After nine months, SwissCore has to say goodbye to its Junior Policy Adviser, Jonathan. We wish him all the best for his future!
Jonathan holds a Master of Science in Chemistry and Business Studies from the University of Zurich, including a minor in Development and Global Challenges from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He joined SwissCore in September 2018 as Trainee for European Research Policy. At SwissCore, he followed the developments concerning the European Union’s (EU) next research and Innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe, in detail, including the internal processes at the European Parliament and the Council of the EU and the subsequent inter-institutional negotiations. Furthermore, he investigated potential links between Horizon Europe to other Union programmes, such as the Digital Europe programme and InvestEU, and followed the EU’s initiatives on innovation and deployment in the digital field. Following the end of his traineeship in February, Jonathan stayed at SwissCore as Junior Policy Adviser for three months, during which he analysed the current provisional agreement on Horizon Europe and followed the kick-off of the strategic planning.
His enormous expertise on all sorts of R&I partnerships, Belgium beer, networking receptions and the fact that there is always chocolate at his desk, made him an indispensable colleague at SwissCore. Not many informal gatherings were taking place without him on Thursday after work on Place Luxembourg, just in front of the European Parliament (‘Plux’). Jonathan always made an effort to connect with the IGLO network, be it at an IGLO Open discussing the future of Horizon Europe, at football practice after work, or just casually over beer and the famous frites from Maison Antoine at Place Jourdan.
But fortunately, this does not mean goodbye forever! Jonathan will start his new position at the State Secretary of Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) this summer, where he will join the team on EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation. Although his daily presence at SwissCore will be missed, we are looking forward to continue collaborating with Jonathan in his new function. We wish him all the best at SERI and hope to see him again soon in Brussels.