Núria Sebastián Gallés, a world renowned Spanish scientist, has been appointed the new Vice-President of the European Research Council. She received her PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Barcelona in 1986, and since then she held numerous academic positions in universities across the world. Also, since April 2013, Professor Sebastián Gallés has been a member of the ERC Scientific Council.
Together with the other two Vice-Presidents of the ERC, Núria Sebastián Gallés will assist the newly appointed ERC President, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, and will serve as Vice-Chairs of the Scientific Council. The Vice-Presidents are responsible with coordinating one of the ERC’s three domains of activity. Prof. Pavel Exner will be responsible for Physical and Engineering Sciences, Prof. Carl-Henrik Heldin will be responsible for Life Sciences, while Prof. Sebastián Gallés will be responsible for the Social Sciences and Humanities domain.
This trio arrangement was recommended by the ERC Task Force in July 2011, the same body that recommended that the roles of Secretary General and President should be merged into a unified role that would serve as the voice and public face of the ERC. Thus, the appointment of Núria Sebastián Gallés, together with the unification of the roles of President and Secretary General, is a step further in the process of making the ERC‘s administrative structure more robust.
Last week, the ERC announced the winners of the Consolidator Grants competition, while the winners of the Proof of Concept competition will be announced in early February.
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