EUA promotes Vinciane Gaillard to head up Association’s R&I advocacy

Having served as EUA’s Deputy Director of R&I since 2019, Vinciane Gaillard took up the role of Director on 1 March. In this position, she will lead EUA’s R&I unit, which is notably responsible for the implementation of the Association’s Research & Innovation Agenda, Innovation Agenda and Open Science Agenda, which take a comprehensive approach to the R&I continuum, covering basic research, applied research, and innovation.

Welcoming this key appointment, EUA Secretary General Amanda Crowfoot said: “I am delighted that Vinciane is EUA’s new Director of Research and Innovation. This is a critical time for European R&I and Vinciane’s skills and experience will allow us to take our work in this area forward, in the service of EUA’s members. I very much look forward to working with her in her new role in the years to come.”

As a strong advocate for the role of university R&I in shaping the European Research Area, Vinciane will continue to work towards a well-designed and sustainable R&I system, supported by a favourable regulatory environment and sufficient and sustainable funding.

Before joining EUA, Vinciane spent over 15 years as a researcher and research manager in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. She holds a Doctorate in Psychology from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium.

Reflecting on this next step in her career, Vinciane noted: “I am deeply honoured to step into the role of R&I Director. I am eager to build upon the excellent foundations that we have already put in place at EUA and to contribute to fostering an even stronger, community-driven approach to research and innovation.”

On the occasion of Vinciane Gaillard’s appointment, Amanda Crowfoot also took the opportunity to recognise the achievements of her predecessor as R&I Director, Stephane Berghmans: 

“In just over four years in the post, Stephane made an invaluable contribution to EUA. His tenure saw the introduction of new strategic agendas related to R&I, and a strengthening of the policy and advocacy work around these. It also saw a deepening of EUA’s partnership with key stakeholders, including in the context of the university sector’s contribution to, and participation in, the ERA Forum, in which Stephane played a key role. I sincerely thank him for his commitment and enthusiasm, his ideas and leadership, and all that he brought to EUA.”