Tag Archives: Natasha Gilbert

European science adviser

In fact, Dr. Anne Glover has been tipped as the European Union’s new Chief Science Adviser (CSA). She, when the formal announcement is made, will be the first incumbent. David Bruggeman’s Nov. 22, 2011 posting at his Pasco Phronesis blog was my first inkling about this development,

While the European Union and Dr. Anne Glover have been mum on the subject, but Nature News is reporting that Dr. Glover, currently Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for Scotland, will soon become the first CSA for the European Union (technically the European Commission). …

…  The search for this new position has lasted years. Glover’s term in Scotland ends next month, and the Commission may be waiting for an Innovation event scheduled for early December to make things official.

In searching for a little more information I found a Nov. 22, 2011 article by Martin Enserink for the Science Insider,

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso first announced his plan to hire a high-profile science adviser—akin to similar posts at the White House and in the British government—in a speech in 2009, but the actual appointment has been delayed several times. In the new post, Glover would report directly to Barroso; her salary reportedly would be close to €200,000.

Natasha Gilbert’s Nov. 21, 2011 article for Nature kicked off this latest round of speculation,

The appointment comes more than two years after José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, pledged on 15 September 2009 to create the post. …

The details of the CSA role — including how much power and freedom the incumbent will have in providing scientific advice and influencing policy-making — are still unclear. It is also unclear which European institute the post will be situated in and whom the incumbent will report to. For example, the CSA could be part of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers, which provides high-level in-house policy advice to the Commission, or in the Commission’s research directorate.

Glover, a microbiologist, became Scotland’s Chief Science Adviser in 2006 and they are advertising for a replacement as she is due to end her appointment on Dec. 21, 2011.