Members of the European Parliament attend ISGlobal Workshop on EU Advocacy

 On October 21, members of the European Parliament José Blanco and Soledad Cabezón, together with members of the DSW organization, participated in a workshop on EU advocacy that took place at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal). The goal of the workshop, organized by Global Development's director Leire Pajín, and Sarah Davoren, preaward manager, was to provide ISGlobal principal investigators an opportunity to interact with the MEPs, share experiences, and explore ways in which the institution can influence priority setting for the next EU research programme.

After a few words by ISGlobal director of Policy and Global Development, Rafael Vilasanjuán, ISGlobal scientific director Josep M. Antó and Manolis Kogevinas, Head of the Cancer Programme,   talked about their experiences in advocacy in the H2020 Programme. “Understanding who does what, when and how within the European Commission is a complicated but necessary first step”, said Kogevinas.

José Blanco, who is part of the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee at the European Parliament gave a brief overview on the role of such Committee in evaluating the current H2020 and in defining the next framework programme (FP9), and suggested some mechanisms whereby ISGlobal can actively participate in the process. In fact, Soledad Cabezón, from the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee, will be the rapporteur for the European Parliament on the Horizon 2020 midterm review that will take place mainly during 2017 and 2018. She reminded the participants that the three main axes of the current H2020 programme are: excellent science, industrial leadership, and societal challenges where health is one of the main pillars. She explained that the review process will likely highlight some emerging priorities in health such as health system efficiency and sustainability, climate change impact, and migration. During the debate with ISGlobal researchers, she underlined that innovation, although important, should not generate more inequalities (for example, access to medicines or new technologies), and stressed the need to include social sciences in the current and future research frameworks.

During the afternoon, the advocacy and development organization DSW shared their experiences in influencing the EU in relation to global health areas; particularly poverty related neglected diseases, which is the focus of their work. DSW representatives Cecile Vernant and Lisa Goerlitz used the opportunity to gather valuable feedback and opinions from ISGlobal researchers and research managers in order to contribute to the upcoming H2020 and EDCTP midterm reviews, as well as to provide a basis for comments on the future European Union Framework Programme for research and innovation - FP9.