Helga Nowotny is Vice-President of the ERC, the European Research Council. She is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board University of Vienna and Professor em. of ETH Zurich in Social Studies of Science where she was also Director of the Collegium Helveticum and of Society in Science: The Branco Weiss Fellowship.

From 2001 - 2005 she was Chair of EURAB, the European Research Advisory Board of the European Commission.