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The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Environment and Information Network (Eionet) were established by Regulation (EEC) No. 1210/90 of 7 May 1990 with later amendments (the codified version is Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 of 23 April 2009).
The primary objective of the EEA is to produce timely, relevant, comparable and reliable European, pan-European and regional environmental data and indicator sets, thematic analyses and integrated assessments in order to provide a sound decision basis for environmental policies in the EU and member countries of the EEA. The work includes cooperation with candidate and potential candidate countries to the EU and those covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy in Eastern and Southern Europe.
Data and information are gathered and disseminated through the Eionet, which is a collaborative network of the EEA, its 33 member countries – EU 28, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey - and six collaborating countries in the Western Balkans. Eionet consists of National Focal Points (NFPs) and National Reference Centres (NRCs) in the EU and collaborating countries, and six European Topic Centres (ETCs) that are consortia of expertise drawn from Eionet and work under contract to EEA.
The EEA also works with a wide range of other partners, including the European Commission services, OECD, UN bodies, international conventions, research communities, the private sector and civil society.
The Scientific Committee assists the EEA Management Board and the Executive Director in providing scientific advice and delivering professional opinion on any scientific matter in the areas of work undertaken by the Agency.
The Scientific Committee has three major tasks:
The Scientific Committee has a multiannual work plan that has been developed in line with the priorities of the EEA multi-annual work programme (MAWP). Outputs from the SC work plan are delivered, inter-alia, through seminar reports.
The Scientific Committee is an important link to the EEAcademy that formally began its work in 2016, and where members are invited to provide contributions through lectures, seminars and summer schools in support to knowledge developments and capacity building within EEA and Eionet.
The EEA Scientific Committee is composed of members of high scientific standing in one or more key areas of expertise relevant to the work of the EEA. Each member serve in an independent scientific capacity and do not represent countries or similar interests. There are currently 18 members of the Committee.
As a whole the members cover all key areas of expertise relevant to the work of the EEA, as well as reflecting regional and gender balances to the extent possible. The Committee has a chairperson and two vice-chairpersons who are elected from amongst its members.
The members of Scientific Committee are expected to attend its meetings on a regular basis – currently three times per year. Meetings of the Scientific Committee shall normally be held at the EEA premises in Copenhagen, the schedule of such meetings is normally known 8 months in advance.
Members of the Scientific Committee do not receive remuneration but are entitled to an indemnity for each meeting in line with the Scientific Committee Rules of Procedure. Members will also receive travel and subsistence allowance in accordance with the Agency’s policy for the reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses.
The Chairperson and rapporteurs are entitled to an indemnity to defray costs related to the coordination of draft opinions on work programmes and recruitment.
In addition, Scientific Committee members shall be entitled to an indemnity for each full day of participation in EEA meetings and seminars when designated by the Management Board, or their contribution is specifically requested by the Chair of the board or the Executive Director.
The EEA organises this call to appoint Scientific Committee members with expertise in one of the following areas as identified by the EEA Management Board in line with MAWP priorities.
The EEA’s Multi-Annual Work programme (MAWP) responds to the priorities raised in the 7th EAP and frames EEA contributions under three Strategic areas.
Strategic area 1 focuses on providing information to support implementation of both established and emerging policy frameworks, by reporting on the state of and trends in natural environmental systems and on the drivers that impose pressures on those systems.
The systemic approach to identifying and understanding systemic transitions, opportunities and risks are embedded in Strategic area 2 on assessing systemic challenges. Under Strategic area 3, EEA responds to the demand for new insight and understanding by working with key partners in a process of knowledge co-creation, including the Scientific Committee, institutional partners, and Eionet partners.
The Scientific Committee advises the Management Board and the Agency at large with scientifically based opinions across these three strategic areas. Finding the right capacities for the Scientific Committee is therefore a question of finding a proper balance between depth of specialisation and associated excellence, and the ability to integrate across broader thematic fields, levels of analysis, and experience in policy analysis and integrated assessments.
