientific staff through eight open competitions

http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/competitions

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010 | JRC NEWSLETTER | 3

BiOFuEls http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/biof/

JRC methodology for calculating carbon stock changes

The JRC has substantially contributed to the new EU system established to ensure that European biofuels and bioliquids come from sustainable sources and meet the highest environmental standards. A key tool is the JRC's methodology to quantify changes to the amount of carbon in soils and biomass when land use changes as a result of biofuels production. This is an important factor in the sustainability assessment. The methodology follows the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories and is supported by comprehensive global data collected by the JRC. The methodology was the basis for the Commission decision on the guidelines for the calculation of land carbon stocks.

The new system, adopted in June by the European Commission, encourages industry, governments and NGOs to set up voluntary certification schemes for all types of biofuels. It supports the sustainable production of biofuels, including those imported into the EU, and enables the calculation of savings in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of biofuels. These savings need to be at least 35% when compared to fossil fuels. It also excludes specific land categories for biofuel production,

Development of a low carbon society

such as primary forests, wetlands, peatlands and areas with high diversity.

The JRC provided extensive technical and scientific support to the Commission Directive and Communications. This included designing practical measures and procedures for calculating the GHG emissions of various options for producing biofuels and bioliquids. The accompanying global data layers on climate regions and soil types have also been developed by the JRC, following IPCC specifications.

The standard methodology and the carbon stock coefficients together with the data layers will enable economic operators to determine what changes in land carbon stocks might arise from the conversion of land for biofuels production.

The calculation of default values for GHG savings is a complex procedure, which must take into consideration a number of parameters such as the type of fertiliser or pesticide used when growing biofuels, the fuel used by tractors and machinery or the distance to the processing plant and users.

Climatic zone data layer defined on basis of IPCC classification

4 | JRC NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010

rENEwABlE ENErgy http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/refsys/

EU leading the way in newly installed solar cells

The JRC's Institute for Energy published the ninth Annual Photo-voltaics Status Report on 6 September. The study highlights that, in 2009, newly installed photovoltaic (PV) cells world-wide produced a peak amount of electricity estimated at 7.4 GW, out of which 5.8 GW was located in Europe. Similarly to previous years, this shows the EU's dominance in this

field, where more than three quarters of the world's new PV modules were installed. By the end of 2009, Europe's cumulative installed PV electricity gen-eration capacity (existing and newly installed) was 16 GW, which is about 70% of the world's total (22GW).

It is estimated that one GW of PV electricity generation capacity provides enough electricity for about 250,000 European households during one year. In the EU in 2009, 27.5 GW of new power capacity was constructed. About 21% (5.8 GW, up from 5.1 GW in 2008) of this was PV based.

Most of the EU’s growth that year occurred in Germany (3.8 GW, reaching a cumulative value of 9.8 GW), and in the 4th quarter, some 2.3 GW were connected to the grid. In fact, Germany

ranks first in the world for cumulative installed capacity (9.8 GW), followed by Spain (3.5 GW), thanks to the renewable energy legislation in these countries.

The PV status report summarises and evaluates the results of a survey of more than 300 companies worldwide. It looks at the photovoltaic market and global industry with special attention to the EU, India, Japan, China, Taiwan and the United States, providing a final outlook on the topic. It also provides an overview of current activities in research, manufacturing and market implementation in this sector. However, data from 2009 may have a higher uncertainty than usual, mostly due to the difficult market situation and the decreased willingness of companies to report confidential data.

rENEwABlE ENErgy http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/refsys/

Share of renewables in new electricity generation capacity continues to rise

The "Renewable Energy Snapshots"

report, published in July by the JRC's

Institute for Energy, shows that renewable

energy sources accounted for 62% (17GW) of the

new electricity generation capacity installed in the

EU27 in 2009. The share rose from 57%

in 2008. For the second year

running, wind energy

accounted for the

Europe ranks highest in PV electricity generation capacity worldwide

For the second year running, wind energy accounted for the largest share of new electricity generation capacity

largest share of the new capacity: 10.2 GW out of the 27.5 GW built, representing 38% of the total. In absolute terms, renewables covered 19.9% of Europe's electricity consumption last year.

If current growth rates are maintained, in 2020 up to 1400 TWh of electricity could be generated from renewable sources, the report concludes. This would account for approximately 35-40% of overall electricity consumption in the EU, depending on the success of community policies on electricity efficiency, and would contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the 20% target for energy generation from renewables.

