Austrian social scientist Professor Helga Nowotny has been named as the new President of the European Research Council (ERC) and Chair of the ERC Scientific Council. Professor Nowotny will take up her new role on 1 March.

Professor Nowotny is currently Vice-President of the ERC and Vice-Chair of its Scientific Council. Her colleagues on the Scientific Council, which is made up of eminent researchers from across Europe, unanimously elected her to her new post as President of the European Research Council (ERC).

Helga Nowotny studied in Vienna (Austria) and New York (US) and has held posts in Vienna, Cambridge (UK), Bielefeld (Germany), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany), Budapest (Hungary) and Zurich (Switzerland). From 2001 to 2006, she chaired the European Commission's European Research Advisory Board (EURAB). Today, she is Professor Emeritus of Social Studies of Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Vienna University.

Her research focuses on social studies of science and technology; science, technology and innovation policy; social time; risk, environment and sustainability; and the social organisation of social sciences and humanities.

The ERC was set up under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) to support frontier research. It has a EUR 7.5 billion budget for the period from 2007 to 2013, and so far it has provided support to over 900 projects. The ERC Advanced Grants go to senior, experienced researchers, while theStarting Grants are given to more junior researchers. Both grants are allocated solely on the basis of scientific excellence.

Europe's research ministers are expected to adopt conclusions on the structures of the ERC at the Competitiveness Council meeting on 1 and 2 March.