Table of Contents:

Introduction

An expert registered in ECS needs to consent for his/her profile to be available for search by institutions and bodies with access to the ECS database. The expert uses the tick boxes in the Who can see my profile page to manage his/her availability for assignments by:

• EU institutions and bodies
• EU Institutions (European Parliament, European Council, Court of Justice of the European Union, European Central Bank, European Investment Bank, European Court of Auditors, European Committee of the Regions, European Economic and Social Committee, ...)
• Research funding bodies with a public service mission, based in the EU/EEA countries (other than EU institutions and bodies) or in third countries, associated to Horizon 2020 or to other EU funding programmes, for which the Commission has adopted an adequacy decision
• Research funding bodies with a public service mission, which are based in third countries, associated to Horizon 2020 or to other EU funding programmes, for which the Commission has not adopted an adequacy decision (see note below).

The Expert must then click the I agree to work on... box to be considered for any EU related or other Research Funding body tasks.

Failure to do so, means that the expert has effectively opted out of working for any of the bodies listed, and their profile will not be visible in the database.

Note:  An adequacy decision recognises that a third country offers data protection standards equivalent to the ones in the EU/EEA countries. In principle, the transfer of personal data to non-adequate third countries carries a much higher risk, compared to EU/EEA countries and adequate third countries. Therefore, given the risks, in the absence of an adequacy decision, your data may be transferred to a third country if you have provided your explicit consent.

For a full description on who can search for an expert profile, please consult the Modify who can see your profile page.

Who can search?

The  EU Institutions and bodies listed above, as well as funding bodies in the EU, the EEA and third countries associated with H2020 and other EU programmes can receive search access in the EC expert database. The expert search application is, in a first stage, intended to be used by those who have requested access to this feature from other EU institutions or Member States.

How to request rights to search?

The Common Legal Support Service (CLSS) of the EC manages the search rights to the expert database under the applicable Regulation 2018/1725 and the Service Specific Privacy Statements (SSPS) on Independent Expert management.

EU institutions, funding bodies in the EU, the EEA and third countries associated with H2020 or other EU funding programme can request rights for search in the expert database.

The request for access to the expert database must be sent to the Director-General Research and Innovation, Mr Jean-Eric Paquet, as follows:

European Commission

Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

Jean-Eric Paquet

Director-General

ORBN 03/136

B-1049 Brussels

Subject: Request for access to the European Commission database of experts

The request should contain:

• Which entity requests access?
• For which purpose(s), described in as much detail as possible, the access to expert database is/are requested?
• Which representative(s) of the requesting entity should have the access?

Please mention the exact names and email address(es) of the people concerned.

Following the analysis of the request, the Director-General takes the decision concerning the access to the expert database.

You can contact RTD-CLSS-DATA-PROTECTION@ec.europa.eu for additional information.

How to search

The Search Experts application is available in the Funding and Tenders Portal to approved users with search rights.

To search one or more experts, proceed as follows:

1. Click the cursor in the Search field, or hover over it. A tool tip appears suggesting  possible search criteria types. The same information is displayed in the Tips and tricks section at the side of the screen.
   
2. Enter your search criteria in the Search field and click the Go button or hit the Enter key. A list of experts will appear based on your search criteria.
3. Click the Relevance button and use the sorting menu which appears, to control how your results will be displayed. You can sort either by relevance, or alphabetically, A to Z, or Z to A.
    
4. Use the buttons to the right of the Relevance  button to control how the results are displayed:
   
         Tiles (default): 
         
         - or -
         Table: 
   
         
5. Click the More info button for full details on any experts that look promising.
   
   
   
   
   

How to filter results

You have five filtering options on the right-hand side of the page. 

You can filter your results by:

• Professional Experience:   Select the experience range you require by checking the relevant box.
  
• Nationality:   You can specify experts from one country, or exclude experts from one country.
  
  To include only experts from a specific country in the search results, select the Show experts in option, scroll the list that appears, or start typing the country name. Select from the list when the relevant country appears.
  
  To exclude experts from a specific country from the search results, select the Exclude experts from option, scroll the list that appears, or start typing the country name. Select from the list when the relevant country appears.
  
• Gender:   Female or Male. Select by checking the appropriate box.
  
• Age   you select an age range by using the two slider controls.
  You can expand or reduce the size of the range by moving the areas marked in red in the image below:
  
  For example, you can reduce the size of the range from 20-90 (70 years) to 35-65 (30 years).
  
  - and/or -
  You can move the range  by moving the area marked in red in the image below:
  
  For example, you can move the blue area to the left to change the range from 35-65 to 25-55. The age range has changed, but the range size is still 30 years.
  
  
• With publications:   You can, if you wish, filter the results to show only experts with publications. Choose the Yes option under With publications..You must then use the slider to choose what you consider to be the appropriate publication range (in years) for publications to be relevant. For example, you might only consider the years 2008-2018 to be relevant. The slider controls for expanding or reducing a range, and for moving a range, are the same as for the Age slider.
  Alternatively, you can select an expert with no publications to preserve the balance between industry experts and research experts. Choose the No option under With publications.