Heads of new European research advisory board named
The president and vice presidents of the new European research advisory board (EURAB) were announced in the presence of Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin and Research Director-General Achilleas Mitsos on 26 September, as the EURAB met for the first time. Helga Nowotney, who was nominated by the European Science Foundation (ESF), will head the board along with vice presidents Ian Halliday (also nominated by the ESF) and Horst Soboll (nominated by the European employers union, UNICE). As well as providing a mixture of public, private and academic senior representatives, the choice also provides a leadership that is drawn from both inside and outside the European Union. Ms Nowotney is a professor of philosophy and social studies of science at the Swiss federal institute of technology. Mr Halliday is the chief executive of the particle physics and astronomy research council in the UK and Mr Soboll is director of research policy at DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart, Germany Commissioner Busquin welcomed the appointments. 'It will be beneficial to have an independent source of advice on research - this will be something that will help to create the European Research Area [ERA].' Talking to CORDIS News, EURAB vice president Horst Soboll said he felt that EURAB could help to steer European research towards helping to address European problems. 'We have to look at providing solutions to European problems and issues such as employment and enlargement. We need a consistent approach. It is not just research money - it is also looking at areas like getting research to market, linking it to the education system and addressing the brain drain,' he said. The structure of EURAB means that there are issues that the different members of the board could learn from each other, said to Mr Soboll. 'The public sector can learn from the efficiency of the private sector and the private sector can learn from the creativity of the public sector,' he said. The agenda for the first meeting included issues such as the challenges of European research as well as discussing what can be expected from EURAB.