However, it also advises that some issues need to be resolved if the targets are to be met. Particular areas of focus include ensuring fair access to grids, substantial public R&D support, and the adaptation of current electricity systems to accommodate renewable electricity. The study highlights that cost reduction and accelerated implementation will depend on the production volume and not on time.

The JRC has produced the annual Renewable Energy Snapshots since 2007 to give an up-to-date picture of the EU’s progress towards the binding target of 20% for energy generation from renewable sources by 2020.


NEw ENErgy tEChNOlOgiEs http://www.huge.gig.eu/en.html

Successful conclusion to the HUGE project

technology available for hydrogen production through underground coal gasification. Large scale production of hydrogen from coal is a significant new option for coal mining industries and could serve the needs of energy, chemistry and transportation sectors across Europe. This three year study, supported by the European Commission, will therefore have a considerable impact on future energy options in Europe.

Following the success of the HUGE project, in terms of developing techniques for obtaining hydrogen rich gas, there are now plans to start a new project for the use of underground gasification for the production of synthetic natural gas.

The final project meeting and dissemination workshop for the HUGE (Hydrogen-oriented underground gasification) Research Fund for Coal and Steel was held on 25 June 2010 in Katowice, Poland, close to the site of the pilot underground gasification test in a hard coal mine. The JRC's Institute for Energy (IE) has been a partner in this project, contributing mainly to the development of a concept for an underground geo-reactor in which a gaseous energy carrier (H2-rich fuel) can be produced from unminable coal and partial storage of CO2 can be achieved.

The HUGE project, lead by the GIG (Główny Instytut Górnictwa - Central Mining Institute), Poland is a collaboration of eleven different partners exploring the

and Germany experienced very high temperatures in June and July coupled with low rainfall. The forecast published in early August by the JRC provides yield estimates for the main crops throughout the European Union and identifies the areas most affected by stress conditions.

While the EU's cereal harvest should reach average levels, the JRC crop monitoring system identifies very critical conditions (hot and dry) that will severely affect winter crop production in Russia, in particular along the Volga River.

During the agricultural season, the JRC's Institute for Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC) regularly issues forecasts for the main crop yields and produces analyses of the impact of weather conditions on crop production. These are based on methodologies using satellite remote sensing and mathematical models which simulate crop growth.

Total cereal production in 2010 should be close to the average from the last five years. While the yield per hectare will be 5% above average, overall cultivated areas have decreased. This agricultural year has been marked by unusual scattered weather events ranging from severe rain shortage to floods. However, the impact of poor weather on crops in some areas of the EU has been offset in other areas.

In general, Europe saw a harsh winter with waves of exceptionally low temperatures in December, January, February and also in March (e.g. snowfall in Spain) leading to a delayed start to the season. Spring and early summer brought a severe shortage of rain in the United Kingdom, western France, Benelux, northern Germany, eastern Poland and Greece. Flooding occurred in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. On the other hand, Spain and Italy experienced favourable and abun-dant rain in spring. Northern and central France, Benelux

AgriCulturE http://mars.jrc.ec.europa.eu/mars/About-us/AGRI4CAST

Crop forecast: average production in the EU despite extreme weather

Sustainable management of natural resources


DEsErtiFiCAtiON http://desert.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

JRC-IES nominated UNCCD Regional Reference Center

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has established 15 Reference Centres worldwide on the basis of their recognised experience in desertification and land degradation issues. This is done in order to implement country reporting guidelines and development activities for a new indicator-based monitoring and assessment process at regional, sub-regional and national levels. The DESERT Action at the JRC Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) was nominated as one of these Reference Centres. As such, it provides assistance to the countries of the UNCCD regional annexes for the Northern Mediterranean (Annex IV), Central and Eastern Europe (Annex V) and other affected country Parties (e.g. USA, Canada, Hungary).

As part of its Reference Centre activities, the IES provided two training sessions in Brussels during the month of June. The first two-day training session on the new indicator-based reporting system was attended by 48 participants representing UNCCD National Focal Points from 20 coun-tries covering the Northern Mediterranean as well as Central and Eastern Europe. A further training session was attended by 25 participants from 11 donor countries, as well as the Regional Desk Officer of the UNCCD, representatives

from the Global Mechanism and the project coordinator of the PRAIS (Performance Review and Assessment of Imple-mentation System) project, who coordinates the activities of all Reference Centres on behalf of the UNCCD Secretariat.

