01 MAIN FIGURES

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MAIN FIGURES

01.

MAIN FIGURES

74.08

MEUR new committed

226

new projects

657

projects submitted for evaluation

50

CORE projects

2

FNR ATTRACT Fellowships

31

INTER projects

20

BRIDGES projects

14

Industrial Fellowships

2

collaborations with Ministries

16

PSP projects

214

finished projects

887.25

MEUR committed to research activities 2000-2021

4395

projects funded 2000-2021

02.

STATISTICS

LUXEMBOURG INVESTMENTS

Luxembourg public budget appropriations in public and private R&D (MEUR)

- Meur
- %GDP

FNR ANNUAL FUNDING COMMITMENTS

in MEUR

FNR overall project success rate 2021

in MEUR

CORE FUNDING BY DOMAIN SINCE 2008

in MEUR

FNR NEW COMMITTED 2021 PER DOMAIN

in MEUR

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03.

Multi-annual
agreement 2022-25

The Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) signed its multi-annual agreement with the Government for the period 2022-2025. For the implementation of the activities covered by this agreement, the Government authorises the FNR to make commitments up to an overall ceiling of 445 MEUR over the next four years.

The FNR’s 2022-25 strategy and action plan are part of the implementation of the National Research and Innovation Strategy for Luxembourg adopted by the Government at the end of 2019. The FNR’s ambition is to invest in the development of a first-class R&I system that creates value for society.

One of the main actions of the FNR’s four-year plan will be to support flagship projects that bundle existing strengths of the national R&I system through the NCER framework programme. The objective is to develop concrete missions that are designed jointly with relevant societal stakeholders, following the approach of transdisciplinary research. The missions addressed will be of direct relevance to society, industry, government, health and education of the population.

Flagship projects will focus on concrete missions in areas such as:

Personalised and digital healthcare

Future Financial Technologies

21st Century Education, Training, and Skilling

Climate and Energy Challenges

Furthermore, strengthening the foundations of our national research and innovation system will remain a key priority in the coming period. The FNR will also continue to invest more in investigator-driven research programmes and international scientific collaboration. Open science and a positive research culture will also be central to the FNR’s priorities.

Further actions are planned to reinforce the key role of science communication, science education and public awareness, as well as the importance of evidence-based public debate and policymaking.

At the same time, the expectations of research and society are rapidly evolving in a changing environment. The FNR will remain agile and further develop its capacity to identify emerging research trends and adapt its priorities accordingly.

04.

International Relations

The FNR’s International Relation policy aligns with its mission to set up a sustainable world-class research system in Luxembourg and to increase its international visibility and recognition.

A first pillar comprises funding possibilities for excellent joint research projects encouraging Luxembourg-based researchers to connect with their best peers abroad. The second pillar is FNR’s active participation in several international associations, for defining international quality standards in research funding as well as best practices in research.

133.07

MEUR in international projects (2014-2021), representing 28,26% of the FNR total committed (2014-2021)

389

international projects (2014-2021), representing 22,40% of all the FNR funded projects (2014 - 2021)

FNR Bilateral

23 partner organisations in 15 countries

UK
Portugal
France
Germany
Belgium
Netherlands
Switzerland
Singapore

Austria
Norway
Poland
USA
Japan
Canada (Québec)
South Tyrol (Italy)

FNR Multilateral

FNR is partner in more than 12 international research networks offering multilateral research opportunities in over 35 countries

05.

GENDER BALANCE
IN RESEARCH

The view from Luxembourg

Gender balance in research is a topic frequently discussed and debated – it is a fact that nearly all countries in Europe have more men than women scientists, and it is also known that the proportion of women generally decreases the higher it goes up the career ladder. We look at what the situation is like in Luxembourg – and what the FNR is doing to help change it.

The Luxembourg public research system employs approximately 2,035 researchers, based on the statistics provided for 2017 by the Government. Based on the latest SHE Figures report from 2018 issued by the European Commission, around one in four researchers in Luxembourg is female, which places the Grand Duchy below the EU average of one in three. Luxembourg ranks below EU average in the number of female PhD graduates at 40.2% (EU average: 47.9%). As we move up the ranks, the female representation dwindles further: Women make up just over 34% of Associate Professor-level academic staff. Cut this number in half to 17.7% and we have the proportion of women at Full Professor level (EU average: 23.7%). The SHE figures report highlights that it is more difficult for women in most countries to climb the academic ranks, and that significantly fewer women achieve Full Professor status during their career than their male peers. The reasons are manifold, and it is undeniable that many things need to change to even out these numbers.

