Career News
The Global Research Council elects Katja Becker as Chair
(© Katja Becker)
Prof Katja Becker
Professor Katja Becker has been elected new Chair of the Global Research Council (GRC) at the organisation’s Ninth Annual Meeting. The GRC reviews and develops practices for scientific funding worldwide. According to Prof Becker, who is also the President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the GRC is particularly important at the moment due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“I’m delighted to have been elected,” Prof Becker said in a DFG press release. “More than ever before, the world is asking for scientific advice and evidence-based solutions to pressing issues. (…) Many of the solutions required can emerge only as a result of global cooperation.”
Her own scientific research is focused on anti-oxidative protective mechanisms during disease as well as rational drug development against malaria and cancer. Her work has been honoured with several awards, including the Carus Medal and the Rudolf Leuckart Medal. She is currently based at the University of Giessen in Germany.
This latest appointment as Chair of GRC follows previous powerful roles. From 2009 to 2012, Prof Becker was the vice president of the University of Giessen, and she sat on the scientific committee of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology between 2015 and 2017. Before she became the first woman president of DFG, she was its vice president for five years.
The GRC consists of research funding agency leaders from around the world and their aim is to foster long-term research collaboration across continents. Prof Becker is one of four women on the current governing board of thirteen. (© AcademiaNet)
