Following their election by the Scientific Council, Professors Sierd Cloetingh and Mart Saarma have been appointed new Vice Presidents of the European Research Council. This news was coupled with the European Commission's appointment today of three new members of the Scientific Council: Prof. Dame Janet Thornton, Prof. Fabio Zwirner and Head of the Department of Spintronics and Nanoelectronics Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic & Professor at School of Physics and Astronomy University of Nottingham Prof. Tomáš Jungwirth.
Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas said: "The European Commission places great importance on appointing accomplished, top-level scientists to the Scientific Council, the governing body of the European Research Council. The independent committee tasked with identifying new members has done an excellent job as demonstrated by the calibre of today's three nominations."
ERC President Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon added: "I would like to warmly welcome three new members of the Scientific Council, who will have the challenge of living up to the standards set by their predecessors. With their engagement, I'm sure they will offer new perspectives at a critical time."
Regarding the nomination of the new ERC Vice Presidents, he commented: "I very much look forward
to working closely with the two new Vice Presidents, elected by the ERC Scientific Council. One of
the key tasks of the Vice Presidents is supervising the selection of the peer review panels, which
lies at the heart of the ERC."
More information – http://erc.europa.eu/
17 Feb 2015