Executive leader in research and innovation policy and advocacy, with expertise in research careers, research assessment, knowledge valorisation and science diplomacy
Mostafa brings more than 15 years of research, innovation and policy expertise across academia, industry and non-profits in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. His career across borders, scientific disciplines and sectors exemplifies the “triple i” (international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral) mobility promoted in European research policy. As Executive Director of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), he leads an 18+ person team, driving policy and advocacy, strengthening researchers’ career development and fostering a global community. A former MCAA Chair, he has built more than 70 cross-sector collaborations.
He represents individual researchers and innovators in the ERA Forum, as lead representative on research assessment and knowledge valorisation and alternate representative on research careers, and is a member of its subgroup on the Global Approach to Research and Innovation. Mostafa is a high-level expert for the European Commission’s Foresight on Demand study on The Futures of Researchers’ Careers. He initiated and led the first MCAA Policy Forum, held at the European Parliament in December 2025, which brought together Members of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission to discuss the future of the MSCA in FP10. At the Forum, he launched the MCAA’s MSCA impact report, which he co-authored: Impact of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA): Driving Knowledge, Innovation and EU Competitiveness.
He was one of the few experts to contribute to both the MSCA Guidelines on Supervision (2021) and their 2025 revision. He also served as an independent expert in the Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Knowledge Valorisation – Focus on Skills, Intersectoral Cooperation and Incentive Systems, and as the researcher mobility expert for the “Knowledge Ecosystem in the new ERA” study. Since 2018, he has contributed to consultations on behalf of researchers and organised policy debates and dialogues with European Commissioners, ministers, and Members of the European Parliament and national parliaments. He has authored more than 40 publications, including 10+ policy reports, 12+ position papers and statements, 14 peer-reviewed scientific articles and a book chapter (ORCID).
In science diplomacy, he is a former co-chair of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance and was a member of the EU Science Diplomacy Steering Team, which coordinated the report on a European framework for science diplomacy. He now plays a leading role in the Horizon Europe project Consolidating European Science Diplomacy (CUSP), which puts that framework into practice, and is Training Coordinator of the COST Action Science in Diplomacy Network (SiDNET).
On research careers and assessment, he contributes to the SECURE2 project, building on its predecessor, Sustainable Careers for Researcher Empowerment (SECURE). He co-led the Working Group on Career Advisory and Support Services of the COST Cross-Cutting Activity (CCA) “COST and Career Development for Young Researchers”, and contributed to the CoARA-Boost and European Citizen Science (ECS) projects.
His career began in nanotechnology research in the Netherlands and progressed through academia (materials science, nanoelectronics, biomedical engineering), where he contributed to MSCA- and ERC-funded frontier research. In the semiconductor industry, he worked on collaborative R&D under ECSEL, KDT and national programmes, in areas including LiDAR, single-photon sensing, ambient light and in-cabin sensors, edge AI, lead-free quantum dots and reliability modelling. Across academia, industry and the non-profit sector, he has secured around €19 million in competitive funding through 17 successful proposals. He has coordinated five projects and managed a further 16, including around €12 million of industrial R&D. His recognitions include Young Scientist Awards from E-MRS and IFSM (2014 and 2018). He is a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society.
His contributions as a speaker, organiser, rapporteur and jury member span more than 100 events, including the Global Research Council, sessions at the World Science Forum (2019, 2022 and 2024), the International Science Council (ISC), three editions of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF; 2018, 2020 and 2024), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science Europe, ten Presidencies of the Council of the EU and three MSCA Falling Walls Labs. These engagements have focused on sustainable research careers, science policy and diplomacy, intersectoral mobility, science entrepreneurship and career development for researchers.