Marc Schiltz; Credit: Photo by Christoph Weber, (c) FNR

Marc Schiltz, Secretary General and Executive Head of The Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), has been elected President of Science Europe, an association of major European research funding and research performing organisations; the FNR has been an active member and a strong supporter of Science Europe since its creation in 2011.

Following an election at the Science Europe General Assembly meeting in Brussels on 30 November, Marc Schiltz takes over as President of Science Europe for the next two years. He had previously served as a member of the Science Europe Governing Board since 2015.

“Above anything, this election is a strong sign of recognition for the FNR on an international level. The whole FNR team, together with its Governing Board and Scientific Council, follows a strict quality and excellence approach, which is now rewarded on the highest European level. This is mainly thanks to the FNR collaborators, who every day work towards positioning the FNR at the heart of the strategic centre of research, both nationally and internationally. It is also a strong sign of recognition for Luxembourg research in general. In less than 25 years, we have managed to develop a research landscape, which is fully capable of fulfilling its role on the international stage.” stated Marc Schiltz

Schiltz takes over the presidency from Michael Matlosz, who was President of the organisation from 2015 to 2017. Matlosz is confident that the association is in good hands: “Marc Schiltz has been a very supportive and constructive voice in the past years, and he is the right person to help Science Europe tackle the challenges in the continuing development of the European Research Area in the next several years. It has been my pleasure working with him as President of Science Europe and I wish both him and the organisation the very best.”

The election of Marc Schiltz as President of Science Europe also secures him a seat on the Governing Board of the Global Research Council, which brings together leading global figures from the areas science and engineering science. With Marc Schiltz at the head of Science Europe and Rolf Tarrach (former President of the University of Luxembourg) elected as President of the European University Association (EUA) in 2015, Luxembourg is now well represented in the two biggest research and higher education associations in Europe.