Nektarios Tavernarakis, Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at the Medical School of the University of Crete, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Foundation for Research and Technology, has been elected Vice President of the European Research Council (ERC).
He is the first Greek to have been elected Vice President of the ERC.
When he assumes his duties in January 2021, Tavernarakis will be in charge of ERC activities in the domain of Life Sciences.
The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence.
Tavernarakis said he was “deeply honored” by the decision. “Having witnessed first-hand, as a grantee, the transformative impact of ERC on European science, I am wholeheartedly committed to contributing to its mission in this new role. The ERC is not merely a success story in the framework of the European ideal; it stands as a radiant paradigm of how investment in frontier research can reap enormous benefits for society at large. I am looking forward to working closely with my Scientific Council colleagues, across all three domains, to serve science by building on the ERC’s legacy of fostering excellent research. Today, the ERC's support for bottom up, blue skies research is more relevant than ever. This strategy can effectively protect us in the face of unpredictable threats, and address diverse and complex global challenges,” he added.
About Professor Nektarios Tavernarakis
Nektarios Tavernarakis studied Biology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a PhD degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Crete, Greece. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of necrotic cell death and neurodegeneration, the interplay between cellular metabolism and ageing, and the mechanisms of sensory transduction and integration by the nervous system. He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, and Academia Europaea. He is the recipient of two ERC Advanced Investigator Grants, an ERC Proof of Concept Grant, the EMBO Young Investigator award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research award, the Bodossaki Foundation Scientific Prize for Medicine and Biology, the Empeirikeion Foundation Academic Excellence Prize, and the BioMedical Research Award of the Academy of Athens.