06 Jul 2021
Jana Kolar elected as new ESFRI Chair

ESFRI announced the election of Jana Kolar as the Forum’s next chair. Jana Kolar will succeed Jan Hrusak whose chairmanship will terminate at the end of this year. After an in-depth analysis of her application and a comprehensive interview by the selection committee, it was concluded that Jana can be recommended to the Forum as the next ESFRI chair. Her term of office will start in January 2022 with a two-year duration.
Currently, Jana Kolar is executive director of CERIC-ERIC. She has a broad range of expertise, ranging from policy development and implementation, research and innovation, to entrepreneurship. Among others, she was Director-General of Science in Technology at the Ministry in Slovenia, chairman of the Board of Slovenian Technology Agency and Slovenia’s Research Agency, a member of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and a member of the High-Level Group of Innovators for a European Innovation Council that advised the Commission on how to strengthen support for breakthrough, market-creating innovation. She was also a member of the ERA Council Forum Austria - a high-level expert body advising the Austrian Minister responsible for Science and Research and is currently supporting the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.