The DESERT Action at JRC-IES is engaged to join forces with the international scientific community in order to provide scientific support to and develop adequate tools for the implementation of policies and conventions related to drought and desertification in Europe and worldwide.

Desertification, land degradation and drought are major environmental threats with serious impacts on human well-being

ClimAtE ChANgE http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2009JD013300.shtml

Atmospheric chemistry-climate feedbacks

The paper "Atmospheric chemistry-climate feedbacks", resulting from collaboration between Frank Raes from the JRC's Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) with the California Institute of Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The paper has been selected by the editors as an American Geophysical Union (AGU) "AGU Research Spotlight".

Accurately predicting climate change involves a thorough knowledge of how perturbations in the Earth’s radiation balance feed back to influence temperature and other climate variables. These feedbacks alter the Earth’s capability to absorb incoming solar radiation, and involve water vapour, clouds, and ice and snow effects. Traditionally, changes in atmospheric chemistry induced by changes in climate have not been fed back into climate models to further change the climate itself. Studies that evaluate the effect of reducing

emissions typically assume a constant climate state rather than an evolving one, neglecting the effects of how changing atmospheric compositions influence the climate itself.

Noting that climate models, though increasingly sophisticated, have not yet successfully coupled feedbacks between climate and atmospheric chemistry in a comprehensive way, Raes et al. developed a framework to help models better fuse these interrelated concepts together. When applying this framework to a specific model, they found that although atmospheric chemistry has only a small effect on climate sensitivity on a planetary scale, locally atmospheric chemistry can influence climate sensitivity by 20-30%. Furthermore, climate processes can significantly amplify the relationship between emissions and burdens of air pollutants. Taken in the context of air pollution studies, climate, through feedback processes, does exacerbate air pollution.


NANOtEChNOlOgy http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/downloads/jrc_reference_report_201007_nanomaterials.pdf

Size matters: towards a definition of nanomaterials for regulatory purposes

Despite the growing use of engineered nanomaterials in consumer products and innovative technological applications, there is at present no widely accepted definition of the term "nanomaterial" that is suitable as a basis for legislation on their safe use. Responding to a request from the European Parliament, the JRC published a reference report entitled "Considerations on a definition of nanomaterial for regulatory purposes".

The report discusses possible elements of a definition aiming at reducing ambiguity and confusion for regulators, industry and the general public. It recommends that the specific term “particulate nanomaterial” should be employed in legislation to avoid inconsistencies with other definitions and that size should be used as the only defining property.

A lower limit of 1 nm for the size range of interest (the "nanoscale") is considered as a reasonable figure. The upper limit of the nanoscale should be equal to or greater than 100 nm in order to include a wide range of currently used nanomaterials of regulatory concern. Other specific physico-chemical properties and attributes (e.g. state of agglomeration, biopersistance, or whether intentionally

Safety of food and consumer products

manufactured) may be relevant in the scope of particular legislation. Therefore it may be necessary to adapt the general definition to the needs of a specific implementation.

The report emphasises that the adoption of a definition will involve policy choices, and entail political decisions. Whereas there is a clear need for a consolidated definition of the term "(particulate) nanomaterial", the task of establishing a size based definition is not straightforward, and should ideally involve consultation, with stakeholders in the world of academia, regulatory bodies, industries and possibly NGOs.

ChEmiCAls http://ihcp.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Bisphenol A and baby bottles: challenges and perspectives

Bisphenol A (BPA) is extensively used in the synthesis of plastics and resins, implying widespread consumer exposure through various products coming in contact with food, such as baby bottles or food cans. Despite several risk assessment studies performed over the last ten years by different regulatory bodies worldwide, there is so far no agreement about the impact of BPA on

human health. The review report "Bisphenol A and baby bottles: challenges and perspectives", published by the JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), provides an overview of the issues at the base of the on-going debate and highlights some areas of uncertainty, which may be the subject of future investigations.

