Éva Kondorosi - Biography#

Research Director
Institute of Plant Biology,
Biological Research Centre,
Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence
6726 Szeged, Temesvári krt. 62, Hungary

Eva Kondorosi was born in Budapest, graduated (Biology) and received her PhD (Genetics) at the L. Eötvös University in Budapest. She was postdoc at the Max Planck Institute (Köln) and visiting scholar at the Sussex, Harvard and Cornell Universities. She was a research director at the CNRS Institut des Science Végétales, then director of the BAYGEN Institute in Hungary. Currently she directs the Symbiosis and Functional Genomics Unit at the Biological Research Centre in Szeged.

Her primary research field is Rhizobium-legume symbiosis, symbiotic nitrogen fixation with recent focus on plant controlled differentiation of bacteria. Her current work led to the production of a number of highly potent antimicrobial peptides of plant origin, which are powerful novel antimicrobial drugs to be used in medicine and agriculture. Her expertise is very broad in the fields of microbiology, plant development biology, cell cycle control, bacterial and host communication, molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and omics.

For her original discoveries she received several prestigious awards including the Balzan Prize, the Széchenyi Prize and the prize of the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. She is full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), and member of the following institutions or bodies: Academia Europaea (also member of its Board of Trustees), the European Molecular Biology Organization, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the French Academy of Agriculture and the European Academy of Microbiology. She was member of the ERC Scientific Council (2013-2018), Vice President of the European Research Council and Life Science domain coordinator (2017-2018) and was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Scientific Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (until 2016).

Experience in the provision of the scientific advice at national and international level#

• Chair of the ERC Working group on Widening European Participation (2014-2018) providing advice, help and guidance for the underperforming European countries with impact on the national systems
• Board member of Academia Europaea with responsibilities on widening scientific membership all over Europe, maintaining the link with ERC and close collaboration with the Young Academy of Europe, a pan-European initiative of outstanding young scientists for networking, scientific exchange and science policy.
• Chair of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Section of Academia Europaea (2020-)
• World Science Forum Steering committee (2017-)
• ESOF 2020 Steering committee
• Member of the Steering Committee of the European Nitrogen Fixation Conferences
• “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme of the Polish Ministry of Science, member of the international team of experts (evaluation of the applications of 20 universities). (2019-)
• Strategic planning at the University of Oslo - MN SAC committee (2018-)
• Academic Advisory Board of the University of Cologne (2019-)
• Scientific advisor at the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary (2018-)
• Scientific advisor at the National Research and Development Office of Hungary (2007-2017)
• Member of the Hungarian-German Innovation Working Group (2019-)
• BIAL International Biomedical award committee (Porto) (2019-)
• 21 Women for Health (2018-)
• EMBO Fellowship Committee (2011-2012)
• Former member of the Board of Directors of the IS-Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions
• Member of the Scientific Expert Advisory Committee of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (University of Queensland, Australian National University, University of Melbourne and University of Newcastle)

Publications
Curriculum vitae