As for the FNR’s funding instruments, statistics show that the success rate for retained proposals is almost identical between male and female applicants (2007– 2015, main FNR programmes). This shows that the evaluation procedure of the FNR does not have any significant distortions, which was also confirmed in a recent external and independent evaluation of the FNR’s CORE selection procedure.

of AFR PhD grants awarded to women

of CORE grants awarded to women

INTER MOBILITY grants awarded to women

PSP-CLASSIC grants awarded to women

ATTRACT grants awarded to women

of INDUSTRIAL FELLOWSHIPS grants awarded to women

OPEN grants awarded to women

PSP-FLAGSHIP grants awarded to women

BRIDGES grants awarded to women

of INTER grants awarded to women

of MECO-FNR-LUXINNOVATION grants awarded to women

of RESCOM grants awarded to women

1 in 3

FNR Grants awarded to
women in 2021

Also, there is a good gender balance in FNR’s governing bodies, with 55% female members in the Board and 55% female members in the Scientific Council. 56% of the FNR Team members are female. The FNR expert panels are not yet as balanced (32.3% of 2020 panel members were female), but efforts are being made to increase female participation.

As a member of Science Europe, the FNR is committed to a detailed monitoring of gender statistics across its funding schemes. The FNR is doing well in terms of maternity and parental leave, since researchers funded in the framework of the FNR’s various schemes all have employment contracts entitling them to the relatively generous Luxembourg maternity and parental leaves.

To fight the gender imbalance in research in Luxembourg, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) has mandated the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) to establish a concrete action plan. In 2020, the Luxembourg Gender Working Group (GWG) was set up, bringing together so far a total of 13 representatives of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology ( LIST), the University of Luxembourg (UL), the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg (MPI) and the FNR.

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06.

HIGHLIGHTS

The FNR is funding projects in people and projects in many different domains. With 214 projects that were finished in 2021, it was difficult to pick out four that nonetheless reflect the diversity of projects the FNR supports. We chose a fascinating project around cemeteries and crematoria that examined these spaces as public spaces of social inclusion, exclusion and integration. We also wanted to highlight a successful researcher in physics, who next to his FNR ATTRACT Fellowship also secured a series of other grants, but who also puts a lot of effort and passion into teaching and collaborating with PhD students. The well-known Willibrord is at the center of another story we highlight, a PhD thesis that analysed Willibrord as a political agent between early medieval Ireland, Britain and Merovingian Francia. And finally, we decided to put a science communication project into the spotlight, literally – the Science Slam!

Of course, there could have been many more, in biomedicine, material sciences, or digital history. If you are curious about more of these stories, visit www.fnr.lu/research-impact-fnr-highlights

FNR Highlight: CeMi: Cemeteries & crematoria as public spaces of belonging in Europe.

Sonja Kmec | INTER | 2019-2022 | 40.000 EUR | Humanities and Social Sciences

FNR Highlights: Science Slam

Lux Doc Association | PSP Classic 2020 | 4.000 EUR | Humanities and Social Sciences

FNR Highlight: Discovering the stories of Willibrord

Michel Summer | AFR PhD | 2017-2020 | 181.930 EUR | Humanities and Social Sciences

FNR Highlight: From quantum to nano & teaching the next generation

FNR ATTRACT Fellow | 2015-2020 | 1.850.000 EUR | Materials, Physics and Engineering
CORE | 2017-2020 | 485.000 EUR | Materials, Physics and Engineering
INTER | 2016-2019 | 90.000 EUR | Materials, Physics and Engineering

07.

FNR.LU

MORE THAN JUST FUNDING INFORMATION

In addition to being a one-stop shop for all information about the FNR’s activities and funding instruments, the FNR website since the 2016 re-launch also boasts a dedicated section for videos and success stories – Research with Impact: FNR Highlights. Over 250 features, interviews and stories have been published, 54 in 2021 alone. Reaching across scientific domains, nationalities and institutions, from junior to senior researchers, the FNR highlights offer glimpses into Luxembourg’s research and the scientists behind it.

250+ STORIES

93,274

users

162,768

sessions

292,492

page views

106

news published

28

FNR Highlights published

16

Spotlight on Young Researchers features published

SOCIAL MEDIA

5 million

social media impressions

2800

new followers on social media

415,000

Views on Youtube

08.

MAIN ELEMENT

Habiba Abubaker

In this episode of “Mäin Element” we meet law expert Habiba Abubaker from the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg. The podcast covers Habiba’s roots in Sudan, the various military coups that Sudan has experienced in recent years, how the situation has affected Habiba’s life and research. Habiba introduces her research, explains the tasks of the African Union, and why Islamic law is not quite the same as what we know from TV. We also learn what Condoleezza Rice has to do with her law career, and which comedian is the GOAT [Greatest of All Time] for her.

Phillip Dale

Is it possible for Luxembourg to become 100% climate-neutral? This question Philip Dale has already asked people. Phillip is not only a researcher in the field of photovoltaics, lithography and electrochemistry but also a speaker and host at Tedx Luxembourg. He is currently researching on photovoltaic facilities, which should make buildings and cities more attractive and, in addition, more sustainable. In this episode, Phillip explains how he implements this and what art has to do with it. In addition, the native Englishman tells how he experienced Brexit as an expat in Luxembourg, what Luxembourgish habits he wants to avoid and why he runs a YouTube channel.

Annika Lutz

For this episode, Max climbed into the 3D scanner. It is located on the Belval campus and is being used by psychologist and researcher Annika Lutz in the context of her research on the human brain in relation to eating disorders. Science is a way of life for Annika, but it has also played a significant role for her in equestrian sports for a long time as well.

