Fotis Kafatos, the president of the European Research Council, which funds frontier research in Europe, will step down from his 4-year term early to devote more time to his research.

Kafatos holds the chair in insect immunogenomics at Imperial College, London. He steps down at a challenging time for the ERC as it battles for reforms to tackle the bureaucracy of the European Commission which has blighted its first three years of operation.

Kafatos will leave his post on 1 March, but his term as president was due to end in February 2011. In a statement, he says, “As the founding president of the ERC, I have devoted to it much of the last 3 years – much more time and volunteer effort than what I had planned or expected. Correspondingly, I would like now to devote more time to my research laboratory at Imperial College.”

Kafatos will remain on the ERC’s 22 member scientific council. The council will elect a new president from its ranks next month to take up where Kafatos leaves off in March.