Head of Department for Ethical, Legal & Societal Implications (ELSI) (f/m/d)

Job title: Head of Department for Ethical, Legal & Societal Implications (ELSI) (f/m/d)

Job location: The Central Executive Management Office of BBMRI-ERIC in Graz, Austria (or exceptionally remote work)

Job purpose: As Department Head of ELSI, you play an important role in ensuring that BBMRI-ERIC, one of Europe's largest research infrastructures in the field of health and life sciences, continuously maintains and advances its contributions for its community and the European Research Area. With your impact driven mind set on legal, bioethical and societal demands and developments, you shape the future of our research infrastructure in Health and Life Sciences towards One Health, greening and global perspectives as overarching paradigms in line with BBMRI-ERIC’s 10-Year Roadmap 2025-2035.

Contract: Full-time contract (40 hours/week). As work-life balance is a high priority at BBMRI-ERIC less than a full-time contract can be agreed (e.g. ~85%); also in conjunction with co-affiliation at a University.

Who we are:

BBMRI-ERIC is the European Research Infrastructure for biobanking and biomolecular resources established in 2013 under EU legislation. BBMRI-ERIC enables the development of innovative technology and processes as a cross-domain network that facilitates responsible access to high quality samples, data and biomolecular resources. We achieve this through multidisciplinary expertise and service provision, scientific excellence, knowledge exchange and partnerships in health and life sciences. BBMRI-ERIC’s vision is simplified as: “Biobanking for a Healthier World”. Its headquarters are in Graz, Austria.

BBMRI‐ERIC is an inclusive, equal‐opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation. Further information on the vision, mission, governance, and statutes of BBMRI‐ERIC can be found at www.bbmri-eric.eu.

Key responsibilities as Head of ELSI:

• As Head of ELSI, you lead the Department including Research, Services and Training activities:
  o Research: you identify funding opportunities (e.g. within the EU Framework Programme Horizon Europe) and develop and implement international projects that support the implementation of BBMRI-ERIC’s 10-Year Roadmap (e.g. one health, datafication, greening, collaboration frameworks, sustainability, stakeholder engagement, global outreach)
  o Services: you support the biobanking and life science RI communities by facilitating compliance with regulatory requirements and best practice standards through the ELSI Helpdesk, ELSI Knowledge Base and the Ethics Check for the benefit of BBMRI-ERIC Member States
  o Training: you plan & coordinate training measures that help to raise awareness of ethical standards and legal requirements depending on the area of specialization, such as data protection, consent models, AI and environmental ethics;
  


• You connect with National and Organizational Nodes of BBMRI-ERIC to prepare ELSI guidance for biobanks, including identification of tools, solutions, advice on bioethical issues in society and provide best practices for implementing key strategies;


• You engage with stakeholders of BBMRI-ERIC to collect and analyze their ELSI needs and contribute to defining strategies to support implementation of these needs;


• With a high degree of personal responsibility, you work on demanding challenges like implementation of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and the participation and further development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC);


• Building and maintaining scientific relationships is supported by your clearly structured forms of communication and inspired by your legal and/or bioethics expertise;


• With your legal and bioethical understanding, you not only liaise easily with external stakeholders but also purposefully lead an ELSI team of interdisciplinary experts from the field of social sciences, life sciences, philosophy and law;


• You proactively consolidate BBMRI-ERIC’s leadership as an opinion leader for health and life sciences within the overall EU and global policy arena, e.g. the Council of Europe.

In this role your required qualifications and skills are:

• University studies (PhD or higher in the field of law and/or bioethics);


• Intimate knowledge on GDPR, sensitive health data domain including consenting and Ethics boards;


• Presentation and moderation skills at EU and/or global level;


• You have sound knowledge of project management and are able to monitor bioethical, legal and financial obligations and tasks with ease;


• Experience, minimum 3-5 years, in the scientific management of interdisciplinary and international projects (especially Horizon Europe) and teams;


• Familiarity with the European Research Infrastructure ecosystem would be an advantage;


• Independent and self driven working style with experience, minimum 3-5 years, in leadership position;


• Superior experience in leading and guiding international consortia, including diplomatic skills when dealing with senior external management;


• Your communication and organizational skills bring teamwork to life;


• Professional fluency in English, as English is the official working language of BBMRI-ERIC;


• Ability to deal with challenges in a diplomatic manner;


• Readiness for moderate travel.

Employment terms and conditions

As we aim to provide a diverse work environment, the work will be performed at the headquarters in Graz with occasional home office options or exceptionally remotely.

The employment follows the Austrian employment law.

What we offer

The competitive salary will be dependent on terms of qualifications and experience.

Balance your free time and your working life independently according to your own ideas: With our flexible working hours, you decide when you work outside our core working hours and you can also take advantage of occasionally working from home.

A multifaceted, challenging range of tasks with responsibility in a co-operative working environment with flat hierarchies and short decision-making paths, characterise your day-to-day work. Being part of the BBMRI-ERIC opens up interdisciplinary and cross-professional opportunities for collaboration.

In addition to the diversity of the various scientific disciplines, we offer a working culture in which diversity is lived and highly valued.

We secure your future: with our comprehensive fringe benefits like complementary health insurance (in addition to public insurance, ÖGK), and a private pension scheme we take care of your well-being.

Our comfortable office in the heart of Graz’s biomedical community offers an English-speaking work environment with international projects and plenty of networking opportunities.

When you're not working from home, you'll find yourself on the 6th floor in a modern building on the Medical University campus, a bustling area of Graz with excellent public transportation (tram and bus connections). A number of restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores serve the hungry medical professionals, researchers and staff in the area.

To learn more about working at BBMRI-ERIC, visit www.bbmri-eric.eu/careers .

Equal opportunities  

BBMRI-ERIC is committed to providing equal opportunities to all qualified candidates, regardless of their personal characteristics.

Application procedure

For applications to be considered, candidates must submit for their application via our online portal BambooHR:

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV)


• A letter of motivation or a video link in which you introduce yourself and your application motivation


• Supporting documents (copies of High School and University degrees, references, etc.)

Application deadline is the 30th of May 2025.

In case of any questions, please contact: Ulrike Rohrer, HR Specialist ([email protected])