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November 7, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Teacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion OutlayTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion Outlay

Nominations Open For The Next European Research Council President

Myrto Uzuni
Policy Correspondent, Research and Innovation

Brussels: The European Commission opened the search for the next European Research Council President on 5 November 2026 and invited research organisations to submit nominations until 23 November. The new office-holder takes over on 1 October 2027 and succeeds Professor Maria Leptin, who leads Europe’s flagship frontier-research funder today.

Each EU research organisation can put forward up to three candidates and must send them to the Commission by email at RTD-ERC-ID@ec.europa.eu. The European Research Council President serves a four-year term that the holder can renew once. The job sits in Brussels and, in principle, takes at least 80 percent of the holder’s working time.

A search committee chaired by Pearl Dykstra of Erasmus University Rotterdam runs the selection. Margrethe Vestager, Nicole Grobert, Fabio Zwirner and Janusz Bujnicki sit on the panel alongside her. Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva appoints the committee, which signals the political weight of the post.

The process does not end with the Commission, however. The ERC Scientific Council, which has 22 members, must approve both the search procedure and the final candidate. That safeguard protects the independence of the European Research Council President from political pressure and keeps scientists in charge of the agency’s direction.

The timing matters for the wider Horizon Europe community. The incoming leader will arrive as the current programme nears its end and will help shape how the ERC fits into the proposed Horizon Europe framework programme for 2028 to 2034. Researchers will watch which disciplines the nominees represent and how forcefully the committee defends frontier research in budget talks.

Why does the post matter so much? The ERC distributes Horizon Europe money to individual researchers on the basis of scientific excellence alone, without national quotas or thematic priorities. Its president speaks for that principle in Brussels and abroad, and defends it when governments debate research budgets. A strong European Research Council President therefore influences how well Europe competes for top scientists against the United States and Asia, and how credible its promise of academic freedom remains. Candidates will also need to manage a large agency, work with a 22-member Scientific Council and represent European science to ministers, universities and funders in many countries.

With fewer than three weeks left to nominate, the race to name the next European Research Council President has effectively begun. The Scientific Council’s verdict will decide who succeeds Leptin in October 2027, and research organisations still have time to put forward up to three names each.

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