30 June 2021 – “We are delighted with the appointment of Maria Leptin as the new President of the ERC,” says Michael N. Hall, Chair of the EMBO Council. “She is deeply rooted in scientific communities across Europe and has comprehensive experience at the helm of a funding organization with the mission of fostering research excellence,” he adds.
Maria Leptin is a developmental biologist, and a professor and group leader at the Institute of Genetics University of Cologne, Germany. She has been leading EMBO since 2010 as its first female director and leads a research group at EMBL Heidelberg. During her EMBO Directorate, the EMBO funding scheme for postdoctoral researchers was reformed, initiatives to advance scholarly publishing and a policy programme were launched, Open Science tools developed, cooperation agreements with states outside Europe were established, and the annual budget for EMBO was significantly increased. Maria Leptin is an elected member of EMBO, the Academia Europaea and the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
EMBO is an organization of more than 1,800 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The major goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work. EMBO had advocated for the establishment of the ERC.
