Photo Nuclear Research Center of Ispra - a technician at work in the machine room of the Ispra-1 reactor 1959 - Touring Club Italiano 07 0350

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) policy.

Leadership

The JRC is a

directorate-general Within the European Union (EU), Directorates-General are departments with specific zones of responsibility. Within the European Commission specifically, Directorates-General are the equivalent of national-level Ministry (government department), m ...

of the European Commission under the responsibility of Iliana Ivanova, the

European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth The European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth is a member of the European Commission. The portfolio was previously titled ''European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport'' until 2019 when it wa ...

. The current acting Director-General of the JRC is Bernard Magenhann. Its Board of Governors assists and advises the Director-General on matters relating to the role and the scientific, technical and financial management of the JRC.

Structure

Composed of strategy and coordination, knowledge production, knowledge management and support directorates, the JRC is spread across six sites in five EU countries: in Belgium (

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Geel Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...

), Germany (

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Institute for Transuranium Elements The Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) is a nuclear research institute in Karlsruhe, Germany. The ITU is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre, a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The ITU has about 300 sta ...

), Italy (

Ispra Ispra is a ''comune'' and small town on the eastern coast of Lake Maggiore, in the province of Varese (Lombardy, northern Italy). Toponymy Attested by the name ''Ispira'' (712), ''Ispira'' (XIV). Appears as ''Ispratium'' in Aegidius Tschudi's '' ...

), the Netherlands (

Petten Petten is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Schagen, and lies about 15 km northwest of Alkmaar, on the North Sea. The population is ca. 1900. Petten's economy is based on agricu ...

), and Spain (

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

). Their responsibilities are: * to create, manage and make sense of knowledge to support European policies with independent evidence * to develop innovative tools and make them available to policymakers * to anticipate emerging issues that need to be addressed at EU level and understand policy environments * to share know-how with EU countries, the scientific community and international partners * to contribute to the overall objective of Horizon 2020 * to conduct Euratom-funded research on nuclear safety and security to contribute to the transition to a carbon-free economy. A portion of the budget of the EU under the Framework Programme is allocated directly to the JRC.

History

The Italian Centre in Ispra originally belonged to the Comitato Nazionale per l'Energia Nucleare (CNEN) and was officially transferred to the Community on 1 March 1961. Since 1973, non-nuclear research evolved rapidly, especially in topics related to safety and the environment. After 16 years of research, the nuclear reactor at JRC Ispra was shut down in 1983. At the beginning of the 1980s, a re-examination of the mandate and evaluation of the activities of the JRC began. Future activities were to continue to support the commission's implementations of Community policies. In 1987, journalist Richard L. Hudson published an article on the home page on ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', which featured the opinions of a remote sensing expert employed at JRC, along with some insights drawn from an external report commissioned by the Directorate-General. These opinions where combined to express deep concern about the center's state at the time, describing it as a disaster hindered by dysfunctional bureaucratic constraints. The then JRC director of projects, Raymond Klersy, criticized the article, claiming they were biased and incomplete in their representation of the situation. In 1992, the results of a study led to a proposal to convert the JRC Ispra site into an environmentally-optimised model site; the "ECO Centre". The JRC employs around 2787 staff with an annual budget of 372,5 million euros for 2017.

List of Directors General

* Bernard Magenhann (Acting): 2024- * Stephen Quest: 2020-2024 * : 2014-2019 * Dominique Ristori: 2010-1013 *

Jean-Albert Dinkespiler Jean-Albert Dinkespiler (1927–2014) was a French engineer and former Chief of the European Joint Research Centre. Early life Dinkespiler was born in Paris. He studied Marine and Aeronautical Engineering. Career Space research Dinkespiler join ...

: 1982-

Science areas

, the JRC research activities are clustered in six areas, based on the priorities of the 2019–2024 European Commission, with 33 subtopics. * A European Green Deal: research around carbon neutrality * A stronger Europe in the World: international relationships * A Europe fit for the digital age, such as AI and cybersecurity * Promoting our European way of life, such as health and crisis management * An economy that works for people, including skills and governance * European democracy: innovative policy making Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

External links

Joint Research Centre (JRC) – EU Science Hub
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joint Research Centre European Union and science and technology Science and technology in Europe Directorates-General in the European Commission