Organisation Responsibility for national research programmes lies with the Swiss National Science Foundation’s Programmes division. For each NRP, the National Research Council sets up a Steering Committee whose members are chosen because of their scientific expertise and their experience of applied research. The Steering Committee is responsible for the implementation of the NRP and plays an active and strategic role during the entire programme. As a body, it determines the programme’s specific profile and ensures continuity and coherence. The members of the NRP 59 Steering Committee come from a variety of scientific fields and in some cases from foreign institutions. Their profiles ensure that all areas of research relevant to the topics of the programme the benefits and risks of the deliberate release of genetically modified plants are covered. The main tasks of the Steering Committee are Project selection for the Research Council Organisation of scientific coordination Project monitoring Enforcing National Science Foundation quality standards Evaluating the intermediate and final reports of the projects Compiling the synthesis report and the programme’s final reports for its initiator (the Federal Council in this instance) Members of the Steering Committee Prof. Dr. Dirk Dobbelaere (President) Division of Molecular Pathology, VetsuisseFaculty University of Berne Prof. Dr. Detlef Bartsch German Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Berlin, Germany Dr. Karoline Dorsch Federal Commission for Biological Security, Ittigen Prof. Karin Hoffmann-Sommergruber Institute of Pathophysiology, University of Vienna, Austria (until August 2007) Dr. Pia Malnoë Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil Prof. Dr. Jules Pretty Department of Biological Sciences University of Essex, United Kingdom Prof. Dr. Joachim Scholderer Department of Marketing and Statistics Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus, Denmark Prof. Dr. Daniel Schümperli Institute Cell Biology University of Berne Dr. Jeremy B. Sweet Environmental and Research Consultant Cambridge, United Kingdom Prof. Dr. Wim Verbeke Department of Agricultural Economics Ghent University (since August 2007) Prof. Dr. Josef Zeyer Institute of Terrestrial Ecology Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich Observer from the Federal Administration Dr. Hans Hosbach Federal Office for the Environment Expert Advisor of the National Research Council, Division IV Prof. Dr. Thomas Bernauer Centre for Comparative and International Studies (CIS)Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich Implementation Officer Beat Glogger Degree in biological sciences scitec-media gmbh, Agency for science communication Winterthur Programme Coordinator Dr. Pascal Walther Swiss National Science Foundation Berne