European Commission Agrees to Some Suggested Administrative Changes for the European Research Council. (October 23, 2009)

Earlier this month we reported --

On February 24, 2009 the European Commission announced the formation of a committee of leading experts in science policy, from both Europe and overseas, to start reviewing the work of the European Research Council (ERC).

The 53-page report was published on July 23, 2009. It made nine recommendations for immediate implementation and in addition the report set out two long-range assessments.

Now Natasha Gilbert reports in NatureNews: "The European Commission has agreed that a top scientist with managerial experience should lead the administrative and managerial activities of the European Research Council (ERC) in place of the Commission's own current appointee."

The headhunting is to begin immediately with the hope that an appointment will be able to be made early in 2010.

Ms Gilbert also notes that: "the ERC's management arrangements were a source of 'great frustration and low-level conflict'. These included rules that meant funding was awarded as contracts rather than grants, requiring researchers to document in detail any time spent working on ERC-funded projects. An investigation by Nature also revealed that Commission bureaucracy was causing peer reviewers to refuse to work for the ERC, threatening the body's future (see Red tape strangles basic research grants)."

The European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik, said in a statement: "Two and a half years after its start, the ERC is regarded widely as a success and an influential component of the European Research Area. We are now announcing steps to help the ERC shift from its pioneering to its mature phase. Our actions and those under the responsibility of the scientific council will further improve the ERC's performance and guarantee its long term stability."

However, the Commission's response to the report does not address the recommendation that a further review of the council should take place within two years to determine if the Commission's reforms were effective. Otherwise the report recommended that the ERC should gain full administrative independence from the Commission.

Fotis Kafatos, president of the ERC, told Nature that the further review of progress "should be maintained. It's important to have successive reviews of the ERC. It is a crucial matter that the ERC is recognized as an upstanding and strong institution", and he said that as a whole the Commission's response is not "particularly revolutionary or extensive".

Finally, Ms Gilbert makes the point that: "The Commission also plans to put forward proposals to reform the rules governing the use and management of European Union funds so that ERC funding can be awarded as lump sums rather than as contracts, [but] any reforms, which are expected to be finalized by mid-2010, must be agreed on by the European Council, which is made up of the heads of state and the European Parliament."