A NEW European science society which welcomes teachers, students, members of the public and industrialists, as well as science researchers and lecturers, has just been set up in Strasbourg.

Euroscience, as the society is called, has founding members from 22 countries. Prof Keith Tiplon of TCD's biochemistry department is the Irish founder member.

Unlike many science bodies, Euroscience is not intended to be a learned society or an academy; neither is it to be a professional trade union. Rather, it will provide mechanisms for interaction between scientists, technologists and the public at large, including governments. Discussions on ethics will form a large part of its work.

The new society has many aims, but broadly speaking it seeks to make scientists more conscious of the needs of society and make society more aware of the workings of science. It will look at the problems of careers for scientists starting out, and also aims to facilitate a European-wide PhD.

The founders hope to attract more young people, particularly women, and to improve communication between scientists in the east and west of Europe.

Euroscience wants to copy the success of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, but as several speakers at the Constituent Assembly held in March in Strasbourg pointed out, one big difference is the wide range of cultures in Europe. The word "science" has a much broader meaning on the European continent than it has in Ireland, Britain and the US, as there it includes social science and the humanities, such as history. This broad meaning will be reflected in Euroscience.