Investing in Young Researchers, Shaping Europe’s Future Participants’ booklet

ERC Scientific Council Members

	Klaus Bock is a Danish Chemistry Professor. His latest research interests focus on proteincarbohydrate interactions, and, particularly, on the synthesis and structural analysis of glycopeptides. He held positions at the Technical University of Denmark, the Carlsberg Laboratory, and the Carlsberg Research Centre. He was Vice President and Research Director at Carlsberg A/S (2004-2007) and Chairman of the Danish National Research Foundation (2004-2012). He was appointed a member of the ERC Scientific Council in 2012 and became Vice President of ERC in 2015. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Eva Kondorosi is a Hungarian plant biologist and geneticist. Her primary research field is Rhizobium-legume symbiosis with recent focus on the plant controlled differentiation of bacteria. She was the founding director of the BAYGEN Institute (2007-2012), which is now part of the Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged, where she is a Research Professor. She was also a founding member of the Institut des Science Végétales (CNRS) in France. In 2016, she was appointed Vice President of ERC. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Martin Stokhof is a Dutch linguist and philosopher. From 1991 to 2011, he was associate editor for semantics and philosophy of language of Linguistics and Philosophy. From 1998 to 2004, he was scientific director of the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation at the University of Amsterdam and is currently Professor of Philosophy of Language at the same institute. He is a member of the ERC Scientific Council since 2014 and was elected Vice President in 2016. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Paola Bovolenta is a developmental biologist. She is currently director of the Development and Regeneration Department at the Center for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa (Spain). She served as Head of the Biology and Biomedicine Area of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). She is European Editor of the journal Developmental Neurobiology. Her research interests focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying early development of the nervous system with particular emphasis on those processes that may lead to congenital defects and neurodegenerative diseases. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Andrzei Jajszczyk is a Polish professor in the Department of Telecommunications at AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland. He was the founder and first editor of the IEEE Global Communications Newsletter. From 2011 to 2015, he served as the founding Director of the National Science Centre, a Polish research funding agency. He is the author or co-author of 12 books and over 300 research papers, as well as 19 patents in the areas of telecommunications. He has been a consultant to industry, telecommunications operators, and government agencies in several countries. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Michael Kramer is a German radio astronomer and astrophysicist. He is the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. His expertise lies in radio astronomy with a focus on the observations of pulsars for experimental tests of gravitational physics. In 2005, his team was awarded the Descartes Prize by the European Union. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Nektarios Tavernarakis is a Greek bioscientist and professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH). He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, and Academia Europaea. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, and the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system. ©Photo credit: ERC.
	Dame Jane Thornton is a leading scientist in structural bioinformatics. Between 2001 and 2015, she was Director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). She played key roles in projects such as ELIXIR and BioMedBridges, which aim to develop an e-infrastructure and allow data integration in biomedical sciences. Her research group at EBI focuses on understanding protein structure, function and evolution using computational approaches. ©Photo credit: ERC.

Please note that the list pf participants is non-exhaustive. We are expecting additional participants from the scientific community and policy-makers.

5. About ERC

The European Research Council (ERC), established by the European Union in 2007, is the first European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It is a flagship component of Horizon 2020, the European Union's Research Framework Programme for 2014 to 2020, and complements other funding activities in Europe, such as those of national research funding agencies. The ERC celebrated its tenth anniversary last year and is already seen as a European success story that makes Europe more competitive globally.
Every year, the ERC selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any age and nationality, to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/high-risk research in Europe. Scientific excellence is the sole selection criterion, without any policy priorities. With its ‘curiosity-driven’ or ‘bottom-up’ approach, the ERC allows researchers to push forward the frontiers of knowledge, and to identify new opportunities and directions in any field of research. This ensures that funds are channelled into new and promising areas of research with a greater degree of flexibility.
By attracting Europe's brightest minds, the ERC has already helped to bring about unpredictable scientific and technological discoveries – the kind that can form the basis of new industries, markets, and the social innovations of the future.
Ultimately, the ERC aims to make the European research panorama more prepared to respond to the needs of a knowledge-based society and provide Europe with the skills in frontier research necessary to meet global challenges.
The ERC aims to foster healthy competition across Europe based on robust, transparent and impartial evaluation procedures. Particular priority is given to top early-career researchers to help them making the transition to independence at the critical stage of setting up or consolidating their own research team. Its grants aim to recognise the best ideas, and confer status and visibility upon the best brains in Europe, while also attracting talent from anywhere in the world. Key global research funding bodies in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States have concluded agreements to encourage their researchers to temporarily join ERC grantees' teams.
The ERC has three core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants. An additional funding scheme, the Synergy Grant, was re-introduced in 2017. To date, the ERC has funded more than 8 600 top projects led by researchers at various stages of their career based at over 730 institutions across Europe. Furthermore, the funding supports at least 50 000 postdocs, PhD students and other staff members working in the ERC research teams. Over 70% of finished ERC projects resulted in a breakthrough or a major scientific advance. Overall, ERC funding has led to more than 800 patent applications so far, and to the creation of over 100 companies. ERC grantees have been awarded around 1 000 prestigious prizes, including six Nobel Prizes.
The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the ERC Scientific Council, and an Executive Agency, the ERCEA, is the implementing arm. Prof. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is the ERC President. The budget of the ERC ̶ €13 billion for the period 2014 to 2020 ̶ represents 17% of Horizon 2020's total budget, for which European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Carlos Moedas is responsible.