Numerous toxicity studies performed all over the world in compliance with internationally accepted guidelines and good laboratory practice, using oral administration, large groups of animals and several dose groups, have highlighted negative effects of BPA at dose levels from 50 milligrams of BPA per 1 kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg bw/day). Because this figure is well above the estimated human exposure levels of 0.6-13 micrograms per 1 kilo of body weight per day (μg/kg bw/day), risk assessors and managers have considered the margin of safety sufficient. However, a large number of research studies, often using smaller numbers of animals, fewer or single dose groups, and including non-oral routes of administration, have described negative effects of BPA use at very low dose levels, in the range of micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day use. Although the

Solutions containing nano-particles

Bisphenol A (BPA) is extensively used in the synthesis of plastics and resins, including for baby bottles


limitations of such low dose studies make it difficult to determine their actual significance to human health risk assessment, this has spurred concern regarding the possible adverse health effects of BPA.

Against this background, the JRC's IHCP has recently reviewed the results of various risk assessment studies carried out on BPA, which are presented in this report. The authors note that most of the current uncertainties regarding human health risks of BPA derive from diverging opinions on the reliability of studies carried out with different methodologies. On this basis, they observe that future toxicological studies aimed at reducing these

uncertainties will have a higher probability of success if they are agreed preliminarily in a context of international collaboration between academic laboratories and governmental bodies, and if they are carried out under the supervision of an international panel of independent experts.

Considering that some BPA-containing products (particularly polycarbonate baby bottles) are already being banned in some countries and/or are being progressively and voluntarily phased out by the industry, the authors note that it is likewise important to assess the safety of BPA-free substitute materials.

The JRC's Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) has analysed the occurrence and distribution of forest fires in the European part of Russia for the period between 1 July and 12 August 2010, processing a series of maps and satellite imagery showing the locations of the fires.

Western and central Russia recently experienced its worst heatwave in decades with widespread forest fires breaking out as temperatures soared towards 40°C. Apart from determining the locations of the fires, and their extension over time, scientists at IES have quantified how these fires have potentially affected the areas impacted by the Chernobyl accident of 26 April 1986, and investigated the impacts on land cover and peat soils in this area.

The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), hosted by IES, showed persistently high fire risks in the Moscow region from mid-June 2010. From satellite imagery,

NAturAl hAzArDs http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=2820&obj_id=518&dt_code=HLN

JRC monitors forest fires in Russia and quantifies effects

Security and crisis management

the total burnt area in this region, on 12 August 2010, was estimated to be 763,000 ha.

In the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the JRC had contributed to producing a detailed atlas mapping Caesium-137 depositions. After combining current satellite observations with this atlas, analysis showed that most of the fires up to 12 August occurred in areas where Caesium-137 deposition levels in 1986 had been low to medium.

In another analysis, an overlay comparison of the fire perimeters with peat soil information provided by the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), also hosted by IES, showed that approximately a quarter of the total burnt area was made up of peat lands. The extremely high carbon content in these soils is one of the possible reasons why smouldering fires continued to burn despite forest fire-fighting efforts.

DisAstEr rEspONsE http://ec.europa.eu/echo/aid/asia/pakistan_en.htm

Supporting EU and International efforts to help Pakistan

The severe Monsoon floods that struck Pakistan have killed more than 1,600 people, affected about 20 million people (12% of total Pakistani population) and caused extensive damage to agricultural lands and infrastructure including houses.

In close cooperation with the EU Member States and the international community, the European Commission, through its offices for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO/MIC),

is providing humanitarian relief and rescue expert support to assist the Pakistani authorities and the Pakistani population. The Commission, through the Instrument for Stability (IfS), is also contributing to the early recovery and medium to longer term post disaster needs assessments that are underway under the lead of the United Nations and the World Bank/Asian Development Bank respectively, in cooperation with the government of Pakistan, to assess the extent of

the damage and the required needs for early recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The JRC is providing geospatial information support to ECHO offices, especially the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), in order to provide them with insight on the most affected districts and the extent of affected societal functions (e.g. population, infrastructure and agricultural land). The support is


Reference materials and measurements

rEFErENCE mAtEriAls http://irmm.jrc.ec.europa.eu/rmcatalogue

First reference material for biomarker of kidney function

The JRC's Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) has released a reference material certified for the protein Cystatin C, which is used as a biomarker of kidney function.

