The scientist involved in the International Lithosphere Programme (ILP, established in 1980 by the International Council of Scientific Unions at the request of the International Union of Geological Sciences and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and since 1992 supported/sponsored by the ESF) contacted the ESF with the EUROPROBE proposal.
The EUROPROBE programme which is within the remit of the ESRC was launched by the ESF1991 Assembly to begin operations in January 1992.

EUROPROBE is working to increase our understanding of the tectonic evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle and the dynamic processes that led to its current state. The programme is studying several lithosphere structures straddling Western and Eastern Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.
For ten years, from 1992 to 2001, EUROPROBE received support from the ESF at a level that financed meetings for Sciences and Management Committees and allowed each of the 10 projects to run a workshop.