The appointment of Prof. Anne Glover as the first EU Chief Scientific Advisor was announed by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the opening of the 2011 Innovation Convention in Brussels on 5 December. Prof. Glover will begin the new three-year position in January 2012 as independent adviser on scientific policy and will report directly to President Barroso.
With her appointment, Glover now becomes an ambassador for Europe’s high-profile focus on research and innovation to deliver both economic growth and solutions to broad social challenges. Mr Barroso said she will “act as a bridge with the scientific community” to ensure innovation contributes to growth, and help Europe communicate the scientific basis of the commission’s proposals. “We must communicate better; a good public understanding is key to guaranteeing social acceptance of innovation.”
A key challenge for Prof. Glover will be advising Europe on how to best to harness innovation and research to effectively tackle its newly defined “societal challenges,” including food security, energy security, healthy ageing and climate change mitigation. There will also be tricky policy areas to tackle including the indirect environmental impact of biofuels, the safety of Europe’s nuclear reactors, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and EU funding for embryonic stem cell research. An important role of the Chief Scientific Advisor will be to provide authoritative guidance on the interpretation of scientific evidence in cases of uncertainty, and to be involved in strategic emergency planning.
