Professor Eiríkur Steingrímsson is the first Icelander to hold the post will oversee important developments.
Steingrímsson will commence his initial one-year term as Chair of EMBL Council on 1 January 2020. Elected at the Council’s winter meeting, Prof. Steingrímsson will be the 16th Chair of EMBL Council, and the first Icelander to hold the position.
A vice-chair for the past three years, he is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iceland and has held research positions in Iceland and the United States.
“The next year promises to be both exciting and challenging for EMBL Council. The organisation is preparing an ambitious five-year science programme for implementation from 2022, and I am honoured to have been elected Chair of Council at this important moment in EMBL’s history,” Prof. Steingrímsson said.
“Council has already been involved in preliminary discussions with our Director General Edith Heard, and we share her vision for EMBL to deliver even greater societal benefit to member states and globally.”
EMBL Council is the senior governance body for the organisation, and is responsible for deciding policy in scientific, technical and administrative matters. Each of EMBL’s 27 member states, two associate member states and one prospect member state is represented on the Council.