Professor Paulo Ferrão is the new president of COST 05/07/2019
From left to right: COST new President Prof. Paulo Ferrão, COST former President Dr Sierd A.P.L. Cloetingh and Dr Ronald de Bruin, Director of the COST Association
Paulo Ferrão, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and co-founder of IN+, Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, is the new president of COST – the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, for the next two years. The announcement was made at COST Executive Board meeting, held last 20th June, in Brussels.
“COST is well-positioned to reinforce its engagement in Horizon Europe. Bottom-up and excellence-driven networks for research and innovation are key in addressing Europe’s scientific, technological, and societal challenges. I wish my successor, Prof. Paulo Ferrão, lots of success and inspiration during his Presidency”, said the outgoing president, Prof. Dr Sierd Cloetingh.
Prof. Paulo Ferrão has been the President of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) from 2016 to 2019, and the Director of the MIT-Portugal Programme from 1996 to 2016. All this experience had his weight in this election: "it was decisive, since there was a demand for the profile of the president to point to someone with management experience in organizations that promote and manage science and technology and international cooperation", pointed the Professor. “COST has been instrumental to the consolidation of the European Research Area and to its openness to the world. COST represents a global, open and inclusive networking mechanism, connecting researchers and innovators, empowering institutions, and contributing to the production and dissemination of breakthrough knowledge and its impact on society", he said.
Prof. Paulo Ferrão’s scientific career focuses on the areas of energy and industrial ecology, in topics such as waste management or urban systems. In this context, he coordinated the working groups that prepared the PNGR-National Waste Management Plan and PERSU 2020 (Strategic Plan for Urban Waste). He is also co-author of the book “Sustainable Urban Metabolism” published by MIT-Press in 2013 and “Urban metabolism of six Asian cities” edited by the Asian Development Bank in 2014.