The availability of a certified reference material for Cystatin C will help to overcome the problems generated by the use of different Cystatin C calibrators and varying determination methods, and thus promotes the worldwide implementation of improved methods for a non-invasive

Damaged bridge from flooding in Pakistan, 2010

based on openly available data provided by the Pakistani authorities as well as in-house flood extent analysis and analyses provided by JRC partners such as UNITAR/UNOSAT and others such as ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) based on medium resolution satellite data. The information map products are also helping to support ECHO/MIC briefings prior to deploying their teams in the ground.

The JRC, as part of the overall EU response, is also contributing to the forthcoming needs assessments that are being undertaken under the lead of the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank/Asian Development Bank at the request of the Government of Pakistan. The JRC will specifically contribute to the remote sensing based damage assessment component of this process, which is expected to be completed by mid October 2010.

estimation of the capacity of the kidneys to filter plasma.

The reference material, ERM-DA471/IFCC, was produced in collaboration with the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC), which actively supports standardisation in clinical chemistry. The reference material is intended to be used to assign values to calibrators that are an integral part of In Vitro Diagnostic-Medical Devices (IVD-MD). ERM-DA471/IFCC has been produced to support the implementation of the EU

Directive on these devices (Directive 98/79/EC) which requires the traceability of calibrators and control materials to reference measurement procedures and/or reference materials of a higher order.

Cystatin C can be used for testing children, the elderly, patients with low muscle mass, or for those in the early stages of kidney problems where alternative creatinine measurements do not perform well. It can also be used as a marker for cardiovascular risk and pre-eclampsia.

pOliCy suppOrt http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=1410&obj_id=11040&dt_code=NWS

A call for integrity, openness, clarity and public engagement

The JRC and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have issued a call to scientists and policy-makers for integrity, openness, clarity and public engagement. Representatives from both organisations made the plea on 3 July at a session of Euroscience Open Forum 2010 in Turin, Italy. The recommendations reflect the findings of a workshop last fall at the JRC’s Ispra site where

Other news

21 high-profile science and technology leaders gathered to discuss the use and misuse of science in policy-making. The specialists, each with pertinent experience in real-life scientific support to policy-making, offered advice on best practices and pitfalls in science policy on both sides of the Atlantic.


AwArDs & prizEs

The role of scientific advice in policy-making worldwide is growing. Recent episodes, such as the volcanic ash crisis in Europe or the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are prominent examples in the public eye. Yet, daily legislative decisions about the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the energy or means of transport we use, are a constant battle-ground between what a summary report on the Ispra workshop calls “evidence-based policy versus policy-biased evidence.” Policy-makers want to know the facts and to

receive independent advice. Faced with claims and counter claims from interest groups, however, this is not always obvious.

The summary report of the 27 October 2009 workshop was released at the ESOF2010 meeting by Alan I. Leshner, the Chief Executive Officer of AAAS; Roland Schenkel, the JRC Director-General and Patrick Cunningham, the Irish Chief Scientific Adviser.

Materials research

Franck De Bruycker from the JRC's Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) has won the European Materials Research Society's (E-MRS) "Young Scientist Award" for his presentation of the paper, "The Melting Behaviour of Plutonium Dioxide: a Laser Heating Study", which he co-authored with Konstantinos Boboridis, Rachel Eloirdi, Rudy Konings, Joseph Somers and Dario Manara, also of ITU.

Nuclear physics

Alban kellerbauer and michael welland, researchers from the JRC's Institute for Transuranium Elements

In this paper, the melting behaviour of plutonium dioxide is studied via laser heating and fast multi-channel pyrometry. A critical comparison of the current results with recent and more traditionally obtained literature data shows that the new experimental transition temperature (3017 K) is more than 200 K higher than previously found.

The essential disagreement between the new and existing experimental results reveals that data obtained at a very high temperature (T › 2500 K) by traditional heating methods can be affected by a very large uncertainty. Both the melting point of stoichiometric PuO2 and the variation of the melting temperature as a function of the ratio O/Pu are still a controversial subject of research, on which the current original approach, implemented at JRC-ITU, is shedding some new light.

The E-MRS Award program strives to acknowledge outstanding contributors to the progress of materials research, and to recognise their exciting and profound accomplishments.

(ITU), and mathieu gibilaro, visiting scientist from LGC/CNRS Toulouse currently working at JRC-ITU under a collaboration agreement, have successfully participated in the award competitions at the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC) 2010 conference. Two of three awards for best paper were won by the JRC-ITU delegates (Welland and Gibilaro et al) and recognition was made for finalist placement (Kellerbauer et al). In addition, Michael Welland was one of the three awardees for best oral presentation.

