Eleni Zika

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Eleni Zika works in the Scientific Management Department. She leads a new sector focussing on scientific impact & feedback to policy. They want to illustrate the policy relevance of excellence frontier science, and enhance the visibility of ERC-funded research.

Brief information

Department and position:

Department and position: Scientfic Management Department, Scientific Impact and Feedback to Policy Sector

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How would you describe your work to someone who is entirely new to research and EU funding?

I lead a new sector in the ERC that is focusing on scientific impact and feedback to policy. Our mission is to enhance the visibility of ERC-funded research in the scientific community, the policy arena, and the society at large. Our main objective is to garner results and evidence of impact of ERC projects and communicate more widely to policymakers especially. Our work focusses largely on building the tools and methods needed for systematic and robust portfolio analyses, of a portfolio that spans more than 10000 projects funded by the ERC across domains and disciplines.

What are the most frequent questions you are asked by the applicants?

Due to the nature of our sector, we have little interaction with applicants, as we are not in my team involved in evaluations or grant management.

What is it like to work in the Agency and with the European Institutions?

Working for the Agency and the EU Institutions in general is a deeply rewarding experience. We are operating in a very diverse, international environment and have the luck to interact with excellent experienced colleagues but also a broad scientific, and in our case also policy, community from which we learn daily. We are all aligned around our love for the European project and that makes our daily work fun and inspiring.

What is a common misconception about the ERC that you think is important to clarify?

Perhaps that ERC funds only basic research. It’s something we hear often but is actually not at all true. ERC fund frontier science that can be both basic and applied and in fact many panels across the three domains are a testament to this.

What would make your work easier? Where do you see potential for improvement?

Our work is very complex due to the huge number of projects and their diversity. Building portfolio analyses for such a population can be challenging and what we need for this is robust analytical tools; we are currently working with all relevant colleagues in the agency and the EC to ensure we can succeed in our mission.

How do you see the work of the NCPs: where do they add particular value and where do you think there might be areas for improvement?

I believe the NCPs play a crucial role in our interface with our stakeholder communities at national level. I think this is of great importance for continuing to encourage participation in our program, albeit the fact that it’s very competitive. Now that we are also building our feedback to policy approach at the ERC, the NCPs will be very helpful in raising awareness to their constituencies about how frontier science also contributes to important EU policy objectives and global challenges.