Lausanne, 1 July 2021

CECAM is launching a call for appointing a new Director to succeed Prof. Ignacio Pagonabarraga whose term expires 31 December 2022.

The Director of CECAM is appointed for a period of four years starting 1^st January 2023. Under exceptional circumstances, the term can be extended for a period of maximum two years.  It is expected that the successful candidate will be based in Lausanne and fully committed to CECAM.

The Director must be able to manage the operations of CECAM (as described in the Convention available on the CECAM website at https://www.cecam.org/governance) effectively and efficiently, in concert with Node Directors. She/he must be recognized as an outstanding scientist, able to command intellectual respect not only within her/his own field but also across any field of interest to CECAM, and to speak for CECAM with full credibility and authority throughout the entire realm of the computational sciences in Europe and the world.

The Directorship of CECAM is a prestigious and important position within the simulation and modelling community in Europe and beyond. The CECAM Director's responsibilities include:

• ensuring the efficient organization and operation of all CECAM activities, including financial management;
• periodically drafting or revising the long term scientific strategy for consideration by the Council in consultation with the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors;
• chairing the Board of Directors and representing the Board at Council Meetings;
• preparing the annual report of accounts for the previous year and the provisional budget for the coming year;
• preparing the annual report of the scientific activities of CECAM for the previous year;
• submitting applications in the name of CECAM for external funding;
• launching calls for proposals and participation in CECAM activities;
• inspiring European scientists to propose CECAM activities or projects in new fields as well as the traditional ones;
• coordinating large scale proposals involving several institutions on behalf of the CECAM community;
• imagining, developing and proposing new kinds of activities to support and achieve CECAM's wider scientific goals;
• developing, on her/his own initiative, a sustained research program of international quality;

The Headquarters of CECAM is located at the École Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL). Within EPFL, CECAM has the status of a Centre depending on the Academic Vice-presidency and is hosted by the School of Basic Sciences.  The  CECAM Director (as all scientific personnel of CECAM Headquarters) will be academically appointed to one of the EPFL Schools. Once elected by the CECAM Council, the procedure for appointing the CECAM Director as Adjunct Professor (Professeur Titulaire) at the EPFL will be launched, aiming at her/his simultaneous employment as CECAM Director and as Adjunct Professor at EPFL for the duration of her/his Directorship. Applicants are expected to complete their full term before reaching the Swiss retirement age¹ . In exceptional cases, completion of the term past retirement  may be granted subject to an internal EPFL process.

The Director will be assisted by the permanent Deputy Director and an administrative staff of 3,5 full-time equivalents at the Headquarters in EPFL. In addition, it is expected that the Director assembles a personal research group funded, in part, by CECAM. The EPFL provides the space for the Director to house this group.

CECAM actively supports inclusion and equal opportunities and also encourages  candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Applications should be submitted using the personal space in the CECAM website (https://members.cecam.org/directors/info-applicant) no later than 15 September 2021. The candidate will upload:

1. her/his CV,
2. a one-page statement emphasizing her/his own vision of the management of CECAM in particular with regard to the mission of CECAM. She/he should summarize her/his qualifications, based on past experience, to direct the operations of CECAM,

The candidate must be registered at the CECAM website, New users can register here.

On 19 November 2021 the CECAM Council, assisted by a search committee, will establish a first ranking of candidates, out of which a short list will later be extracted. Following interviews, the election of the successful candidate will take place at an extraordinary Council in the first trimester of 2022. All candidates will be duly informed of the status of their application.

¹ Retirement age in Switzerland is 64 years for women and 65 years for men.