Right up her street

For an organisation that lobbies on research policy there could be no better Brussels address than rue de la Science. “It was the best fit in terms of facilities and location, and the name is just a very nice bonus,” says Amanda Crowfoot, director of Science Europe. “But,” she jokes, “our long-term ambition is that it gets changed to rue de la Science Europe.”

Established in 2011, Science Europe now represents the policy interests of 53 large public sector research organisations in 27 countries. These are either national research councils, responsible for allocating funds, or public research institutes such as France’s National Centre for Scientific Research and Germany’s Max Planck Society. They cover everything from physics and astronomy to medicine and the humanities.

This role previously was the remit of the European Science Foundation (ESF) in Strasbourg and an overlapping network of European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCS). The decision to create Science Europe as a policy voice in Brussels was supported by both organisations, but they disagreed on the issue of succession. EuroHORCS ceased to exist on the eve of Science Europe’s creation, but a vote to close the ESF as well was narrowly rejected. It continues to operate, with much reduced resources and an uncertain future.

Focus on the future

Crowfoot was recruited after this controversy and has no history with either side. This means she can focus on taking the new organisation forward. “My perspective is that anything that happened previously is water under the bridge,” she says. Her background is in the humanities. A bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in linguistics led to a series of part-time or short-term teaching and research posts. But to find job security she had to change direction, becoming a research assistant at Coventry University’s disability research centre.

When the centre won a European research grant, Crowfoot was given the project to manage. This gradually became a full-time job. “I was essentially setting up new projects, so going out and meeting partners, writing bids and managing the projects. I enjoyed that a lot more than what I had been doing previously. I liked the human interaction.”

Several years on, she applied to work in the UK Research Office in Brussels, a liaison office funded by the UK research councils that helps universities bid for EU funds. Initially an adviser, she became director of the office in 2005.

The move to Science Europe in 2012 felt like a continuation of this career, doing a similar job but with a European rather than a national perspective. “It’s a change from knowing one system very well to knowing 27 systems a bit,” she says. There are also practical differences. “The process of decision-making is naturally a little bit slower, because you’ve got many more voices.”

After years working for the UK interest, people in Brussels now have to be persuaded to think of her as European. “On a personal level, one of the challenges has been not being seen as British.”

Science Europe has quickly established its name in the crowded lobbying landscape, thanks in part to its member organisations. “People have heard of them, and in a way we capitalise on their reputations,” says Crowfoot.

Its first interventions naturally focused on the next EU research programme, Horizon 2020, but it has also spoken out on open access to research results and the implications of proposed data-protection regulations for science. Longer-term strategy will be set out in a forthcoming policy roadmap. “I don’t think we are having too much of a problem finding a voice,” Crowfoot says, “it’s more a case of making sure people know what we do and what we don’t do, and what kind of voice we have.”

Ian Mundell is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.