Martin KERN
European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Director.
He worked at the European Commission for 15 years in a variety of posts, mainly in the area of enlargement policy. Working for the EU, he held a variety of positions, the latest being Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Serbia. He worked as country coordinator for financial assistance for the Turkey team in the European Commission’s DG Enlargement. He has Master degrees in Economics and English from the University of Heidelberg and in European Studies from the University of Reading.
Ilaria TAGLIAVINI
Head of Operations at the EIT.
Ilaria manages the units in charge of Innovation, Education, and Communication at the seat of the EIT in Budapest.
She has over 20 years’ experience in Business Development & Innovation Management in Multinational companies, Innovation Consultancy firms and hi-tech Startups.
Ilaria began her career at Whirlpool Corporation, where she held different managerial positions in Customer Service and Marketing and led the EMEA Innovation Team. She then worked as Head of Business Development and Grants Management for an Engineering Consulting firm, building her experience in European Grants strategies and submissions, with proven successes.
She was then Senior Partner at Great Product Ventures Inc, a US based venture development firm. Ilaria is a Startup’s business developer, mentor, and advisor and has put together an extensive network of relations with major crowdfunding entities, VC players, Accelerators & Incubators, and many valuable startups at international level. In the last 10 years, Ilaria is also a Lecturer at LIUC University (Italy), teaching Innovation Management at the Faculty of Economics and Innovation & Industrial Design at the Faculty of Engineering.
Ilaria holds an Msc in Economics from Università Cattolica di Milano.
Anthony LOCKETT
Head of Unit Communication in DG RTD
Anthony LOCKETT is Head of the Unit for Communication in DG RTD in the European Commission. He was previously leading the Communication Unit at the European Research Council Executive Agency. From artificial intelligence to exoplanets, he and his team aim to explain the relevance of complex EU-funded science in an accessible way to the media and to the public. He is a great believer in Einstein’s view that “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”.
Martin PENNY
Head of Communication Unit at the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA), Europe’s leading funder of frontier research.
From 2020 to 2024, he was Head of Unit for International Cooperation in the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG R&I). Prior to his he was Head of the ERCEA Units for Physical Sciences and Engineering, and for the Unit coordinating the management of calls for proposals and project follow-up. Between 2005 and 2014, Martin held a series of posts in DG R&I in international relations and programme design, including as the Director-General’s political assistant. Previously, Martin worked for the UK Research Councils, including five years as the Director of the Research Councils’ Brussels Office. Martin has a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry (Bristol University), an MSc in science communication and science and society (Open University) and held postdoctoral research positions in biological and medicinal chemistry in universities in the US, UK, and Belgium. He has also worked as a freelance trainer for academic staff across the world, providing training and guidance on communication, negotiation, leadership, and team-working skills.
Madeleine DRIELSMA
Press Advisor to the President of the European Research Council (ERCEA)
Madeleine DRIELSMA is Press and Communication Advisor to the President of the European Research Council (ERC), Brussels. She has been in charge of press relations at the ERC since it was launched by the EU as a bold, new initiative for top science. She has additional experience in European affairs through her work in consulting (Kreab, Brussels) and diplomacy (Dutch Foreign Ministry), as well as postgraduate studies and work at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium).
Antje COLLOWALD
Head of the Communication Unit at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Antje COLLOWALD joined the European Commission in 2008, after 15 years’ experience in retail industry, management consulting and as Director of a communication agency. After the first two years in the Commission’s Internal Audit Service, she worked in DG HR on organisational development and HR policy and strategy. With the start of the Juncker Commission end 2014, Antje moved to DG COMM as Policy Assistant to the Commission Chief Spokesperson, helping to establish the Commission Spokespersons Service in its current format. She shaped the Commission’s communication strategy and corporate campaigns in her role as Deputy Head of Unit in DG COMM, and was then appointed Head of Unit in 2018, in charge of budget and financial transactions in DG HR. Antje joined the EU Joint Research Centre in summer 2021, to set up the communication unit in its current form. Together with her team, she is passionate about explaining how the JRC science, and hence the EU, has a positive impact on society.
Marcus SCHEUREN
Head of Unit of the STOA Secretariat (STOA)
European Parliamentary Research Service
Marcus, who is a German and British citizen, has been working in several parliamentary committees in the European Parliament as EU official over the past 11 years, notably the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee (ECON), the Special Committee on the Luxleaks tax revelations (TAXE) and on the PanamaPapers (PANA), and in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), before managing the secretariat of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA) in 2020-2022.
Prior to that he was an advisor in the EU Committee of the Regions, in an regional representation office of a British region, and in a consultancy in Luxembourg. Marcus studied business and economics in Germany (University of Bayreuth) and France (EDHEC Business School).
Jonathan MURPHY
He holds French and British citizenship, has many years’ experience of working in communication. He holds a PhD in modern French literature from the University of Cambridge, UK. After teaching at the University, he moved to Belgium to work as a journalist at a Brussels-based magazine, before joining the European Commission in 2004.
After working at DG Environment in relations with the Press, he switched to speechwriting, and has worked for several Commissioners, including Janez Potocnik, Karmenu Vella and most recently Virginijus Sinkevicius. In 2024 he moved to DG RTD, where he is now working as a policy officer at the Scientific Advice Mechanism.
Peter FRIESS
Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology. Senior Programme Officer in charge of the Social Media Innovation with a focus on fight against disinformation and Science Technology & ARTS initiative in the Media Convergence and Social Media Unit (CONNECT).
Peter FRIESS is senior programme officer at the European Commission. He holds a PHd (1992) in complex social systems. Peter worked at Philips Semiconductors and IBM before joining the EC in 2004. At the EC, he has been in charge of developing research & innovation for the Internet of Things and Smart Cities before joining the Media Policy Directorate in 2016. Since then, he is responsible for Social Media innovation with a focus on trust and digital well-being. As of 2023 he is also heading the STARTS (science, technology and arts) initiative, including artists in research projects as catalysts of innovation.
Baptiste CHATAIN
Press Officer.
European Parliament Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM)