Dr. John Marks

Deputy Chief Executive, European Science Foundation

Dr. John Marks is Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the European Science Foundation since 1 January 2008. Between 1 April and 31 December 2007, he served as Chief Executive of ESF and before that he was Director of Science and Strategy. Before joining ESF in January 2004, he was the director of Earth and Life Sciences at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. During 1992-1993 he was the acting Executive Director of the International-Geosphere Programme in Stockholm. From 1981 until 1998 he worked in the Netherlands’ ministry of Education, Culture and Science in various positions in the field of Science Policy. He has been involved in a wide range of science policy and management activities at the international level, both European and global, among others in the frame of the International Council for Science ICSU. Dr. John Marks holds a Ph.D. in experimental low temperature physics from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.

Professor Charles Buys

Vice-Chairman of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

Charles Buys is Professor of Human Genetics and Head of the Department of Genetics at the University Medical Center in Groningen, The Netherlands. He has held many national and international positions, including president of the European Society of Human Genetics; chair of the group for the EU Work Programme of Human Genome Research; chair of the Review Board of the EU Biomedical Research Programme; chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for the 10th International Congress of Human Genetics and was a member of the NATO Science Committee. He is a member of the Health Council of The Netherlands since 2000; vice-chair of the Governing Board of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) since 2001 and a member of the European Research Advisory Board to the EC since 2001.

Dr. Luc van Dyck

Executive Coordinator of the European Life Sciences Forum (ELSF)

Luc van Dyck has a degree in chemical engineering for agro-industry and a Ph.D. in life sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He then trained in the lab of Professor Walter Neupert in Munich (International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cell Sciences) with a EU fellowship. Following this, Dr. van Dyck moved to the research department of Akzo Nobel-Intervet Innovation GmbH in Frankfurt am Main as "Manager-External Collaborations and Public Funding" (December 1999-2001). Since March 2001, he has been Executive Coordinator (manager) of the European Life Sciences Forum (ELSF). ELSF is a coalition of independent organisations representative or supportive of the life sciences, biotechnology and biomedical research communities in Europe.

Professor Carlos Martinez-A.

Secretary of State for Research, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain

Carlos Martínez A. is currently the Secretary of State for Research at the newly created Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Previous to this (2004-2008) he was President of Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC). A professor of immunology, he has previously worked at the Basel Institute for Immunology, the Max-Planck-Institute of Immunobiology and the California Institute of Technology. In Spain, he worked in the Centro Biología Molecular "Severo Ochoa" and was director of the Department of Immunology and Oncology of the National Center of Biotechnology (1993-2004). Professor Martínez-A. has previously been president of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC); member of the Review Committee at the Human Frontier Science Program Organisation; member of the Governing Council, European Science Foundation; vice-president, European Molecular Biology Laboratory Council; member of the Steering Committee, European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCs); member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) Council and member of the European Academy of Sciences. During his career Carlos Martínez A. has been awarded several prizes, amongst others, the King Jaime I Prize and the "Fundación Lilly" Award for Preclinical Biomedical Research.

Dr. Zdena Palkova

Associate Professor at the Charles University of Prague

Zdena Palková is associate professor in the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. In 1991 she received a Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Prague and pursued postdoctoral research at Charles University. From 1993 to 1998 she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London and at La Sapienza University in Rome. In 2000 Zdena Palková was awarded the Prize of the Scientific Society of the Czech Republic, and, in 2002, she was named an EMBO/Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Young Investigator. Zdena Palková studies the molecular biology and physiology of multicellular yeast communities. Current research focuses on the molecular processes involved in long-range signaling, cell differentiation and metabolism reprogramming, during aging and long-term survival of colonies formed by laboratory and natural strains.

Professor Eero Vuorio

Chancellor of the University of Turku, Finland

Eero Vuorio was appointed Chancellor of the University of Turku in September 2003 and is currently on a leave of absence from his Professorship in Molecular Biology at the University of Turku. Professor Vuorio has worked as a visiting scientist and professor at the University of Chicago, at the Swiss Federal Technical High School (ETH) in Zürich, and at the University of Texas in Houston. He has served six years in the Academy of Finland as a Board member and as the chair of the Research Council for Health. In addition to his domestic expert and administrative tasks, Chancellor Vuorio has also had several corresponding duties abroad. Since 2002, Chancellor Vuorio has served as the Chair of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Council. He also has expert duties at the European Commission and the European Science Foundation (ESF).