With Brexit and Trump’s election, the game really changed. The 2008 financial crisis had already transformed working conditions, weakened the academic world and made recruitment precarious; now, the contribution of scientists to society is being called into question. People feel that science and politics have left them behind. Faced with this new shock, European organisations in science, research, education and innovation had to reaffirm the need for an open exchange of ideas and people ^[1],[2].

But facing the unexpected, the counter-intuitive and the irrational post-Brexit wake calls for another answer. Researchers, who had already learned how to sell themselves, put forward their adaptability, their ability to work as a team or their ability to enhance their network, are today confronted with the obsolescence of top-down governance. In this new world, where what we know is who we know, the challenge for scientists is to ensure a greater bottom-up contribution to inform future science and social policy.
New science policy concepts (RRI, open-science, etc.) have recently emerged, opening up new paths towards more socially relevant research and innovation. Preconditions include the adoption of principles of integrity, openness, responsibility and multidisciplinarity in scientific work. The social sciences and humanities also have a key role to play.
But this new social contract can only be achieved by creating a strong community that supports it. Will the desired emergence of a Homo scientificus europaeus invigorate the voice of scientists in Europe?

The European Union has certainly not waited to formalise its own model for the transmission of scientific knowledge in its policies, and to define its scientific advisory mechanism (SAM)^[3]. But it is too early to judge, until we have determined where and how to contribute.
In the great upheaval in the international landscape, the countries that had taken the lead in accompanying the scientific career – Germany and the United Kingdom – are at an advantage, even if uncertainty now prevails across the Channel since Brexit and the uncertain prospects linked to the circulation of ideas and people.

A German survey of 4900 doctoral and post-doctoral students – men and women, with and without children – on whether young researchers stay in research after starting a family, identified career and family aspirations among the researchers interviewed. The survey revealed that they do not wish to put their family goals on hold because of their careers. The reverse is also true: young women researchers – and exceptionally post-doctoral women – who have already started a family want to stay in university to follow their professional ambitions and balance the demands of work and family life. With a family-friendly policy, universities play a decisive role. In France too?

[1] Déclaration de Bruxelles : http://seppi.over-blog.com/2017/03/la-declaration-de-bruxelles-sur-l-ethique-et-les-principes-pour-l-elaboration-des-politiques-en-matiere-de-science-et-de-societe.htm

[2] Marche pour les sciences : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marche_pour_les_sciences

[3] Conference for Science Journalists 2017 : http://www.eusja.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ECSJ2017-final-Report-1.pdf