Vaira Vike-Freiberga, chair of the panel and former President of Latvia
The panel, chaired by Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia, has written to some organisations and is inviting comments from other interested parties. Vike-Freiberga said the review is a crucial step in the development of the ERC and beyond that towards “the future excellence and competitiveness of Europe.”
The Commission appointed the panel with a brief to stress-test the ERC’s operations against four criteria: scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency and transparency. It will also consider the process and criteria for selecting members of its Scientific Council, and consider the advantages and disadvantages of different operational structures.
When the European Research Council was set up under the Seventh Framework Programme it was agreed there would be a mid-term evaluation of its operations.
The panel includes six experts with experience in research policy and management at national, European and international level. All have held top positions in national government, research institutes, or prestigious European academic establishments.
The chair, Vike-Freiberga, who was President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007, is also a former psychology professor at the University of Montreal.
The other members are: David Sainsbury, former UK science minister; Yves Mény, President of the European University Institute, Florence; Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa, professor of Economics at La Sapienza, Rome and former President of the Istituto di Studi e Analisi Economica, Rome; Lars-Hendrik Röller, President of the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin and Professor of Economics, Humboldt University, Berlin; and Elias Zerhouni, Former Director of the US National Institutes of Health, and previous Executive Vice-Dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
Responses should be sent to [email protected] by 24 April. The panel is due to report to the Commission in June.
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