In June, Estonia joined EMBL as a prospect member state. EMBL representatives will travel to Tallinn and Tartu later this year to present to the Estonian research community the opportunities available in the context of this membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Indrek Reimand, Deputy Secretary General for Higher Education, Research and Language Policy, gave a presentation on the life sciences in Estonia at a meeting of the EMBL Council on 25 June. Here he shares his views on science, EMBL, and his role as a policymaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We would like to increase our cooperation and access to research services and infrastructures, and to collaborate with different research groups. We want to benefit from the teaching and learning environment and the possibilities that are now opening up to us. Estonia is a small country and we can\u2019t cover every possible field, so being part of a larger European organisation such as EMBL opens up more opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Molecular biology is quite a strong field of research in Estonia, and several of our researchers have strong collaborative ties with EMBL peers. Estonian biologist Toivo Maimets was president of the European Molecular Biology Conference for some years. So we already have active cooperation with your community, your institutions, and your infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I gave an overview of Estonia\u2019s research system. We don\u2019t have sectoral research policies; rather, we mostly have academic research aimed at advancing general knowledge. Of course, we have some research on health, and meeting healthcare objectives. We have an impressive genome bank, which includes data from 15% of our population \u2013 it\u2019s very broad. In principle, it\u2019s connected to medical records, but there are challenges associated with anonymity and personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My background is in physics \u2013 optics and spectroscopy. I was active in solid-state physics. In Estonia, we have quite a good base in physics. Research was my favourite thing, and I still envy researchers! But now I\u2019m doing research policy, so I\u2019m trying to have a positive impact on society in that way. I still have a passion for science but I\u2019m coming at it from a different direction now. We need researchers to go into business, into parliament, and into ministries, if research is to have an impact for the good of society. For small nations like Estonia, it\u2019s very important to have international links as well, hence we look forward to participating in research projects of global impact through our EMBL membership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indrek Reimand discusses the life sciences in Estonia, a prospect member of EMBL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":16802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17597,3],"tags":[474,895,123],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-16795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-embl-announcements","category-lab-matters","tag-collaboration","tag-estonia","tag-member-state"],"acf":{"article_intro":"
Indrek Reimand of the Ministry of Education and Research discusses the life sciences in Estonia<\/p>\n","related_links":false,"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53","show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"source_article":false,"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"None","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"\n