After a career in his native Spain devoted to science – progressing from researcher and professor in theoretical particle physics to a senior policy position in the science ministry – José Labastida leapt at the opportunity to bring his expertise to bear at European level. 

Appointed in February 2011 as head of the European Research Council’s (ERC) scientific management department, Labastida is in charge of evaluating proposals for grants and following up on the successful ones. “It was an important challenge to make that jump and work in the European sphere,” Labastida says.

The ERC, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month, has established itself as a prestigious funder of basic research, with strong competition for its grants. “Getting an ERC grant brings about a complete change in a researcher’s career. The level of recognition as a scientist jumps dramatically,” says Labastida, adding that he would have relished such an opportunity when he was a young researcher.

Labastida’s own academic and research record is prestigious. He completed his PhD at the institute for theoretical physics at Stony Brook University in New York, where the director was Nobel Prize winner C. N. Yang. He then moved on to Princeton’s institute for advanced study, whose alumni include Albert Einstein. Labastida describes his time at Princeton as “paradise”.

His next move was to become a fellow at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland, where he later spent another year as a research associate. Labastida is still in touch with friends and colleagues there, and he is fascinated by the experiments involving CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, including whether the Higgs boson particle – crucial to understanding the origin of mass – exists. “They will find it this year. That is my bet,” he says with a smile.

Career in research

Labastida says that from his earliest days at university, he knew that he wanted a career in research – which he pursued until the age of 45, spending a decade as a professor, director and dean at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In 2001, he was given the opportunity to help shape policy at the ministry of science and technology. “By then my best research was probably done,” he acknowledges. “My contribution to science at that age was going to be more important if I switched to science management and science policymaking.”

As secretary-general for science and technology policy at the ministry of science and innovation in 2008-09, Labastida was in charge of drafting Spain’s new science and technology law. “The old law needed updating to take account of new issues and new research institutes,” he says.

Labastida says coming up with the new law – and in particular a plan to create an independent research agency in Spain – is one of his proudest achievements.

Since joining the ERC, Labastida has been busy reorganising his department, which employs some 150 people. “The department was set up to deal with two types of grants; now we have four different types, so things need to be arranged more efficiently,” Labastida says.

He also wants to ensure there is a better match between the scientific officers in his department, most of whom have PhDs, and the panels of scientists evaluating the proposals for grants. “It makes much more sense for their areas of expertise to match,” he says. Labastida aims to have the reorganisation completed by the end of the year.

Anna Jenkinson is a freelance journalist based in Brussels