News Item

FRA’s new Scientific Committee

The FRA Management Board appointed 11 new members to form the Agency's new Scientific Committee. The 11 independent members are highly qualified in fundamental rights and will guarantee the scientific quality of the Agency's work.

The 11 members are: Dia Anagnostou, Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche, Adam Bodnar, Paul De Hert, Delia Ferri, Janneke Gerards, Mārtiņš Paparinskis, Laura Morales, John Morijn, Kirsten Roberts Lyer, Gentian Zyberi.

They bring together specialist expertise in key thematic areas such as EU migration law; European and comparative disability law; comparative constitutional law; engagement of domestic courts with international law; interaction between EU and Council of Europe law; equality law; artificial intelligence and automated computing; fundamental rights structures; the rule of law; populism; political participation and civil society engagement; international and European criminal law; international human rights law.

This composition will allow the Committee to follow the work of the Agency across the thematic spectrum of its work. The Committee will be able to build on the experience that the members gained as legal practitioners. Two members served until recently as national Human Rights Commissioners. Others worked for national Ombudspersons or are members of international bodies such as the UN International Law Commission. The Committee also includes a former member of the UN Human Rights Committee, a present member of the Advisory Committee for the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and a member of the Group of Experts of the European Commission on Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation.

There is a wide geographical spread among members. They come from Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Albania. The newly-appointed members’ term of office starts on 4 June 2023. They will be members for five years. A Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson will be elected by the Scientific Committee for a term of one year. 

The appointment was done during its meeting on 26 May 2023. It followed a transparent call for applications and selection procedure after having consulted the competent committee of the European Parliament.