{"id":3276,"date":"2026-07-04T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/coalition-s-executive-steering-group\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:01:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:01:49","slug":"coalition-s-executive-steering-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/coalition-s-executive-steering-group\/","title":{"rendered":"cOAlition S Executive Steering Group Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The cOAlition S Executive Steering Group (ESG) is the body that develops and implements Plan S strategy day to day, taking majority-vote decisions and reporting upward to the funder-led Leaders&#8217; Group.<\/strong> It is chaired by Lidia Borrell-Dami\u00e1n, Secretary General of Science Europe, and is now working alongside Curt Rice, appointed Director in May 2026 after Johan Rooryck&#8217;s departure in July 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>coalition s executive steering group<\/strong> is the operational engine most people mean when they ask &#8220;who actually runs Plan S&#8221; \u2014 as distinct from the Leaders&#8217; Group, which sets overall direction but meets far less frequently. For research administrators trying to work out who to brief, lobby, or route a query to, the distinction matters.<\/p>\n<p>cOAlition S is an informal alliance of research funders and performers that have publicly committed to implementing the open-access principles of Plan S; it holds no independent legal capacity of its own, according to its published Terms of Reference.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#what-is-the-esg\">What is the Executive Steering Group and who sits on it?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#governance-structure\">How does the ESG fit into cOAlition S&#8217;s wider governance?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#new-leadership\">Who leads the ESG now Curt Rice has replaced Johan Rooryck?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-decisions-are-made\">What does the ESG actually decide, and how?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#faq\">Answer-first Q&amp;A<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#implications\">What this means for research administrators<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-the-esg\">What is the Executive Steering Group and who sits on it?<\/h2>\n<p>The Executive Steering Group is the standing body responsible for developing cOAlition S&#8217;s strategy and overseeing its implementation across member organisations. It sits below the Leaders&#8217; Group in the governance hierarchy but is where most of the substantive, ongoing work happens.<\/p>\n<p>According to cOAlition S&#8217;s published governance roster, current and recent ESG representatives include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lidia Borrell-Dami\u00e1n<\/strong> (Chair) \u2014 Secretary General, Science Europe<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zo\u00e9 Ancion<\/strong> \u2014 ANR, French National Research Agency<\/li>\n<li><strong>Michael Arentoft<\/strong> \u2014 European Commission<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rachel Bruce<\/strong> \u2014 UKRI, UK Research and Innovation<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ian Coltart<\/strong> \u2014 World Health Organisation<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ashley Farley<\/strong> \u2014 Gates Foundation<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mongezi Mdhluli<\/strong> \u2014 South African Medical Research Council<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bodo Stern<\/strong> \u2014 HHMI, Howard Hughes Medical Institute<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two cOAlition S Office roles \u2014 a Programme Manager and a Communications Manager \u2014 sit in the ESG in a Secretariat capacity, and Marc Schiltz, an architect of the original Plan S principles, continues as a non-voting adviser. Because national funder representatives rotate, administrators should treat any published roster as a snapshot rather than a permanent list.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"governance-structure\">How does the ESG fit into cOAlition S&#8217;s wider governance?<\/h2>\n<p>cOAlition S runs a four-layer structure: the <strong>Leaders&#8217; Group<\/strong> (heads of funding and performing organisations, who approve overall strategy and budget), the <strong>Executive Steering Group<\/strong> (which develops and executes that strategy), an <strong>Experts Group<\/strong> (technical working groups), and the <strong>cOAlition S Secretariat<\/strong>, which is hosted by OPERAS AISBL in Brussels and provides day-to-day administrative and communications support.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Body<\/th>\n<th>Role<\/th>\n<th>Chair \/ lead<\/th>\n<th>Decision power<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Leaders&#8217; Group<\/td>\n<td>Sets overall Plan S strategy and budget<\/td>\n<td>Prof. Mari Sundli Tveit, Chief Executive, Research Council of Norway<\/td>\n<td>Highest authority; approves ESG proposals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Executive Steering Group<\/td>\n<td>Develops and implements strategy; runs operations<\/td>\n<td>Lidia Borrell-Dami\u00e1n, Science Europe<\/td>\n<td>Majority vote; reports to Leaders&#8217; Group<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Secretariat \/ Office<\/td>\n<td>Administrative, financial and communications support<\/td>\n<td>Curt Rice, Director<\/td>\n<td>Executes decisions; no independent vote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Experts Group<\/td>\n<td>Technical and policy working groups<\/td>\n<td>Rotating co-chairs<\/td>\n<td>Advisory input to ESG<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The Secretariat&#8217;s own budget illustrates how much the operation has contracted: cOAlition S&#8217;s published accounts show total Office spending of <strong>\u20ac545,167 in 2025<\/strong>, down from \u20ac1,108,186 in 2024, with staffing falling from roughly 3 full-time-equivalent posts in 2024 to 2 in 2025 \u2014 consistent with reporting that cOAlition S is scaling back its ambitions and shifting focus toward funding sustainability.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"new-leadership\">Who leads the ESG now Curt Rice has replaced Johan Rooryck?<\/h2>\n<p>Prof. Johan Rooryck, cOAlition S&#8217;s Executive Director since 2019, left the role on 3 July 2025 after overseeing the coalition&#8217;s expansion to 28 research funding and performing organisations. Following his departure, the Executive Steering Group itself took on interim oversight of operations while cOAlition S undertook a strategic review.