Job Ad: Biosciences and Public Health Programme Director (part-time)

EASAC’s Biosciences and Public Health Programme represents an exciting portfolio of work:

1. Public health and health care, including biomedical opportunities and challenges, translational science and the relationship with innovation.
2. Planetary Health and One Health issues, particularly systemic challenges e.g. climate change.
3. Science and policy issues for emerging technologies and their socio-economic impact in the EU.
4. Food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture.
5. Biosecurity, biosafety, pandemic preparedness and other technical, ethical and societal concerns related to developments in the biosciences.

Examples of recent studies can be found at Publications | EASAC - Science Advice for the Benefit of Europe.  

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Acting as the organisational lead of EASAC’s Biosciences and Public Health Programme and managing the respective processes.
• Monitoring policy and scientific developments and keeping abreast of challenges, controversies and milestones related to the Biosciences and Public Health domain in Europe and beyond.
• Maintaining strategic and working relations with stakeholders in the science for policy advice ecosystem, in the EU (Commission, Parliament and respective agencies), as well as with key scientists in relevant fields, and the (science) media.
• Providing for the effective implementation and delivery of EASAC’s Council-approved Biosciences and Public Health initiatives.
• Ensuring that the Biosciences and Public Health Programme output – whether written documents or launches, discussion fora or other outreach programmes – are of high quality, policy-relevant and impactful, and that lessons-learned and good-practice are shared with EASAC member academies to help build their capacity.
• Co-ordinating EASAC’s Biosciences and Public Health Steering Panel by preparing supporting documents, co-organizing meetings and following up on action items of Steering Panel meetings.
• Managing working groups within the Biosciences and Public Health Programme by
  • preparing project outlines for scientific topics, including work and budget plans, and proposals for the final outputs and for outreach,
  • organizing meetings (virtual, hybrid or in-person) and consultation processes,
  • acting as a scientific writer when drafting scoping papers and briefs, reports, commentaries and the like, on the basis of contributions from members of the working groups,
  • contributing to organizing the peer review process of reports etc.
• Co-operating with the two other EASAC programme directors (Energy and Environment) to explore opportunities for cross-sectoral and synergistic activities.
• Undertaking communications activities in co-operation with EASAC’s communications staff.
• Working closely with the EASAC Secretariat, in particular in organisational matters with respect to the Biosciences and Public Health Programme.

Profile, skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications:

• A minimum of a Master’s Degree is required; a PhD in any field covered by EASAC’s Biosciences and Public Health Programme is an asset.
• A solid scientific and policy understanding of the biosciences and public health domain.
• Proven experience in the field of science-based policy advice.
• Familiarity with the science-policy interface at the EU level and the respective network of stakeholders.
• Excellent organisational and management skills, including for evidence gathering processes and for a mix of projects and priorities.
• Ability to deliver projects on time, to budget and to the agreed scope.
• Excellent oral and written proficiency in English.
• Clear and confident communication skills, with the proficiency to interpret and convey scientific, technical and policy-related ideas effectively to a range of audiences – from publishing in peer-reviewed journals to speaking at public policy events.
• High interpersonal skills, with experience in building and maintaining strong working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders across Europe.
• Residency in the EU, Norway, Switzerland or the UK, to reflect EASAC’s membership.
• Willingness to travel within (and outside) the EU.

Our offer:
EASAC offers a unique and exciting opportunity to work with scientific and policy experts throughout Europe on wide-ranging policy issues underpinned by science in a highly dynamic environment, with a contract (part-time) under Austrian Law (if applicable).

• An internationally competitive income is to be negotiated.
• Place of Work: within one of the EASAC member states
• Starting date: expected to be in August 2025
• Duration: until the end of 2026, with the option to be prolonged.

For enquiries, please contact the EASAC Executive Director, Georg Bërveniku-Brunner at georg.brunner@easac.eu.

Interested candidates are requested to send their CV and a motivation letter to the EASAC Secretariat by 16 June, 2025, at secretariat@easac.eu, with reference to “Application BPH PD”. Interviews for shortlisted candidates will take place in Vienna or online.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) and EASAC pursue a non-discriminatory employment policy and value equal opportunities and diversity. In particular, individuals from under-represented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.