Professor Aerts, from the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven, Belgium, is a pioneer in asteroseismology whose influential research and leadership have earned her top scientific honours, including the Francqui, Kavli, and Crafoord Prizes. She is also widely recognised for her mentoring, academic teaching and leadership in international space missions. The appointment is for an initial term of four years, starting from 1 July 2025.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said:
‘Professor Aerts is an outstanding scientist and a strong voice for European research. Her deep experience and dedication will be a real asset to the ERC Scientific Council. I warmly welcome her and look forward to working together to support excellence in science.’
President of the European Research Council Prof. Maria Leptin said:
‘The independent identification committee has again ensured both the quality and continuity of the ERC governing body. Welcome to Conny Aerts as a new member. She brings her stellar scientific track record to our Scientific Council and also her understanding of the challenges scientists face today. We will benefit from her engagement in mentoring the younger generation of researchers, as well as her experience in making basic science relevant to practical applications.’
Professor Aerts replaces Professor Chryssa Kouveliotou who stepped down at the end of March 2025. ERC Scientific Council members are appointed by the European Commission based a search carried out by an independent Identification Committee, composed of six distinguished researchers and chaired by Prof. Carl-Henrik Heldin. The mandate of this committee is to identify new members for the renewal of the Scientific Council membership and to maintain a pool of candidates for future replacements of Scientific Council members. The selection process involves consultations with the scientific community.
The ERC Scientific Council is composed of 22 distinguished scientists and scholars representing the European scientific community. Their main role is to set the ERC strategy and to select the peer review evaluators. The ERC and the Scientific Council is chaired by the ERC President, Maria Leptin.
Biography
Conny Clara Aerts is a Belgian professor in astrophysics. Professor Aerts studied mathematics at Antwerp University and completed her PhD in astrophysics in 1993 at KU Leuven. She was an independent Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) from 1993 to 2001, spending research time at various institutes worldwide, while also acting as an advocate for equal opportunities for women in science. She was appointed as a lecturer at KU Leuven in 2001 and completed the promotion path to full professor by 2007. She has previously been awarded two Advanced Grants and one Synergy Grant by the ERC. She became the first woman to be awarded the Belgian Francqui Prize (2012) and the FWO Excellence Prize (2020) in the category of Science & Technology. In 2022, she became the third woman to be awarded the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for her pioneering work and leadership in asteroseismology. In 2024, she won the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy for developing methods of asteroseismology and their application to the study of rotating stars.
About the ERC
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva.