Monica Bettencourt-Dias, Director of Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), and Giulio Superti-Furga, Scientific Director of the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, have been appointed new Chair and Co-Chair respectively of EU-LIFE, the alliance of fifteen leading life science institutes in Europe, as of 1 January 2022.

During the next two years they will be working closely with Marta Agostinho, EU-LIFE Executive Director, to help shape the European research landscape, particularly with regard to excellent science. EU-LIFE’s priorities for the near future include the development of a 5-year strategy for the alliance and responding to the major challenges of our times, when research is more essential than ever, by reinforcing EU-LIFE action on the European policy agenda. 

“We live in a time where science is taking centre stage in society and all of us know there are multiple challenges to face ahead, for scientific discovery, but also for the scientific endeavour itself: how science is done and how it relates to society. European scientists need to be drivers in shaping the future of Europe and EU-LIFE is a wonderful instrument for that, important for each individual institute that takes part in it, for the country it belongs to and for EUROPE. Couldn’t be more excited to take this role, together with my fellow directors, in particular co-chair Giulio Superti-Fuga and EU-LIFE Executive Director Marta Agostinho” said Monica Bettencourt-Dias, Director of IGC and EU-LIFE new Chair.

“EU-LIFE has been key to me in learning and adopting best practices as Scientific Director of an institute devoted to research excellence.  I am now delighted to start my role as EU-LIFE Co-Chair and to have the opportunity, with Chair Monica Bettencourt-Dias, to support even further its commitment to constant improvement. EU-LIFE’s member institutes aspire to create the best environment possible for research to flourish in all corners of Europe, and to have an impact in research culture beyond the alliance”, said Giulio Superti-Furga, Scientific Director of CeMM and EU-LIFE new Co-Chair.

The European Research Area and open science, Horizon Europe, widening excellence within Europe and synergies among national and European levels are some of the EU-LIFE focus areas. In addition, the alliance will continue to nurture its vibrant community in moving forward together on research governance and developing an ethical research culture that is open, collaborative and engaged with the society.

Monica Bettencourt-Dias was co-chair of EU-LIFE for the last two years and steps up as new chair of EU-LIFE, succeeding René Medema from The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). We are very grateful to René for his outstanding term in leading EU-LIFE during such extraordinary times. 

About EU-LIFE
EU-LIFE is an alliance of research centres whose mission is to support and strengthen European research excellence. EU-LIFE members are leading research institutes in their countries and internationally renowned for producing excellent research, widely transferring knowledge and nurturing talent. Since its foundation in 2013, EU-LIFE is a stakeholder in European policy participating regularly in the EU policy dialogue.  More at: www.eu-life.eu 

EU-LIFE Members
Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG, Spain) | Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC, Czech Republic) | European Institute of Oncology (IEO, Italy) | Flanders Institute For Biotechnology  (VIB, Belgium) | Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI, Switzerland) | Institut Curie (France) | Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM, Finland) | Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology (IMBB FORTH, Greece) I Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal) | International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB, Poland) | Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC, Germany) |  Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM, Austria) | The Babraham Institute (Babraham, United Kingdom) | The Netherlands Cancer Institute  (NKI, The Netherlands) | The University of Copenhagen Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC, Denmark).