Programme - Plenary Speaker

Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon is the President of the European Research Council since January 2014. Prior to that, he was the Director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) from 1994 till 2013. This international research institute located near Paris, France, was built as the European counterpart of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was also the first ERC Panel Chair in Mathematics, for Starting Grants. A mathematician by training, he spent his whole career as a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). He held a Professor position at École polytechnique from 1986 to 2012. From 1990 to 1992, he was President of the Société Mathématique de France and President of the European Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1998. He is a former member of the Board of the EuroScience organisation (2002-2006) and served on EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) committees since 2004. Professor Bourguignon received the Prix Paul Langevin in 1987 and the Prix du Rayonnement Français in Mathematical Sciences and Physics from the Académie des Sciences de Paris in 1997. He is a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society and has been the secretary of the mathematics section of the Academia Europaea. In 2008, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of Keio University, Japan, and, in 2011, Doctor Honoris Causa of Nankai University, China. In 2017, he was elected honorary member of the German Association of Mathematicians (DMV).

Plenary Title: ERC, a success story in support of Frontier research in Europe open to the world

I will introduce the ERC which, in spite of its short history of 10 years, has had a considerable impact on how frontier research is conducted in Europe while becoming visible from outside of it. I will also discuss the Korea-EU research cooperation status and future possibilities within the ERC grant scheme, and introduce Europe-based Korean ERC grantees who will speak in EKC’s special session for the very first time. Since exposing worldwide scientists to the best research groups in Europe has been ERC’s focus throughout the years, activities within this scope such as the ERC implementation arrangement will also be introduced. With the Korean government’s generous support, Korea has been the most active partner country for this programme, seconding more than 100 researchers to visit ERC projects. ERC’s future 2019 Work Programme and its changes, which may interest Korean researchers, will also be highlighted in this talk. The proposal by the European Commission for Horizon Europe, the next European framework for Research and Innovation covering the period 2021-2027, has been made public in June. Its global architecture will also be presented.