6. About STOA

Mission

The Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Panel forms an integral part of the structure of the European Parliament. Launched in 1987, STOA is tasked with identifying and independently assessing the impact of new and emerging science and technologies.

The goal of its work is to assist, with independent information, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in developing options for long-term, strategic policy-making.
The STOA Panel

The STOA Panel consists of 25 MEPs nominated from the nine permanent parliamentary committees: AGRI (Agriculture & Rural Development), CULT (Culture & Education), EMPL (Employment & Social Affairs), ENVI (Environment, Public Health & Food Safety), IMCO (Internal Market & Consumer Protection), ITRE (Industry, Research & Energy), JURI (Legal Affairs), LIBE (Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) and TRAN (Transport & Tourism).

Mr Ramon Luis Valcarcel Siso MEP is the European Parliament Vice-President responsible for STOA and member of the Panel. The STOA Chair for the second half of the 8th legislature is Eva Kaili, with Paul Rübig and Evžen Tošenovský elected as 1^st and 2^nd Vice-Chairs.
The STOA Approach

STOA fulfils its mission primarily by carrying out science-based projects. Whilst undertaking these projects, STOA assesses the widest possible range of options to support evidence-based policy decisions. A typical project investigates the impacts of both existing and emerging technology options and presents these in the form of studies and options briefs. These are publicly available for download via the STOA website: www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/.

Some of STOA's projects explore the long-term impacts of future techno-scientific trends, with the aim to support MEPs in anticipating the consequences of developments in science. Alongside its production of 'hard information', STOA communicates its findings to the European Parliament by organising public events throughout the year.
Focus areas

STOA activities and products are varied and are designed to cover as wide a range of scientific and technological topics as possible, such as nano-safety, e-Democracy, e-Health and m-Health, bio-engineering, assistive technologies for people with disabilities, waste management, cybersecurity, smart energy grids, responsible research & innovation, etc.

They are grouped in five broad focus areas: eco-efficient transport and modern energy solutions; sustainable management of natural resources; potential and challenges of the Internet; health and life sciences; science policy, communication and global networking.

Administration

Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA)

Directorate for Impact Assessment and European Added Value

Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS)

European Parliament

Rue Wiertz 60

B-1047 Brussels

Tel. [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Director-General, Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS)

Anthony TEASDALE

Director, Directorate C, Impact Assessment & European Added Value

Wolfgang HILLER

Head of Unit - Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA)

Theodoros KARAPIPERIS

Administrators

STOA Secretariat

Zsolt G. PATAKI, Head of Service

Mihalis KRITIKOS

Nera KULJANIĆ

Gianluca QUAGLIO

Evangelia Marie THOUKIDIDOU (trainee)

Scientific Foresight Service

Lieve VAN WOENSEL, Head of Service

Philip BOUCHER

Christian KURRER

Karina BITTAR BRITTO ARANTES (trainee)
European Science-Media Hub

Svetla TANOVA

Vitalba CRIVELLO
Assistants

Emilia BANDEIRA MORAIS

Serge EVRARD
Rachel MANIRAMBONA

Marie MASSARO

Damir PLEŠE


This is a publication of the Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA)

EPRS │European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament

PE 614.568