On Saturday 15 December 2001, the European Commission opened the race for next year's Descartes Prize, the top EU science prize, which will close with a deadline on 15 March 2002. The Descartes Prize is open to teams of scientists who have achieved outstanding results in European collaborative research projects. Entries may be submitted from any field of scientific endeavour, including the socio-economic sciences; they are not limited to EU-funded projects. Research collaborations involving teams from outside the EU are also eligible. Launched in 2000, the 2002 prize will be the third Descartes Prize. The second Descartes Prize was awarded on 27 November 2001 to two projects one on AIDS, lead by the K.U. Leuven (BE) and the other on chemical catalysis lead by Kings College (UK). The Descartes Prize represents an important opportunity for European researchers to gain the public acclaim they deserve for their groundbreaking results. At the same time the Descartes Prize is one of a number of activities supported with a view to raising public awareness of science and its importance in daily life, as described in DG Research's new action plan on Science and Society. Following the deadline on 15 March 2002, prize entries will be subject to a two step evaluation concluded by a Grand Jury of eminent figures from academia end the public and private sectors. The Descartes Prize is a part of the Research Directorate General's Improving the Human Research Potential Programme (1998 2002): www.cordis.lu/descartes For further information:
| |||||||