Governing Board

Marc Schiltz has significantly contributed to enhancing the quality of the Luxembourg research system over the past ten years, as well as to building bridges with the international research community and the private sector. In his term as Chief Executive Officer, the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) has developed programme lines to attract scientific talent to the country and to link the business ecosystem to research innovation. As President of Science Europe, he has since 2017 been setting the European agenda to foster Open Science.  In addition, he  chairs the cOAlition S Executive Steering Group and sits on the Governing Board of the Global Research Council. He is also the founding Chairman of the Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity.

Angelika Kalt was professor of Petrology and Geodynamics at the University of Neuchâtel before becoming Director of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switzerland’s main research funding organisation. Since taking over the helm at the SNSF, she has focused her efforts on modernising SNSF research funding in line with international trends – promoting cross-border collaboration, encouraging Open Access to publications and data, implementing the recommendations of the DORA Declaration, and facilitating Open Science. She is dedicated to improving conditions for researchers in Switzerland, in particular for young researchers and women.

Ángeles Gómez Borrego is Vice-President for International Affairs at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She has an academic background and PhD in Geology. Her research has focused on the utilisation of fossil fuels in an increasingly demanding scenario of abatement in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as on proxies for climate change in peatlands. She has been a senior researcher at the Institute for Carbon Science and Technology in Oviedo, as well as the CSIC representative at regional level in Asturias. She has also been the Spanish representative for the EU’s research energy programmes, and currently chairs the TGK2 group for monitoring coal utilisation projects from the Research Funds for Coal and Steel in the framework of the Green Deal.

Adrian Curaj is Director General of the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding of Romania (UEFISCDI). He is also the head of the UNESCO Chair on Science and Innovation Policies at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, as well as professor at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. He has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, UNESCO, UNIDO, ETF, and European Commission for studies in Tertiary Education, Science and Innovation, Foresight, and Smart Specialisation. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the US Fulbright Commission in Romania, and a fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science. He is also a former minister of education, science, and innovation.

Thierry Damerval was Deputy Director-General for Strategy and Vice-CEO of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research prior to becoming President and CEO of the French National Research Agency (ANR). He holds a PhD in Microbiology, starting his career at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Following that, he held leading positions at the French Atomic Energy Commission, including as manager of biology research programmes, director of strategy and evaluation, and director of one of CEA’s biomedical research centres. He also has extensive experience as advisor on research and innovation to the French government, including to the Minister for Research and the Prime Minister.

Matthias Koenig is professor of Empirical Macrosociology at the Max Weber Institute for Sociology at Heidelberg University. Currently, he serves as Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG). His research covers sociological theory, human rights, religion, and migration, focusing on global and local dynamics of governing diversity. He has held visiting scholar positions in Canada, France and the United States, and he was fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. He has sat on numerous editorial boards and councils of national or international scholarly associations.

Marcel Levi is president of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and professor of Medicine at the University of Amsterdam’s Medical Center and at University College London, as well as consultant in Acute Medicine and Haematology. He has previously worked at the Universities of Perugia and Oxford, as well as the Center for Transgene Technology and Genetherapy of the Catholic University of Leuven. He currently chairs or sits on the boards of several national and international health and research organisations and charities. He is also a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science.

Mari Sundli Tveit was Deputy Director-General of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise before leading the Research Council of Norway (RCN). Prior to that, she was Professor of Landscape Architecture and Rector of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She has also held numerous elected positions, including as a board member at the European University Association and at the Centre for Advanced Studies of Chalmers Technical University, as well that of president of Universities Norway. She is experienced in leading large mergers, organisational integration, strategic development, and working with a large international network within academia, the business sector, and government.

Melanie Welham is the Executive Chair of UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Having a PhD in Biochemistry from University College London, her specialties are molecular signalling and stem cell science. She was the first woman to be appointed professor at her department at the University of Bath and has served on the advisory committee for the UK National Stem Cell Network. Professor Welham is also a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Human Frontiers Science Program Organisation. In addition, she is currently UKRI’s Executive Champion for People, Culture and Talent.

Antonio Zoccoli is President of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and a professor of Physics at the University of Bologna. He carries out experimental research in the fields of fundamental nuclear and subnuclear physics, and has been a member of several international collaborations, including at Rutherford Lab in the UK, at CERN in Switzerland, and at the DESY Laboratory in Germany. He has also been a member of the ATLAS collaboration at CERN, which announced the first observation of the Higgs boson in July 2021, together with the CMS collaboration.