Looking ahead, EEA will need more expertise in the Scientific Committee that can support the development of knowledge in support of these strategic areas, including Europe’s ambitions around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the challenges to live well within ecological limits by 2050 (the long-term vision of the EU 7th Environmental Action Programme).
It is within this overall context, and bearing in mind the breadth expertise of existing members, that the following expertise profiles have been developed and the number of candidates per profile with best-fit experience are sought.
To assist the Agency with knowledge around the socio-technical systems (mainly energy, mobility, agriculture and food, consumption and production) central to the development of a more circular, green economy; their development under sustainability and transition constraints; their impacts on the environment; and their relations to climate change vulnerability and adaptation.
More specifically, the advice is expected to cover general air quality/health interactions, as well as provide insights on the developments in the mobility sector in terms of new technologies, and usage schemes (sharing, zoning, etc.) and what their impact can be on air quality and associated human health impacts.
Furthermore the advice should cover the interaction between sectors so that issues such as lock-ins to dominant technological regimes can be a basis for formulation of long-term transition strategies.
The advice is also expected to cover such aspects as the role of the Energy Union, the outcome of the climate agreement from COP21, the urban agenda and adaptation strategies, and health policies in terms of their reduced impacts and how these are distributed across regions of Europe and globally.
On-line application form (English) and template CV (English) for the area can be found under the following link:
To assist the Agency with knowledge around coherent systems of biophysical and social factors that regularly interact in a resilient, sustained manner, with particular focus on land and freshwater-systems. This includes knowledge on ecosystems dynamics and economics, from an integrated, socially-constructed system perspective.
More specifically, the advice is expected to cover theories relating to the study of resilience, robustness, sustainability, and vulnerability and ecological limits, as well as looking at multiple stressors and cumulative impacts.
Furthermore advice is expected around assessment methodologies, links to novel sources of data, and to the assessment and valuation of ecosystem services.
The advice is also expected to link to work on 1) land: degradation, land take / recycling with the urban agenda, developments in agriculture; overall, land management strategies and green infrastructure development; 2) water: EU Blueprint for Water (resource efficiency, adaptation to climate change, water management).
On-line application form (English) and template CV (English) for the area can be found under the following link:
To assist the Agency with knowledge around sustainability transitions, in particular, towards a circular, green economy in Europe. This will include knowledge inter-linkages around efficiency, resilience, well-being and societal equity objectives and how to balance trade-offs when designing and implementing EU and global sustainability goals and targets.
More specifically, the advice is expected to cover aspects such as approaches to sustainability assessment, foresight, visions and targets setting as well as systemic risk governance in the context of an integrated view of the social, economic, ecological and financial systems and their co-evolution.
Furthermore, economic advice is expected on ecosystem-economy interactions, multi-criteria evaluation of economic processes, and the de-linking of economic growth and resource use.
The advice is also expected to cover the importance of the SDG process in the evolving global environmental governance process, the forthcoming EU response to the SDGs, bridging the 2020-2030-2050 timescales for EU policy actions, and the use of economic and non-economic instruments (e.g. behavioural), education and information as agents for societal change.
On-line application form (English) and template CV (English) for the area can be found under the following link:
To assist the Agency with knowledge around established and emerging sources of environmental data flows and how these can be used to support indicator and assessment developments at EEA as well as EU and global policy developments (e.g. SDGs).
More specifically, the advice is expected to cover data acquisition aspects across a range of data types and monitoring processes e.g. citizen science, lay, local and traditional knowledge, big data, ‘data revolution’, open data standards, new in-situ monitoring mechanisms, Copernicus-land monitoring, use of drones, sensor technology etc.
Furthermore, the advice is expected to stem from a broad understanding of ‘environmental data’ in a manner that allows analysis and assessment linking up to the broader aspects of the sustainability and transitions debate.
