Nicolas Walter is the Chief Executive Officer of the European Science Foundation.  

Through his 17 years in science management, he has been serving ESF and its expert boards and committees and has been involved in many science policy initiatives in the domains of European marine, space, polar and materials science. He has also initiated and managed projects and studies financed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency; and developed the ESF grant evaluation services.

Before being appointed Chief Executive in July 2019, M. Walter supervised and developed ESF scientific operations, including overlooking the implementation of external partnerships and developing the ESF grant evaluation activities. He was also the Executive Scientific Secretary of the ESF’s European Space Sciences Committee. In this role, M. Walter has coordinated the production of high-level independent scientific advice to key stakeholders, including ministerial delegations, space agencies and the European Commission.

M. Walter has also restructured ESF’s grant evaluation activities, from the development of a state-of-the-art online platform to the setting up of ESF’s Community of Experts as well as the refinement of processes and procedures, in line with international best practices. He has negotiated several multiannual partnerships with national and regional research funding organisations, public and private, leading ESF to be a lead player in the field.