ERC looks for Helga Nowotny successor
An independent committee has begun searching for potential candidates to succeed Helga Nowotny as president of the European Research Council (ERC).
The next president will continue to chair the ERC Scientific Council as well as act as the EU’s ambassador of science in Europe and around the world. They will also become a special adviser to the European Commission.
The ERC Scientific Council is composed of top-level scientists, engineers and scholars and develops a scientific strategy for the body. The council also has full authority over decisions on the type of research funded.
Members of the ad hoc committee, set up by the European Commission, include Catherine Cesarsky, the haut conseiller scientifique at the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique; Suzanne Fortier, president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; and Michał Kleiber, president of the Polish Academy. The committee will be chaired by Lord Sainsbury, chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
The ERC was set up in 2007 and was the first European-wide funding organisation. The organisation will receive €13.2bn as part of the ‘Excellent Science’ pillar in Horizon 2020, awarding grants to senior scientists working in Europe.
Helga Nowotny is a founding member of the ERC and became ERC president in 2010. The president’s term of office will be for four years, renewable once, and nominees must be EU citizens.
