December 2015 – Reports – ESRS ANSS EU Committee
Published in ESRS Newsletter December 2015
Report on the activities of the EU Committee: March 2015 – November 2015
Current Members (2014 – 2016):
Roberto Amici (Coordinator), Diego Garcia Borreguero (Vice-Coordinator), Marta Gonçalves, Damien Léger, Pierre Hervé Luppi; Walter McNicholas, Lino Nobili, Tiina Paunio, Philippe Peigneux, Dieter Riemann, Debra J. Skene
The main aims of the Committee are: i) to bring the topics of “sleep” and “sleep disorders” to the attention of the EU in order to receive support for research and teaching activities; ii) to promote sleep-related issues from a political point of view at a European and National level.
The main achievements from the past few months were the meetings, in October 2015, of an ESRS delegation, made by Philippe Peigneux, Pierre Hervé Luppi, and Roberto Amici, with two Officers of the European Commission in Brussels.
The delegation was first received by Mr. Luca Pirozzi, who is the person in charge of the Erasmus Plus Programme within the DG Education and Culture. During the meeting, Mr. Pirozzi was informed about the initiatives and needs of the European sleep community in terms of education and training of young sleep researchers and sleep professionals. The meeting was very positive, and Mr. Pirozzi gave us several suggestions and insights about the modalities to be followed in order to increase the impact of the sleep community at EU level.
As a second step, the ESRS delegation was received by Mrs. Catherine Berens, who is in charge of the Neuroscience sector within the DG Research and Innovation. After listening to a presentation aimed at addressing the recent achievements and the major needs of the sleep-research community, Mrs. Berens warmly suggested that we invite the members of the sleep community to increase their impact on the decisions and strategies of the European Commission by registering as Experts on the website of the DG Research and Innovation at
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/experts/index.html
Both officers gave their availability to participate in the “European Sleep meets the European Union” meeting, which will be held in Brussels under the joint organization of the ESRS and the Assembly of the National Sleep Societies, during the annual ANSS meeting on April 29, 2016.
Roberto Amici
ESRS EU Committee Chair