ERC Scientific Chairman announced
The Scientific Council of the future European Research Council (ERC) has elected Greek malaria expert Professor Fotis Kafatos as its chairman. The 22 member council also elected two vice-chairs: Professor Helga Nowotny and Dr Daniel Estève. According to a statement from the scientific council, the decision puts it in a position to 'start exercising its leading role in the development of the European Research Council'. Professor Kafatos currently holds the Chair of Insect Immunogenomics at Imperial College, London, UK. He was born in Greece and studied biology in the US, where he worked as a professor at Harvard for 30 years. Two terms as Director-General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) then followed. 'The ERC initiative is vital for European science, and we are delighted that the research ministers have given their support,' said Professor Kafatos. Giving an indication of his vision for the ERC, he continued: 'The Scientific Council is absolutely committed to an ERC which meets the highest aspirations of scientists and scholars across Europe. [...We] will work intensively to create and secure an appropriate organisational framework that takes into account international best practice. In this framework, the Scientific Council will be guiding an efficient, flexible and responsive administrative structure, which we expect to be in the form of an Executive Agency whose Director will be selected with our full involvement.' Vice-chair Professor Nowotny is already known to many in Europe's research community as the Chair of the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB). She is also a Fellow at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Vienna, Austria, and Professor emeritus of Social Studies of Science at ETH Zurich. Co-vice-chair Dr Estève is current Research Director in the Service de Physique de l'Etat Condensé at CEA Saclay. He won the Europhysics prize in 2004 for his development of electronic circuits for the purpose of quantum computing.