• H2020
• Policy & Research

A member of the ERC Scientific Council has resigned as a university lecturer following comments he made about having “girls” in laboratories.

Sir Tim Hunt made the controversial remarks during the ‘World Conference of Science Journalists’ in Seoul, South Korea, on 9 June 2015. According to the UK newspaper The Independent, Hunt is understood to have said: “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry.”

Hunt, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001, has since apologised for his comments. Speaking to BBC Radio’s Today programme on Wednesday, he said that he was “really really sorry” if he caused any offence, but had “just meant to be honest”.

The UK’s University College London (UCL) confirmed that Hunt FRS had resigned from his position as honorary professor at the university’s Faculty of Life Sciences on Wednesday. UCL added that it was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men and believes that this outcome is compatible with its commitment to gender equality.

Providing his thoughts, the president of the European Research Council, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, said in a statement: “Sir Tim Hunt has already apologised and explained that his impromptu comments were meant to be ‘light-hearted’ and ‘ironic’, and that it was not his intention to demean women. In his main speech, he was very supportive towards women in science and he said that he hoped there was nothing that barred women from science. I can also add that during the time I have worked with him on the ERC Scientific Council he has only ever been a supporter of gender balance.

“The ERC is very proud to have consistently monitored and been proactive on gender issues. In order to go away from rhetoric, it has implemented a number of concrete measures to improve its record with the full support of all members of its Scientific Council. It is indeed the ERC mission to support frontier researchers across Europe, irrespective of nationality, gender or age.”

The ERC added that it saw men and women as “equally able to perform frontier research”, a view that is at “the core” of the body’s gender equality plan. The ERC says the strategy “is fully supported by the entire Scientific Council, including Sir Tim”.