The advice will address aspects from the full ‘data to knowledge cycle’ including data management, analysis and communication such as accessibility of data and information, data mining (appropriate partner on statistics), data analysis, graphical representation, indicators, and dissemination via social media.
On-line application form (English) and template CV (English) for the area can be found under the following link:
Candidates must have:
Eligible expressions of interest will be subject to a comparative evaluation against the following criteria:
In case of equal scientific excellence, the need to ensure gender and geographical balance shall represent a further criterion. Furthermore, excellent knowledge of English is important since this is the working language of the Scientific Committee.
The Management Board may decide on additional criteria on a case-by-case basis.
In order to foster gender balance in the Scientific Committee, applications from qualified women are strongly encouraged.
Scientific Committee members are identified through an open process, leading to designation of chosen candidates by the EEA Management Board on the basis of a recommendation from the Executive Director after consultation of the Scientific Committee.
The Chair of the Management Board can call on a panel to assess the professional experience of candidates.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview at the EEA in October/ November 2016.
The experts who meet best the above criteria will be appointed for a term of four years which may be renewed once for a maximum of another four-year period.
Selected experts will be appointed on a personal basis. They are required to sign declaration of commitment and make a declaration of interests on an annual basis, which may be deemed prejudicial to their independence. Declarations of commitment and of interest are published on the EEA website.
The EEA is an equal opportunities institution committed to avoid any form of discrimination, both when it comes to recruitment and when dealing with involvement in networks and governance bodies such as the Scientific Committee.
Interested candidates are requested to submit their expression of interest by filling in the on-line application form and the template CV to be found under each of the links indicated below.
The CV shall contain a list of the applicant’s scientific publications, preferably in English, and other professional experience.
Applicable rules of procedure of the Scientific Committee of the EEA can also be found under the following link: SC rules of procedure
When applying via the on-line application form, please ensure that you observe the following:
Candidates are kindly requested to direct any questions on the current call to the following e-mail address: sc.call16-questions@eea.europa.eu
Supporting documents may be requested at a later stage.
All expressions of interest will be treated as confidential.
Any personal data provided by the applicant shall be processed pursuant to European Regulation related to personal data protection, in particular Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movements of such data. This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.
The purpose of processing the personal data which candidates submit is to manage expressions of interest with a view to possible pre-selection, selection and the appointment of Members of the Scientific Committee of the EEA.
The applicant shall have the right of access to his/her personal data and the right to rectify or update any such data that is inaccurate or incomplete at any time during the application procedure. The right to rectify can only be exercised up to the closing date for submission of applications. However, inaccurate identification data may be rectified at any time during and after the application procedure. Any request for access or rectification of personal data shall be addressed in writing to the Human Management Resource Group at the address: European Environment Agency, Kongens Nytorv 6, 1050 Copenhagen K, Denmark, or at the e-mail address: recruitment.enquiries@eea.europa.eu.
The applicant can, upon request, be provided with her/his evaluation results at all stages of the selection procedure. The request must be submitted to the Human Management Resource Group at the address: European Environment Agency, Kongens Nytorv 6, 1050 Copenhagen K, Denmark, or at the e-mail address: recruitment.enquiries@eea.europa.eu.
Should the applicant have any queries concerning the processing of her/his personal data, s/he shall address them to the European Environment Agency at the following e-mail address: dataprotectionofficer@eea.europa.eu
Applicants are entitled to have recourse at any time to the European Data Protection Supervisor (http://www.edps.europa.eu; EDPS@edps.europa.eu) if they consider that their rights under Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 have been infringed as a result of the processing of their personal data by the EEA.
Closing date for expressions of interest via the on-line application form: Friday 10 June 2016 at 12.00 (noon) Central European Time.
For references, please go to https://eea.europa.eu./about-us/governance/scientific-committee/call-for-expressions-of-interest-1 or scan the QR code.
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