Merger to Create New Voice for European Science by Daniel Clery

In an effort to simplify the alphabet soup of the continent's research landscape, two pan-European bodies have begun planning a merger. The aim is to create a single, and more powerful, voice for the national science funding agencies that control some {euro}25 billion annually—by far the largest slice of public money available to the region's scientists. The heads of Europe's national research councils, who gather regularly under the soubriquet EUROHORCS, look set to join forces with the European Science Foundation, which funds research, backs research networks and conferences, and develops science policy, mostly with money from EUROHORCS members. The new body, which could begin work next year, has been given the tentative working title of the European Research Organization.