Executive Support Group

Executive Support Group


To meet the demands of continuity and transparency in its procedures, the Governing Board has appointed an Executive Support Group (ESG), consisting of experienced senior level officials from participating research councils. Membership is ad personam and not automatically linked to the members of the Governing Board. The ESG is co-chaired by an elected member and by the Executive Secretary, who is a full member of the ESG ex officio. 

The Executive Secretary is appointed by the Governing Board for a term of five years and should not serve two consecutive terms. Following a call for proposals, the Executive Secretary is provided by one of the participating organisations free of charge for the GRC. The first Executive Secretary, Graham Harrison, was provided by NSF (USA) for five years. For an intermediate 1.5 years, Rainer Gruhlich (DFG, Germany) served as Executive Secretary and from 2017 to 2022, Michael Bright from UK-RI (UK). Euclides de Mesquita Neto (FAPESP, Brazil) took over in 2022.

The ESG, including the Executive Secretary, supports the Governing Board, the hosts of the Annual as well as the Regional Meetings and all GRC participants in all organisational matters concerning the GRC. In addition, it drafts concepts, statements and procedural papers as requested by the Governing Board.

Current ESG members are:

Americas 

Euclides de Mesquita
Neto (Co-Chair and
Executive Secretary)

São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
Brazil

Shaun BaronNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
Canada
Asia-Pacific 
Srinivasa PrasannaScience and Engineering Research Board (SERB)
India
 
Europe 
Lidia Borrell-DamianScience Europe
Europe
Marcus WilmsGerman Research Foundation (DFG)
Germany
Michael BrightUK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 
United Kingdom
Sebastiaan Den BakDutch Research Council (NWO)
The Netherlands
 
MENA 
Ahmad Al-AbdulkaderKing Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST)
Saudi Arabia
 
Sub-Saharan Africa 
Annette OuattaraStrategic Support Programme for Scientific Research (PASRES)
Ivory Coast
Aldo Stroebel
(Co-Chair)
National Research Foundation (NRF)
South Africa