IYNC is an international forum for and organised by young professionals in the nuclear field, to exchange information on nuclear science and technology and to transfer knowledge from the current generation of leading scientists to the next generation and across international boundaries.

Franck De Bruycker has won the E-MRS "Young Scientist Award"

Michael Welland receiving the award at the IYNC 2010


IT

Economic policy analysis

marc müller, a former researcher at the JRC's Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), has been awarded the GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) Research Fellow distinction. This three year term was awarded in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of new Input-Output tables for the European Union during his time at IPTS.

GTAP is a global network of researchers coordinated by the Centre for Global Trade Analysis, in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, USA. The

network of researchers conducts quantitative analysis of international economic policy issues to produce a con-sistent global economic database.

The GTAP Research Fellows Committee was first formed in 2005. The committee selects candidates from nomina-tions made to it by the board and GTAP Staff. The board, on the basis of the committee's recommendations, awards the 3 year GTAP Research Fellow distinction to individuals, in recognition of their significant contribution to the development of the project.

At this year’s EuroScience Open Forum 2010 (ESOF), the JRC brought science to the streets of Turin with a wide range of interactive demonstrations, including a theatre show, and a scientific café. Thousands of enthusiastic visitors brought the city to life during the hot Piemontese evenings and enjoyed the ‘Science in the City’ activities, an extraordinary series of events mixing science and culture in its piazzas, theatres and cultural spots.

Every two years, ESOF brings together students, young researchers and scientists, teachers and experts, journalists and politicians, science buffs and anyone with an interest in science and technology.

More than 4000 people from 80 countries came to take part in

EVENTS

EsOF 2010Turin, 2 - 7 July

http://www.esof2010.org

this year’s activities, which featured almost 200 conferences with close to 800 speakers including high-calibre figures from the international world of science, making it the biggest scientific gathering in Europe. Six Nobel Prize winners and many renowned scientists – a third of whom were female, and more than half of all scientists present under 35 years old – came to present and discuss their research areas.

This year, the JRC was a major player and held 14 sessions on exploring the frontiers of scientific and technological research, allowing for debate and comparison of experiences, while giving people a chance to get to know the JRC. The quality and the experience of the invited panellists offered the audience different perspectives on the role science could play in

improving quality and effectiveness of development policies and programmes in thematic areas such as sustainable lifestyle and transport, a low carbon society and safe food and consumer products.

In view of the global challenges, it is essential that scientists collaborate on an international level to tackle issues such as health, agriculture, biotechnology and nanotechnology. An initiative of the JRC and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was created to improve transatlantic dialogue between scientists on how best to integrate science into policy-making. During an animated session entitled “Evidence-based policy versus policy-biased evidence: EU/US perspectives”, the role of science in policy-making was discussed extensively.

NuClEAr mAtEriAl CONgrEss 2010

The first Nuclear Material Congress will be held in Karlsruhe in October, hosted by the JRC Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU).

This inaugural conference, formed in association with Journal of Nuclear Materials, will serve as an umbrella for international meetings on nuclear materials science for fission reactors, including the nuclear fuel cycle. It is the intention that the event will become an international key scientific forum in the field.

Karlsruhe, 4 – 7 October DE

http://www.nuclearmaterials2010.com/

JrC ANNuAl lECturE

Each year, the JRC invites a guest speaker to give a keynote public address on a scientific issue of global importance. On 27 October, Yvo de Boer, Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability, KPMG and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will speak on the subject of "climate services".

The event will take place at 17h45 at the Renaissance Hotel in Brussels.

Brussels, 27 October BE

http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lecture


ES25th EurOpEAN phOtOvOltAiC sOlAr ENErgy CONFErENCE

The World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion brought together the three most important global scientific and strategic PV Conferences: the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, the 36th US IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference and the 20th Asia/Pacific PV Science and Engineering Conference.

Giovanni de Santi, Director of the JRC Institute for Energy (IE), chaired

Valencia, 6 – 10 September

http://www.photovoltaic-conference.com/

this event which was attended by some 4,500 conference delegates and around 40,000 visitors for the PV industry exhibition where around 900 companies displayed new trends and technologies.

