News from the IEA European Epidemiology Federation

513 discussion forum, and organized the ‘Science and Technology Based Professions in Europe’ (2002) and ‘Early Stage Researcher Mobility in Europe: Meeting the Challenges and Promoting Best Practice’ (2004) conferences. A reportedly unexpected outcome of the ‘Science and Technology Based Professions in Europe’ conference was the increasing awareness of a commonality of problems faced by young scientists throughout Europe, in spite of a background of social environments as diverse as those of the UK and central Europe. New generations of scientists seem to have a higher perception of their responsibilities towards European societies. Without denying that some of the problems of all European young scientists, in all disciplines, are the same as our own, there are specific issues within epidemiology that should be discussed and dealt with among epidemiologists. Our current view is that, if the future is ours, we should start building it now. Our ultimate aim is to implement the best practices in epidemiology and to promote high-quality research, in order to best serve our society. In practical terms, the aims of such a group are: