In brief: Corona special
How the ERC lost its President
Mauro Ferrari resigned as President of the European Research Council in early April. This has been cause for irritation.
The departure of the former ERC President Mauro Ferrari led to rather novel statements from the European Research Council | Image: WEF
The statement of the parting European Research Council (ERC) president was “at best economical with the truth”, noted the body dryly in a press release on 8 April 2020. That was just one day after Mauro Ferrari had resigned from the ERC, three months into the job. He had reported having “lost faith in the system” after his proposal for a special Covid-19 research programme was refused.
As president, said the ERC, Ferrari had “failed to participate in many important meetings” because of extensive stays in the US, and had “displayed a complete lack of appreciation for [the ERC’s] raison-d’être”. Ten days earlier, all 19 active members of the ERC’s Scientific Council had “individually and unanimously requested his resignation”.