The JRC has played a major role in the conference since 1994, and this year was once again responsible for the scientific programme. During the conference, the IE's ninth annual Pho-tovoltaics Status Report was released.IE Director Giovanni de Santi chaired the event

upCOmiNg

Ispra, Italy

trainee – all 28/09/2010Analysis of black carbon emissions based on • technology-based inventory calculations and atmospheric measurements Analysis of non-methane volatile organic compounds • emissions under a technology-based emission inventory approach

JOBs At thE JrC(Applicants must submit their application no later than the indicated deadline)RECENTLY PUBLISHED

OpEN pOSiTiONS

http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/jobs

Evaluation of potential future changes in chemistry-• aerosol-climate interactions under new policy options to mitigate climate change and air pollution using the climate model ECHAM5 Flood forecasting in a transnational African river • basin

in addition to offering these temporary

positions, the JrC is currently organising

dedicated competitions for the recruitment

of permanent staff. please refer to page 2

for more details.

http://www.photovoltaic-conference.com/

http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/jobs


Land Degradation Mapping • Options for Climate change mitigation in agricultural • soils and impact on crop and grassland production Bioassays for screening of environmental toxic • compounds The role of biodiversity in sustaining ecosystem • services in the Mediterranean region Interoperability of Spatial data sets – Software • development Interoperability of Spatial data sets – Testing • infrastructure Content development of resource directory of • European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment Modelling resource-use impacts in Life Cycle • Assessment Characterisation of atmospheric aerosols • Geostatistics in air quality assessment • Assessment of connectivity between African • Protected Areas

seconded National ExpertPollutant and CO2 emissions from transport – • 25/09/2010Scientific / Technical project officer in support to the • CAP implementation – 25/09/2010

grantholder (phD student)Preparation of land cover and land cover change maps • from medium (10-30m) spatial resolution satellite data – 20/09/2010

grantholder (post-doc researcher)Agrometeorologist and modeller researcher – • 12/09/2010Assessment of ecosystem services and biodiversity in • protected areas in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific coun-tries – 20/09/2010Forest cover mapping and monitoring of Central African • forests – 20/09/2010Modelling greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosys-• tems – 20/09/2010Fisheries modeller – • 30/09/2010

Petten, The Netherlands

trainee – all 15/09/2010Assessment of supply chain issues of materials in low-• carbon energy technologiesAssessment of the evolution of the distributed heat and • cooling sectors in the future European energy systemCommunication in the local context • Development of test protocols and testing of the fuel • cell power chain Numerical simulation of inspection • Professionalisation of the CAPTURE website on nuclear • safety knowledge preservation and dissemination Security of energy supply • Security of energy systems • Structural integrity of cladding tubes • Thermal processing of biomass for bioenergy and • biorefineriesThermodynamics of nano-sized hydrides•

grantholder (post-doc researcher)Modelling of fuel cells and software code development • & validation – 12/09/2010

grantholder (senior researcher)Nuclear power plants operational experience feedback • systems – 15/09/2010

Seville, Spain

grantholder (senior researcher)Elaboration and/or review of the reference document on • Best Available Techniques – 15/09/2010Industrial research and innovation – • 15/09/2010Quantitative analysis of agricultural policies – • 26/09/2010

Karlsruhe, Germany

grantholder (post-doc researcher) Investigation of 5f electronic structures by x-ray • spectroscopy techniques – 06/10/2010Studies of physical properties of actinide compounds • under high-pressure conditions – 09/11/2010

To subscribe to the electronic version of this newsletter, please visit www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/newsletter

Editor in chief: David Wilkinsonproduction team: Lieven Creemers, Boris Kandziora, Catherine Needham, Sabine Schielke

www.jrc.ec.europa.eu — Contact: jrc- [email protected]

Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission may be held responsible for the use to which information contained in this publication may be put, nor for any errors which may appear despite careful preparation and checking. This publication does not necessarily reflect the view or the position of the European Commission.

© European Union, 2010

picture credits: p. 2: Alessandro Paiva (Here's your change 2) p. 4: Miguel Saavedra (Wind turbines) p. 5: Maja (wheat in the hands) p. 6: Mike Vam (Ghost Town 1) p. 7: cylonka Bsg (Newborn drinking milk) p. 9: Horace Murray, U.S. Army

The mission of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national.

IMP

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T The JRC Newsletter is a bi-monthly publication intended to provide JRC customers, stakeholders and other interested

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