The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA) is a part of the Scientific Advice Mechanism. It provides high-quality, timely and independent scientific advice to the College of European Commissioners on any subject, including on policy issues that the European Parliament and the Council consider to be of major importance.



The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors consists of seven members. They are selected for their outstanding level of expertise and broad vision, which collectively reflects an understanding of important scientific developments, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. The advisors work closely with the consortium of networks of European science academies associated under the Scientific Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) project, which gathers expertise in engineering, humanities, medicine, natural and social sciences from over 100 academies and societies across Europe. Together with a secretariat established in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, the GCSA (a registered Commission expert group) and SAPEA are collectively known as the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM).

The members of the GCSA are appointed by the Commissioner responsible for research and innovation from a short-list established by an independent, high-level Identification Committee.

Public European science and research organisations are invited to nominate outstanding scientists as candidates for the replenishment of this short-list. The existing short-list remains valid until the end of the Horizon Europe framework programme, meaning that candidates who are currently on the short-list will continue to be considered as candidates for membership of the GCSA.

The Identification Committee will assess the candidates based on the factors and conditions set out in Art 3.7 of the GCSA Decision[1] and evaluate their experience in engaging with policy making processes or science-policy interfaces, in the provision of scientific advice at national, European or international level and in the public communication of science as well as candidate’s teamworking capabilities. Moreover, the candidate should believe in the values of the European Union[2] and be available and willing to serve as a member of the Group.

Gender balance, the reflection of the breadth of the research community across Europe and consideration of younger next-generation leaders are also among the aforementioned factors and criteria.

How to nominate candidates?#

Please complete the online ”Nomination-Form” to propose a scientist for membership of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors. Prior to submitting the form, nominating organisations shall ensure that their nominee is interested and available might he/she be selected for appointment. It is possible to nominate more than one candidate. However, one Nomination-Form must be used for each nominee.

As part of the nomination process, the nominating organisation is required to upload a letter clearly stating the nominating organisation as well as the name, title and position of the nominee.

After submission of the Nomination-Form, the nominee will receive a link with a Candidate-Form that he/she will be invited to complete.

Self-nominations, self-applications, nominations without the accompanying letter from the nominating organisation or those submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

The deadline for submitting nominations is 30 September 2024 (18:00 CET).

For queries, please use the email EC-SAM@ec.europa.eu with “SAM Nominations 2024” in the subject line.

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See also:

• Call for nomination for membership of the GCSA - Research and innovation (europa.eu)
• Invitation to public European scientific and research organisations to nominate outstanding scientists for membership of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors - European Commission (europa.eu)
  
• Daily News 20 / 08 / 2024 (europa.eu)