2016

FNR ANNUAL
REPORT

Excellence and quality of research, as well as long-term socio-economic benefits - these are the two cardinal ideas that must mark the path of Luxembourg's public research. It is only through them that we can achieve our ambitious goal of establishing Luxembourg as a knowledge-based society focused on science, research and innovation, to contribute to the economic diversity, social well-being and the future prosperity of our country.

See our year in review

01 2016
MAIN FIGURES

1222

EXPERTISES

RESCOM
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & LECTURE SERIES FUNDED

80.4

MEUR NEW COMMITTED

1

NEW INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT

195

FUNDED PROJECTS

41

NEW PSP-PROMOTING SCIENCE TO THE PUBLIC PROJECTS

NEW AFR-PPP & CORE-PPP GRANTS

NEW PRIDE PROJECTS

51

NEW CORE, INTER, POC, OPEN & IPBG RESEARCH PROJECTS

581

Projects Evaluated

FNR PEARL CHAIRS

211

Finished projects

NEW POC PROJECTS

63

EARLY CAREER GRANTS

3

NEW ATTRACT FELLOWS

02 2016
STATISTICS

LUXEMBOURG INVESTMENTS

Luxembourg public investments in public and private R&D (MEUR)

FNR FUNDING

FNR: Annual funding commitments (MEUR)

2016 REQUESTED AND COMMITTED FUNDS

Applied funds vs. FNR committed 2016 (MEUR)

FNR committed 2016 per domain

267

TOTAL AMOUNT REQUESTED,
IN MEUR

80.4

NEW COMMITTED BY FNR - TOTAL AMOUNT IN MEUR

30%

OVERALL FUNDING SUCCESS RATE




581

PROJECTS SUBMITTED IN 2016

195

NEW PROJECTS 2016

33,5%

OVERALL PROJECT SUCCESS RATE

03 SELECTION
PROCESS

Through a rigorous selection process, the FNR aims to fund the most excellent and promising research. FNR’s selection process is therefore based on scientific merit and applies the highest standards of transparency, impartiality and integrity.
So how can researchers apply for FNR funding and how are their proposals evaluated?

04 GENDER
BALANCE

As a member of Science Europe, the FNR is committed to a detailed monitoring of gender statistics across its funding schemes.

45%

OF AFR PHD & AFR PHD PPP GRANTS AWARDED TO WOMEN (2008-2016)

36%

OF AFR POSTDOC PPP GRANTS AWARDED TO WOMEN (2008-16)

LIFE SCIENCES, BIOLOGY & MEDICINE

Domain with strongest female representation among early-career researchers funded by FNR. At 55% this domain has a majority of women







1 in 3

OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ON OPEN PROJECTS IS FEMALE 2013-16

LAW, ECONOMICS & FINANCE
The strongest domain

2 of 13

FNR ATTRACT FELLOWS ARE FEMALE 2008-16




1 in 3

OF THE PRIDE DOCTORAL UNIT COORDINATORS IS FEMALE

1 of 9

FNR PEARL CHAIR IS FEMALE




1 in 4

OF THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ON CORE PROJECTS IS FEMALE

SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
The strongest domain

27%

OF INTER MOBILITY RECIPIENTS ARE FEMALE (2012-2016)

15%

OF RESEARCHERS ON INTER PROJECTS ARE FEMALE (2010-2016)

05 2016
EVENTS

Presentation of the external evaluation report


On 27 January, the FNR hosted the FNR Info Day 2016, where attendees had the opportunity to find out about the FNR’s funding instruments and activities; the results of an evaluation of the CORE selection procedure; as well as what researchers need to be aware of in the area of data protection. The FNR and CNPD presentations are available for download.

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FNR Pearl chair receives prestigious research grant from the European Research Council



In March, Professor Lionel Briand, FNR PEARL Chair and Vice Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg, was awarded an “Advanced Grant” by the European Research Council (ERC) for his research in the field of software reliability and security.

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FNR-funded project LuxAI wins first prize at Mind&Market


On 30 June, innovative artificial intelligence spin-off company LuxAI took home the first prize for their socially assistive robot at the second edition of the Mind & Market Forum.

LuxAI is a spin-off from the SnT at the University of Luxembourg, which is specialized in socially assistive robotics. The team, led by Dr Pouyan Ziafati and Dr Aida Nazarikhorram, developed the prototype of the robot with the assistance of an FNR Prrof-of-Concept grant.

LuxAI uses the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence and robot-therapy in building social robots to assist people. The mission is to make socially assistive robots economical and user-friendly in order to enable all teachers, therapists and care givers to use advanced robots in their everyday work of improving the health and education of people.

