Dunn School of Pathology Visiting Professor appointed as new ERC President
EMBO Director and Dunn School of Pathology Visiting Professor, Maria Leptin, has been appointed as the new President of the European Research Council, it was announced on 30 June 2021.
Maria’s background in molecular biology and immunology, her managerial experience in science administration and advocacy, and familiarity with European institutions sets her in good stead to take up the challenge of being at the helm of one of the main science and technology funding bodies in Europe. With its budget set to receive more than €16 billion as part of the 2021 – 2027 Horizon Europe programme, Maria joins the organisation at a particularly important moment.
The Dunn School of Pathology is fortunate to benefit from Maria’s experience and expertise via her role as Visiting Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Oxford, based in our department. As part of her professorship, Maria has run grant writing workshops for postdoctoral researchers and graduate students and provided one-to-one tuition, coaching and advice. Phenotype magazine, edited by former Dunn School postdoc Sonia Muliyil, featured an in-depth interview with Maria in 2020.
Maria currently leads research groups at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), in Heidelberg. In 2010, she was appointed Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). She begins her four-year term of office at the ERC on 1 October 2021.
