Top scientists to decide who governs the ERC
Seven high level scientists have been chosen by European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn to identify the future members of the European Research Council’s governing body, the Scientific Council.
The Identification Committee will propose a shortlist of candidates for the Scientific Council’s renewal in 2015 and to maintain a pool of candidates for future membership of the council.
Geoghegan-Quinn said: “The ERC is entering a new, exciting phase under a new president and with a much bigger budget under our new research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. This Committee has the right mix of Europe’s top brains to maintain the ERC’s reputation for excellence. We can only pick the best with the best.”
The Committee consists of: Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, UK; Alice Dautry, Institut Pasteur, France; Hans-Joachim Freund, Max-Planck-Society, Germany; Louise J. Gunning-Schepers, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Xavier Vives, University of Navarra, Spain; Joseph Weiler, European University Institute, Italy; and Agnieszka Zalewska and Henryk Niewodniczański, the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.
Following its first meeting, the Identification Committee will release its ‘Statement of Methodology’, which will include information on the scientific community’s consultation. The committee will produce a final report with its recommendations for the attention of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union by the end of October 2014. Based upon the report’s suggestions, new members of the Scientific Council will be appointed by the Commission in early 2015.
