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Science Connection

Clarisse Faria-Fortecoëf

A scientific news magazine published by the Belgian Science Policy Office.

The Belgian Federal Science Policy Office or BELSPO is a government institution which aims to design and implement research programmes and networks, manage the participation of Belgium in European and international research organisations, as well as to supervise the ten federal scientific Institutes.

Furthermore, the BELSPO publishes five times a year, a free scientific news magazine (only available in Dutch or French) : Science Connection.

The June 2013 issue "Annuaire de la Politique scientifique fédérale" (Directory of Federal Science Policy) for example, provides an overview of the achievements of various services of the Federal Science Policy: research programs, Research and Development indicators, Federal Scientific Institutes of Documentation, Nature, Space and Art clusters.
Also discussed, the researchers' mobility which is a component of the European Research Area. This mobility is supported by two tools:

Return mandates which objective is to help Belgian researchers (people with Belgian nationality and / or people who obtained a PhD in a Belgian university) who worked at least two years after their PhD abroad, to pursue their career in Belgium;
postdoctoral fellowships, device illustrated here, by the experience of "a Brazilian researcher in Brussels".

Also interesting, the summary of a 2010 survey on careers of doctorate holders. Among key findings and trends: Belgian doctors seek more and more a job in the non-academic market, which requires beyond pure scientific knowledge, to acquire skills in the areas such as financial management or data management systems; PhD's graduates in natural sciences or engineering work more often in the industry than their colleagues of humanities and social sciences who are more represented in public services, higher education and non-profit sector.

All issues of Science Connection and its eNewsletter are available online.