Laurence Moreau is the new director of the European Research Council (ERC)’s executive agency. She holds a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Nantes. Her previous experience involves working at the Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation, the Research Executive Agency, and the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs. She also has 6 years of experience at the ERC, and since the retirement of previous director Waldemar Kütt in January of this year, she is the acting director of the Executive Agency.

The Executive Agency is the implementing arm of the ERC, which means it is responsible for organisational, financial, peer-review evaluation- and strategy-implementation related matters – while the institution itself is governed by an independent scientific council which outlines said strategy.

Alongside the director, the executive agency is also managed by a 6-member steering committee, which supervises the Executive Agency’s operation. Both the director and the steering committee is appointed by the Commission, the former for a 4-year period, while the latter for 2 years.