Djamila Aouada

In this episode of "Mäin Element", the sky is the limit. Max talks to Prof. Djamila Aouada about working in space, billionaires who are desperate to get there and the consequences for science. There are also other topics, such as Djamila's growing up during the Algerian civil war and how present the topic of feminism is in science today.

Paul Wilmes

Since the Corona Pandemic, Paul Wilmes has been one of the most famous scientists in Luxembourg. In this episode, he takes us on a journey that goes from the sewage treatment plant to the McMurdo Station (Antarctica). Paul tells us how, with the help of microbes in the gut, one can find out something about long-term illness, why it could help politics if there were more researchers in the parliament and how his first quarantine experience in Antarctica ended.

Laurent Pfister

In this episode, everything revolves around water. Laurent Pfister is a hydrologist and explains, among other things, how a water catastrophe led him to decide against a high school teaching career and how to determine the age of water with the help of atomic bombs. He and Max talk about the impact of Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump on research, how Laurent and his team discovered water from the ice age in the south of the country, and why Luxembourg is and will be the perfect laboratory for hydrology. the question of how wine can act as a kind of archive.

Anne Grünewald

Professor Anne Grünewald and her team are researching the use of mitochondria in Parkinson's disease. The path to research began early on - in school, through a extraordinary encounter with a biology teacher. This episode is about a life in the service of science: From happy coincidences in Stockholm to misguided job interviews, new discoveries in England to support from Hollywood.

09.

LETZSCIENCE

The second edition of FNR’s communication campaign LetzSCIENCE blended again traditional ‘postering’ with AR technology. In 2021, FNR though developed a dedicated app, that will regularly be updated with new content over the next years. Striking science images intrigued passers-by, who were invited to download the app and live an immersive Augmented Reality experience. People got to play around with a new, interactive technology and learn about research in Luxembourg in the process.

10.

FNR Science Image Competition

The FNR Science Image Competition was organised for the first time on the occasion of the FNR’s 20th anniversary. The project has multiple aims: to show the growing role of images in scientific research, to reveal how scientific work is conducted, to give a face to the researchers conducting it and to present various ways to engage the public with science.

CATEGORY 1:

OBJECT OF STUDY

winner

DISTINCTION

DISTINCTION

DISTINCTION

DISTINCTION

CATEGORY 2:

SCIENTISTS IN ACTION

WINNER

DISTINCTION

CATEGORY 3:

PLACES AND TOOLS

WINNER

DISTINCTION

CATEGORY 4:

SCIENCE OUTREACH

WINNER

DISTINCTION

FNR'S 'COUP DE COEUR'

11.

SCIENCE.LU

4,997,972

page views since launch

1,033,827

page views in 2021

29,103

page likes on Facebook

3,469

followers on Instagram

10,110

followers on TikTok

291,527

views in 2020 on YouTube

Top 5 des videos TikTok science.lu

12.

FNR Awards 2021

The 13th edition of the FNR Awards: 7 researchers/research groups awarded For the first time ever, the ceremony was held in a hybrid mode bringing together close to 500 people.

Around 80 FNR Awards have been presented since 2009. Starting with the FNR Awards 2021, the FNR aimed to give further credit to the people behind the research: the drivers of innovation and societal impact. Therefore, the FNR introduced two new categories, the FNR Award for Outstanding Mentor and the FNR Award for Scientific Achievement.

New: Outstanding Mentor

Mentorship is essential for driving research and helping the next generation of scientists to become independent researchers. Good mentorship goes beyond professional development, shaping individual scientists, impacting scientific careers, as well as passing along positive research values such as research integrity, scientific credibility and fostering a diverse and inclusive research environment. Through the FNR Award for Outstanding Mentor, the FNR wants to recognize outstanding mentorship and reward this important but sometimes unappreciated element of research.

New: Outstanding Scientific Achievement

At the same time, the FNR wants to attribute more value to research projects that shape their scientific field instead of zooming in on a single output such as a scientific publication or a marketable product. The FNR again aims to put the team of researchers at the centre, passionate people that want to make a change through their science and work to generate impact for both science and society.

Therefore, the FNR replaced the two categories Outstanding Scientific Publication and Outstanding Research-Driven Innovation with the new category Outstanding Scientific Achievement. This new award will furthermore help the public to change their perception of a successful researcher from someone who must publish in prestigious scientific journals towards a team that aims to change science and society for the better.

13.

OPINION PIECES

The contribution of Luxembourgish research in the COVID crisis

20 years ago, Luxembourg was discussing the opportunity to build research centers as well as a university. De COVID crises shows the benefits of own scientific expertise within the country, explains Dr Marc Schiltz, CEO of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)

Trust Science during a pandemic

Science has been in the spotlight for the past two years. It has been praised and heavily criticised too. Nevertheless, science and research still enjoy a high level of trust within the Luxembourgish population.

No more time to doubt

In his opinion piece, Marc Schiltz looks at the Nobel Prize for climate modelling. This high award shows that this cutting-edge research is widely recognised and that there is definitely no more time to waste doubting man-made climate change.