<\/p>\n<p>cOAlition S announced on <strong>13 May 2026<\/strong> that <strong>Curt Rice<\/strong>, former rector of Oslo Metropolitan University with more than three decades in Norwegian and international higher education, would become its new Director. Notably, the title changed from &#8220;Executive Director&#8221; to &#8220;Director&#8221; \u2014 a small but real signal of a leaner operating model. The appointment coincided with the adoption of cOAlition S&#8217;s 2026\u20132030 Strategy, which administrators should read as the current reference document for near-term priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Terms of Reference, the Director leads the Secretariat team, reports to the Chair of the Executive Steering Group, and acts as cOAlition S&#8217;s main spokesperson \u2014 meaning press and policy enquiries typically route through this office rather than directly to individual ESG members.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-decisions-are-made\">What does the ESG actually decide, and how?<\/h2>\n<p>The Executive Steering Group takes decisions by <strong>majority vote<\/strong> among its members and reports those decisions to the Leaders&#8217; Group. Its remit covers developing strategic input, overseeing joint programmes and funding streams, and directing cOAlition S&#8217;s public communications through the Office.<\/p>\n<p>In practice this means the ESG \u2014 not the Leaders&#8217; Group \u2014 is where day-to-day questions about Plan S implementation, transformative journal assessments, and funder-alignment issues get resolved before reaching the funders&#8217; principals. The Leaders&#8217; Group retains final sign-off on strategy and budget, but rarely intervenes at the operational level.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"faq\">Answer-first Q&amp;A<\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"faq-members\">Who are the members of the cOAlition S Executive Steering Group?<\/h3>\n<p>The ESG is chaired by <strong>Lidia Borrell-Dami\u00e1n<\/strong> of Science Europe and includes representatives from funders such as <strong>UKRI, the European Commission, ANR, WHO, the Gates Foundation, HHMI<\/strong>, and the South African Medical Research Council, plus non-voting cOAlition S Office staff. Membership rotates as national funders change their delegates.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"faq-lg-vs-esg\">What is the difference between the Leaders&#8217; Group and the Executive Steering Group?<\/h3>\n<p>The <strong>Leaders&#8217; Group<\/strong> comprises heads of member organisations and approves overall Plan S strategy and budget. The <strong>Executive Steering Group<\/strong> develops that strategy in detail, runs day-to-day implementation, and takes majority-vote decisions, reporting upward to the Leaders&#8217; Group rather than acting independently.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"faq-director\">Who is the current Director of cOAlition S?<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Curt Rice<\/strong> became Director on 13 May 2026, succeeding <strong>Johan Rooryck<\/strong>, who departed on 3 July 2025. Rice previously served as rector of <strong>Oslo Metropolitan University<\/strong> and leads the Secretariat team, reporting to the Chair of the Executive Steering Group.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"faq-final-say\">Does the Executive Steering Group have the final say on Plan S policy?<\/h3>\n<p>No. The ESG develops strategy and takes operational decisions by majority vote, but the <strong>Leaders&#8217; Group<\/strong> holds final authority over overall strategy and budget. The ESG&#8217;s role is to execute and report, not to set Plan S&#8217;s ultimate direction unilaterally.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"implications\">What this means for research administrators<\/h2>\n<p>For an institution needing to raise a Plan S implementation question, engagement route should generally go through the <strong>Secretariat\/Office<\/strong> first \u2014 now under Curt Rice&#8217;s Directorship \u2014 rather than direct outreach to individual Executive Steering Group members, who serve in a part-time, delegated capacity alongside their home-organisation roles.<\/p>\n<p>Administrators tracking funder-mandate compliance for <a href=\"\/research-administration\/\">research administration<\/a> purposes should also note the contraction in cOAlition S&#8217;s own resourcing: a shrinking Secretariat budget and headcount suggests slower turnaround on ad hoc queries and a narrower work programme under the 2026\u20132030 Strategy than in the coalition&#8217;s 2019\u20132023 growth phase.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Route policy and compliance queries to the Secretariat\/Office, not individual ESG delegates.<\/li>\n<li>Cite the Terms of Reference and governance page directly when briefing institutional leadership \u2014 both are publicly hosted by cOAlition S.<\/li>\n<li>Expect the 2026\u20132030 Strategy, not the original 2018 Plan S text, to be the live reference point for near-term commitments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>cOAlition S&#8217;s governance has moved from a growth-and-advocacy phase under Rooryck to a leaner, sustainability-focused phase under Rice and Borrell-Dami\u00e1n&#8217;s ESG chairmanship. Administrators who track this shift \u2014 rather than relying on the original 2018 Plan S announcement \u2014 will have a more accurate picture of who holds real influence over open-access mandates in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who runs Plan S day to day? A breakdown of cOAlition S&#8217;s Executive Steering Group, its members, and the 2026 director handover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_casrai_contributor_statement":"","_casrai_contributors_json":"","_article_doi":"","_article_license":[],"_article_funding":[],"_casrai_article_id":"","_casrai_registry_status":"","_casrai_registry_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[65,1803,1801,1798,2990,1799,1804,1802],"credit_role":[],"dictionary_domain":[],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis","tag-coalition-s","tag-coalition-s-director","tag-coalition-s-executive-steering-group","tag-coalition-s-funders","tag-coalition-s-grants","tag-coalition-s-members","tag-plan-s-governance","tag-science-europe-coalition-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"credit_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/credit_role?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"dictionary_domain","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casrai.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dictionary_domain?post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}