1.The European Physical Society and its roles

The European Physical Society (EPS) is an independent body, established as a union of 38 National Physical Societies of European countries, individual physicists, research institutions and industries. It includes as members all EU countries and has strong links to Central and Eastern European physicists.

The EPS represents over 80,000 physicists in Europe and can call on expertise in all areas where physics is involved.

The EPS is the only body at the European level that brings together and represents working physicists in research and education, with as a priority to have close relations with physicists working in all sectors of activity, including research, industry, commerce, public service and education.

The role of the EPS is clearly summarized by the items identified in its Strategy Plan: Scientific Issues in Physics, Physics in Profession, Physics Education, East-West Cooperation and Physics for Development, Public Awareness and Information Dissemination. This Strategy Plan was approved by the EPS Council of March 2001 and a short version has been published in the May/June issue of Europhysics News 32 (2001) p. 108.

Within the physics community, the activities of the EPS include the publication of scientific journals, the organisation of forefront international physics conferences and schools and contributes to worldwide recognition of outstanding achievement in physics by awarding prizes. Outside the physics community, The EPS has a major role in the promotion of physical sciences and the public understanding of physics.

The declared aim of the EPS is to promote Physics and help physicists in Europe.

2. Aims of this Position Paper
The EPS is the major European body in physics and, as such, welcomes with enthusiasm the EU proposal to establish a European Research Area (ERA). Physics is a rigorous theoretical and experimental discipline that plays a fundamental role in all natural sciences and constitutes the basis for the development of new technology. Therefore, we believe that Physics will be crucial to the ERA, in particular by its contributions to interdisciplinary and new emergent fields of research.
With this position paper the EPS wishes to offer its assistance and to join the EU efforts in the creation of the ERA.

The EPS is convinced that a close collaboration with the EU will help to extend its own running initiatives for the benefit of all. For this purpose it is willing to propose the EPS infrastructure (Divisions, Executive Committee, Secretariat), and its publication network for reaching the 80.000 physicists who are potential members of the ERA.

This paper is addressed to both those in authority and the General Public.

3. The European Research Area

The EPS has appreciated the previous EU Framework Programmes that have promoted cooperation and have supported collaboration among research institutions and industries across Europe. The establishment of a European Research Area is the natural follow-up towards European scientific and technical development throughout the continent.

The EPS welcomes the proposal of infrastructure and research centres in the ERA Programme. The success of these initiatives, however, will strongly depend on the national consensus and the access conditions to these research centres.

The EPS will support actions toward an integration of national research programmes with these European research centres. The EPS has no doubts that quality should remain the principal funding criteria of scientific research. One crucial issue is the methodology for defining Centres of Excellence. Since excellence is not necessarily restricted to large institutions, criteria must be defined also bearing in mind the importance of small enterprises, both in the academic and industrial world.

The EPS shares the view of the EU on the equal importance of fundamental and applied research. Europe is at the forefront in many areas of research in physics and the EPS is a natural vehicle to widely disseminate novel results. All the existing links established inside the EPS and mentioned in section 1, can be easily used to promote the ERA. The EPS can offer to collect views from its members via the National Physical Societies, Divisions, Action Committees, etc. and transfer them to the EU Commission, and act as a communication channel in return. The EPS is also willing to work towards the creation of an ad hoc European Science Council, capable of giving top-level, independent advice on major scientific issues within Europe to the national funding agencies and to the EU, when requested.

The EPS acknowledges the wisdom of the EU to select 7 high priority areas. It recommends however to better motivate the choices in order to meet possible criticisms.

4. The EPS contribution

Within Framework Programme VI, the EPS is ready to contribute at three levels:

. Science policy making
. Scientific and technical assessments
. Evaluation process within the EU Framework Programme VI

The first issue is currently being addressed by the EPS, which is expanding its Division structure to enhance the role of specific areas to which the EU has given priority. In particular, the EPS has decided to open two new Divisions for Nano-Physics and Biological Physics. These two topics are strongly connected. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are at the interface between physics, chemistry, engineering and, most importantly, biology. The fundamental processes of living matter occur at the nanometer scale. Micro-electrical mechanical systems are approaching the dimensions of biological cells, opening up the possibility of connecting machines to individual cells. These issues are well inside the priority areas set by the EU for the ERA and obviously they cannot do without Physics. Even more, Physics might play the role of "incubator" for new emerging cross-disciplines in at least six of the seven the ERA priority areas. The EPS can make contacts with other learned societies or bodies (Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Economics, etc.) to generate synergies and move towards the creation of the mentioned European Science Council. The EPS has launched the project of "The World Year of Physics" in 2005 and will act as the co-ordinator. This worldwide promotion of physics can be seen as a contribution to the ERA. Common strategies are easily foreseen.

The EPS can effectively contribute on the technical level to the creation of the ERA simply by following its strategy plan in a professional way. Indeed, the EPS strategy plan includes explicitly:
· information service - preferentially in electronic form, and the creation of databases
· analysis of needs and status of science
· information to the public and the visibility of science
· contacts to and knowledge about third countries
· concerns about ethics, brain-drain and several other subjects touched in position papers and more.

Additional resources to enhance activity in these fields would be most welcome.

The third issue will be addressed, as in the past programmes, by individual members of the EPS who serve for the evaluation of assigned projects, according to the rules set by the EU. If of interest to the EU, the EPS could select and call on famous and influential physicists to help set up top-level evaluation panels. Since evaluation criteria and formats are of primary importance, the EPS is ready, if necessary, to suggest such criteria. The EPS recommends further that, inside the ERA, the mobility of researchers should be extended to all ages and stages in their career.

In summary, the EPS welcomes the ERA proposals. They will stimulate high-level research in Europe and beyond and will help forge links across sciences. The EPS, as one of the leading European scientific organisations is ready to play its role.

The Executive Committee