Microbiologist Prof Frank Gannon has been appointed the new director general of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin said yesterday that Dr Gannon was expected to take up his new position in May.
Mr Martin made the announcement at University College Cork where he was launching a series of regional roadshows aimed at encouraging industry/academic research and development collaborations to create opportunities for entrepreneurial leadership.
Dr Gannon is already a board member of SFI which distributes significant funding for science and technology research projects in Ireland.
Since 1994, Dr Gannon has led the European Molecular Biology Organisation as executive director, based in Heidelberg, Germany. He has also served as secretary general of the European Molecular Biology Conference,the organisation's intergovernmental funding body, and as senior scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.
Dr Gannon was associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at NUI Galway from 1990 to 1994 and director of the National Diagnostics Centre, BioResearch Ireland there from 1987 to 1994.
He will take over from Prof Mark Keane who had been acting director general since the first SFI head, Dr William C. Harris left last June after five year.
