The ex-post evaluation in this report provides the independent assessment requested in the Council Decisions concerning the specific programmes to be carried out by means of direct actions by the Joint Research Centre implementing the Seventh Framework Programmes (2007-2013) of the European Community and of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The evaluation has been conducted by a panel of independent external experts under the chairmanship of Professor Patrick Cunningham.
In this report the Panel concludes positively on the effectiveness of the JRC as the Commission’s science service in support of Euratom and EU policies. It also concludes that the JRC has a respectable scientific performance in its areas of competence. In particular, the JRC standard is high as regards the scientific quality and impact of its publications.
Besides a number of recommendations for incremental improvement of the JRC the Panel also flags two issues with a view to transformative change of the JRC. To begin with the JRC should establish a long-term strategy before the mid-term evaluation of the Horizon 2020 framework programme in 2017. As the JRC further develops its function as scientific service of the Commission, there is a need to address the JRC’s governance as well as its interaction with the scientific community in the Member States. In light of this the Commission should task a Group of eminent personalities to put forward options for JRC governance, adapted to its functions of the future. These include scientific support, research, scientific advice, and knowledge management in partnership with the Member StatesJRC.ADV02-Adviser for Evaluation and Scientific Integrit
