The European Academy of Sciences has as mission to promote excellence in science and technology and their essential roles in fostering social and economic development and progress. It is registered in and operates under rules and regulations of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. The European Academy of Sciences is an international non-profit organization (Royal Decree of the King of Belgium, Dec. 17th; 2003). It has 650 members (including 65 Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 and Fields Medal

Fields Medal

The Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union , a meeting that takes place every four...

 winners) representing 63 countries.

The headquarters are in Liège

Liège

Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....

, Belgium. The Academy has 6 divisions: Biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 and Life Sciences

Life sciences

The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...

; Physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 and Earth Sciences; Chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

; Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 and Computer Sciences

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

; Engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 and Material Science; Social Sciences

Social sciences

Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

.

Objectives

The major objective of the Academy is to establish efficient collaboration among scientists, researchers, educators, engineers, and public authorities worldwide. The Academy promotes interaction between basic and applied research and eases transfer of knowledge between knowledge and end-users. The Academy contributes towards the development of international policies in science and technology and facilitates the creation of a critical mass needed for solving the most important scientific problems. The Academy draws upon its membership and current information about scientific and technological progress to identify the most important problems and to discuss the ways for their solutions.

Activities

The Academy publishes pluridisciplinary Annals; special issues; E-newsletters for Science and Technology. It collaborates with other institutions for the organization of workshops and conferences and also collaborates in awarding international scientific awards, notably the yearly Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...

 medals.

The Blaise Pascal Medal for Science and Technology

The European Academy of Sciences established the Blaise Pascal Medal in 2003 to recognise an outstanding and demonstrated personal contribution to science and technology and the promotion of excellence in research and education. Up to six medals may be awarded in any one year.

Controversy

The academy has come under scrutiny for listing members who are unaware of their names being used, for holding its meetings in secret, and for allegations of fraudulent use of research funds. It is not a member of umbrella organisations like the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues

InterAcademy Panel on International Issues

The InterAcademy Panel on International Issues is a global network consisting of over 100 national science academies. Founded in 1993, its stated goal is to help member academies advise the public on the scientific aspects of critical global issues...

 or the All European Academy

All European Academies

All European Academies is an international supraorganization of academic societies. ALLEA was founded in 1994 and is a federation of 53 national academies in the sciences and humanities in 40 European countries. ALLEA member organizations are self-governing associations of scientists and scholars...

, and the U.K.'s Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

issued a statement on 31 October 2002 warning scientists "to exercise due caution before making financial commitments" to EAS.