Boosting frontier research in Romania

ERC President Maria Leptin will visit Bucharest on 11-12 June 2026 to meet with science policy makers, ERC grantees and the wider Romanian research community. Mihaela Constantinescu, the Ambassador for the ERC in Romania, will also take part in the programme. The ERC President will highlight the best practices mentioned in the recent White Paper issued by the ERC Scientific Council.

The Politehnica University of Bucharest will host an event 'Boosting frontier research in Romania' featuring a speech by Prof. Leptin, ERC grantees and a roundtable discussion with multiple stakeholders of the Romanian science and science policy making community. See the detailed programme below. 

To attend the event, please register.

Programme

15.00 - 16.00 | Opening Addresses

• Mihnea Costoiu, Rector, Politehnica Bucharest
• Representative, Ministry of Education, Romania (TBC)
• Maria Leptin, President, European Research Council
• Representative, National Council of Rectors, Romania (TBC)

Q&A Session

16.00 - 16.30 | Presentations by ERC Grantees 

• Alina-Mihaela Bădescu, Professor of the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology,
• Costin Raiciu, Professor of the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science
• Mihaela Constantinescu, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, ERC grantee

16.00 - 16.30 | Presentation by Dr. Maria Simos, ERC Scientific Officer, ERC

16.45- 17.00 | Coffee break

17.00- 18.00 | Roundtable Discussion: How to Boost Frontier Research in Romania

• Maria Leptin, President, European Research Council
• Mihnea Costoiu, Rector, Politehnica Bucharest
• Călin Ur, Project Director, Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP); Director, PhD School on Engineering and Applications of Lasers and Accelerators, Politehnica Bucharest
• Adrian Curaj, General Manager, Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
• Maya Simionescu, Academician, Romanian Academy – Life Sciences
• Andrei Pleșu, Writer, Aesthetician and Art Historian – Social Sciences and Humanities

18.00 | Closing Remarks by Rector Mihnea Costoiu, Rector, Politehnica Bucharest

18.15 | Reception