Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon was the President of the European Research Council (ERC) for just over seven years: from January 2014 until December 2019 and, subsequently, also President ad interim from the end of July 2020 until August 2021.
Prior to that, he was the Director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) from 1994 till 2013. This international research institute located near Paris, France, was built as the European counterpart of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was also the first ERC Panel Chair in Mathematics, for Starting Grants.
A mathematician by training, he spent his whole career as a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). He held a Professor position at École polytechnique from 1986 to 2012.
From 1990 to 1992, he was President of the Société Mathématique de France and President of the European Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1998. He is a former member of the Board of the EuroScience organisation (2002-2006) and served on EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) committees from 2004 to 2013.
Professor Bourguignon received the Prix Paul Langevin in 1987 and the Prix du Rayonnement Français in Mathematical Sciences and Physics from the Académie des Sciences de Paris in 1997. In 1995, he became a member of the Academia Europaea where he served for a few years as secretary of the mathematics section. He was made a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in 2001. In 2005, he was elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society. In 2008, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of Keio University, Japan, and, in 2011, Doctor Honoris Causa of Nankai University, China. In 2017, he was elected honorary member of the German Association of Mathematicians (DMV) and foreign member of the Portuguese Academy of Sciences. In 2018 he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Edinburgh, In 2019, he was made honorary member of the Polish Mathematical Society.
Mandate ERC Scientific Council and as ERC President and later President ad interim: 01 Jan 2014 - 31 Dec 2019 and 27 July 2020 - 31 Aug 2021