Dr Monica Dietl is joining the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) as its
new COST Office Director. COST is one of the longest running intergovernmental programmes
supporting collaboration between scientists and researchers in Europe and beyond. The COST
Office is provided by the European Science Foundation (ESF) through a European Commission
contract.

As Director, Dr Dietl will support the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO), the decisionmaking
body of the programme with representatives from the 36 COST countries, with the
implementation of new research networks (called COST Actions) as well as strategic matters.
She will also support the ESF in its capacity of implementing agent of COST activities.

Dr Dietl joins COST from the French National Research Centre (CNRS), where she was
representative and Director of its Brussels office. Previously she worked as policy officer at the
European Commission, Directorate General for Research, where she contributed to the
preparation of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
(FP7) “Ideas” programme and to the setting up of the European Research Council. Prior to that
she was responsible for European and industrial partnerships in the CNRS life sciences
department.

“COST plays an important role in the European Research Area and I am excited to be joining
the organisation,” said Dr Dietl. “As a researcher with experience in and with private and public
institutions, I believe that its bottom-up approach gives COST a unique experience in linking
research and innovation through scientific, often interdisciplinary, research performance which
is of significant added value in shaping the European research landscape.”

“Dr Dietl does indeed join us at a very important time for the programme,” adds Dr Ángeles
Rodríguez-Peña, COST CSO President. “For COST, 2011 is not only the halfway point of FP7
but also the year to highlight our 40 years of existence with an eye towards defining our
contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy. The COST Office is the backbone of COST’s
structure and I am glad to have been able to attract someone of her calibre to the important role
of COST Office Director.”

Dr Dietl is a biologist specialising in neuroscience. She has carried out research at Université
Paris VI ‘Pierre et Marie Curie’, the Lainz Hospital in Vienna, Sandoz in Basel, and the Collège
de France in Paris. She has lived and worked in a wide range countries and multicultural
environments, in both the private and public sector.
 

“Dr Dietl's experience in science and science policy at the European level will help ensure COST play its
role in the European Research Area. I wish her every success in her new position,” said Professor
Marja Makarow, Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation.

Notes to Editors

For more information, please contact
Chloe Kembery, ESF press office: ckembery@esf.org Cell +33 (0) 643-172-382

Inge De Prins, COST PR and Communications Manager: inge.deprins@cost.eu Tel +32 (0)2 533
38 03

COST is the oldest and widest intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in
Science and Technology, making it possible for the various national facilities, institutes,
universities and private industry to work jointly on a wide range of Research and Development
(R&D) activities. COST is presently used by the scientific communities of 36 European countries
to cooperate in more than 250 common research networks (called COST Actions) supported by
national funds. www.cost.eu

The European Science Foundation (ESF) coordinates collaboration in research, networking,
and funding of international research programmes, as well as carrying out strategic and science
policy activities at a European level. Its members are 78 national research funding and
performing agencies, learned societies and academies in 30 countries. www.esf.org