The European Commission has made the first steps towards selecting the next ERC President by appointing the members of the search committee.
Over the last months, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon has led the European Research Council (ERC), the EU’s prestigious funding agency for excellent curiosity driven research, ad-interim. Bourguignon, who originally retired at the end of 2019, returned to the ERC in summer to take the helm of the agency again after his successor Mauro Ferrari had left in April after only a few months into the position.
On 9 October, the European Commission (EC) took the first steps towards appointing a new ERC President. The Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, welcomed seven experts as members of a dedicated independent search committee. The committee will recommend candidates for the post of ERC President drawing from a consultation with the scientific community and an open call for applications, and will be chaired by Prof. Helga Nowotny. Prof. Nowotny herself was President of the ERC and is a Professor Emerita at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Among her six colleagues are Prof. Fabio Zwirner, current member of the ERC Scientific Council and professor at the University of Padua, and Pearl Dykstra from Erasmus University Rotterdam, also known through her role as Deputy Chair of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the EC. They are joined by a second person with a Swiss link, Prof. Viola Vogel, a current professor in applied mechanobiology at ETH Zurich. Other members include Prof. Tamás Freund, Prof., Jiri Friml and Prof. Serge Haroche.
The EC is actively asking organisations and representatives of the scientific community to nominate suitable candidates for the ERC Presidency with a consultation letter. At the same time, the EC also invites applications from outstanding individuals. Candidates will have to be internationally renowned and respected scientists, who can also prominently advocate for frontier research and act as Ambassadors for European science in the EU and beyond. No age limit applies, but candidates must be nationals of an EU Member State and committed to spending 80% of their time in the position of ERC President.
Jean-Pierre Bourguinon will continue to head the ERC until a choice is made. This is due to happen at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The new President will then take over for a term of four years, which can be renewed only once.