Changes in EMBL leadership
Peer Bork and Ewan Birney take up interim leadership of EMBL as Edith Heard steps down as Director General
EMBL Director General Edith Heard will take up a new role as Director and Chief Executive of the Francis Crick Institute in London in the summer of 2025. In preparation for this move and with the search for EMBL’s next Director General underway as well as interim leadership having been agreed by EMBL Council at the end of 2025, Heard will already step down as Director General of EMBL at the end of March 2025.
The institute will subsequently – and until the appointment of EMBL’s next Director General – be led by Peer Bork as Interim Director General and Ewan Birney as Executive Director. Together they will lead EMBL’s activities with a focus on continuing to deliver on the vision and priorities set out in the ‘Molecules to Ecosystems’ programme.
“Leading EMBL for nearly seven years has been an immense privilege and great pleasure. In that time, I have had the opportunity to interact with so many creative, ambitious, and dedicated individuals, who are driving EMBL’s success in its many different areas of activity every single day,” said Heard. “I am incredibly proud of EMBL having launched its Molecules to Ecosystems programme and now seeing the value it delivers for science and Europe.”
Until she begins her tenure at the Francis Crick Institute at the end of summer 2025, Heard will focus on relocating her scientific activities and laboratory from Heidelberg to London. “I have continued to run a productive research lab throughout my tenure as EMBL Director General, and am excited to continue my research activities at the Crick,” added Heard. “This period between my roles as EMBL Director General and Crick Director, will allow me and the members of my laboratory to focus on a smooth transition of all aspects related to our scientific endeavours.”
“On behalf of EMBL Council and its member states I would like to wholeheartedly thank Professor Heard for her extraordinary contribution to European life science,” said Peter Becker. “She brought to life a new vision for using molecular approaches to studying life in context. Since the launch of EMBL’s current programme, we have seen the impact this has had and will continue to have on the life sciences and EMBL’s member states, from large collaborative projects like the Traversing European Ecosystems expedition to newly forged partnership in areas ranging from infection biology to artificial intelligence.”