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Launch of the Pairing Scheme


Over the past years, Luxembourg established itself as an internationally recognised research and innovation destination. In order to maximise the impact of this scienti c knowledge in society – including in politics, the FNR launched on October 11 its initiative Pairing Scheme - Politics meets Research, in collaboration with the Luxembourg Parliament. The Pairing Scheme enabled MPs and researchers to get together in their respective working environments, so that the worlds of politics and research can get to know each other better. The Pairing Scheme saw 17 MPs – nearly 1/3 of Luxembourg’s MPs – paired with 17 researchers.

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Luxembourg and Singapore establish bilateral research collaboration


On 15 November, officials from Luxembourg and Singapore have this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on research collaborations. Signed between the FNR and the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore (NRF), the MOU sets out the joint-funding of collaborative research projects in areas of mutual interest. This was witnessed by the countries’ respective Prime Ministers, Mr Xavier Bettel and Mr Lee Hsien Loong.

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Researchers’ Days 2016


On 2 and 3 December, the FNR organised the 5th edition of the Researchers’ Days at the Rockhal in Esch/Belval together with its partners. During two days, the Rockhal was transformed into a giant research lab with more than 20 exciting interactive workshops, and 4 Science Cafés, all revolving around the topic of research and science! Held for the rst time in Esch/Belval, Luxembourg’s research and innovation campus, this new edition had a huge success with more than 3,400 visitors!

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FNR awards 2016:


the FNR awards excellence
in research and science
communication

On Friday, 14 October, the FNR held the 8th edition of the FNR Awards, presenting four awards for excellence in science and research communication. In presence of the Luxembourg research community, awards endowed with a 5,000 EUR prize were presented in the categories "Outstanding Scientific Publication", "Outstanding PhD Thesis" and "Outstanding Promotion of Science to the Public". The aim of the FNR Awards is to reward outstanding researchers and science communicators along with their individual institutions. The awards were presented by Marc Hansen, Minister delegate for Higher Education and Research; Véronique Hoffeld, Chairwoman of the Board of the FNR; and Marc Schiltz, Secretary General of the FNR. Véronique Hoffeld congratulated the winners in her speech and thanked them for their dedicated efforts. Minister Marc Hansen in his opening speech emphasised how vital it is to communicate the findings of research in Luxembourg – both to a specialist audience, and to the general public in Luxembourg and abroad.

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06 2016
HIGHLIGHTS

PEARL

The many sides of the socio-economic inequality. Our FNR PEARL Chairs Conchita D’Ambrosio and Louis Chauvel analyse the same issue from a different academic directions: the first from an economist point of view, the latter from a sociologist perspective.

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ATTRACT

Scientific breakthrough ‘made in Luxembourg’ FNR ATTRACT Fellow Karsten Hiller brought experimental and computational research in cellular metabolism to Luxembourg. His biggest achievement during his fellowship was the discovery of the metabolite ‘itaconcic acid’ and finding out what role it plays in a specific type of immune cells in mammals.

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CORE

Think smart – and analyse your data efficiently. An important aspect of the FAVE project is the topic of privacy. The team around Björn Ottersten and Djamila Aouada was able to have a pattern recognition algorithm work with encrypted data; it is able to recognise faces, without the identity of the observed person being known.

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INTER Mobility

Lack of fibre makes intestinal bacteria aggressive. It is common knowledge that people can become rather irritable when they are hungry. Yet it was not known until now, that the same goes for intestinal bacteria. The fact that the results of Mahesh Desais study were published in the renowned journal Cell demonstrates the significance of the findings for medicine.

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POC

Pocket-sized intestines FNR ATTRACT Fellow Paul Wilmes and Pranjul Shah have developed a model of the human intestines which simplifies the examination of intestinal bacteria and removes the need for animal experiments. The LCSB researchers have recently been awarded the highly endowed Lush Prize.

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AFR-PhD

From cycle race to the chemistry lab. He actually wanted to become a a professional cyclist. But then chemistry got in the way of that ambition. Now Pit Losch is on the quest for alternatives to fossil fuels and zeolites play a big role in this research.

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CORE junior

Colloidal physics “Our simulation procedures are interesting when one seeks to find out how novel materials can be obtained from melt,” says Sven Dorosz. “We have changed many different parameters in our simulations. We learned thereby how to further improve their predictive power.”

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PSP-Classic

Indiana Jos In the footsteps of researchers and explorers. “Through the project,” says Jutta Meyer-Sieren from Anne a.s.b.l., ”inhibitions against science can be avoided at an early stage” A central focus of this project is the perspective of the child, who explores the world with curiosity, creativity and a joy for playing and learning.

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