• Posted 19-May-2021

Commission appoints two new members to the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission

On 16 May 2021, Commissioner Gabriel appointed two new members to the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA) for the next three years. Professor Eva Zažímalová and Professor Eric F. Lambin were nominated by European Research Organisations and selected by an independent Identification Committee, and will replace Professor Carina Keskitalo and Sir Paul Nurse, whose mandates expired on 15 May 2021.

• Eva Zažímalová - Professor of Plant Anatomy and Physiology, president of the Czech Academy of Sciences, scientist at the Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Eric F. Lambin - Professor of Geography and Sustainability Science, Université catholique de Louvain and Stanford University

With their broad, collective expertise, the new configuration of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors will support EU policy makers by providing independent scientific advice to inform policymaking and improve the interaction between policy-making and scientific advice.

In particular, they will contribute to the on-going work on:

• Systemic approach to energy transition in Europe
• Joint Advice on resilience to crisis such as pandemic
• Cancer screening

The European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors was established in 2015 and started its work in January 2016. It is composed of highly qualified and experienced scientists from the natural and social sciences.

The Chief Scientific Advisors are appointed in their personal capacity and act independently and in the public interest. They meet in plenary several times per year and have met 27 times to date.

For its work, the Group is informed by Evidence Reviews carried out by the SAPEA consortium (Scientific Advice for Policy by European Academies), a Horizon 2020-grant, representing over 100 academies, young academies and learned societies in 40 European countries. 

The Group and also the SAPEA consortium are supported by a team in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD Unit 03 Chief Scientific Advisors – SAM, EGE), including staff seconded from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). Collectively, the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, SAPEA, and European Commission support staff are known as the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM).

The Group delivers scientific opinions in response to requests from the College or on ‘own-initiative’ topics proposed by the Advisors and approved by the College through the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. They deliver their advice using scientific evidence reviews provided by SAPEA, in an independent, open and transparent manner, in consultation with other experts and stakeholders and in close cooperation with the JRC and with the support of the RTD staff.

Source: European Commission I Research and Innovation (https://bit.ly/3eWK7bo)