Enric Banda, director-general, Catalonian Foundation for Research, Barcelona, Spain

Like many scientists-turned-administrators, Enric Banda became a manager almost by accident. He gave up a well-funded research post in Switzerland early in his career, partly because he felt homesick for his native Spain. The price he paid for the ticket home was that he had to build a research programme in Catalonia from scratch. Over the years, he has learned to relish taking on such challenges.

That's not to say that these challenges don't come without frustrations, Banda says. As director of the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg, France, for the past five years, he has learned to cultivate patience, as changes at the European level can only be made “at a speed that it is difficult for me to swallow”, he says.

But even that had its rewards, says Banda. He learned that the reason for the lack of alacrity was that each European country has its own individual approach to science and culture. “You realize the diversity we have and how rich we are in approaches,” he says. “But sometimes that makes life difficult” (see CV).

Banda says that he grew to enjoy management – once he was resigned to the time it takes to bring about changes. “As a scientist, I used to say ‘this is politics. I'm not interested’,” he recalls. But he adds that it is gratifying to be able to give colleagues extra resources.

By the time his fixed term at the European Science Foundation ran out, he had had what he considers to be some success in finding funding for projects in some of the member countries. He also made the institution slightly faster at making decisions. “But it could be faster still,” Banda says.

His new post as director-general of the Catalonian Foundation for Research in Barcelona, Spain, is just as challenging, but for different reasons. In a situation reminiscent of his earlier return to Spain, Banda must once again build a new body from the ground up. He would like to turn the Catalonian Foundation for Research into a think-tank for science policy and use it to create links between the public and private sector.

But he is glad to be home again, even though he enjoyed his spells in Zurich and Strasbourg. “I'm still a Mediterranean,” Banda says.