Stephen Collins appointed Director of European Research Executive Agency

The European Commission has appointed Stephen Collins as Director for the European Research Executive Agency (REA) in Brussels on 28/04/2026. He will replace the acting director, Paul Webb, on a date to be confirmed.

Collins, a British national, is currently Head of Unit for Corporate Organisational Change in the Directorate-General (DG Directorate-General ) for Human Resources and Security of the Commission.

He previously served as Acting Director for Organisational Design and Development within the same DG. Before that, he was Head of Unit for Organisational Development Projects and Knowledge Management in DG HR, where he also led the units for Learning and Development, as well as Career and Performance Management. Earlier in his career, he was Head of Unit for Financial Information, Training and Helpdesk in the Directorate-General for Budget (DG BUDG Committee on Budgets ).

Before joining the European Commission in 1994, he served as Programme Manager for the Know How Fund Russia at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1993-1994) and worked as a Desk Officer for EU development aid at the Department for International Development (DFID) (1992-1993).

He has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from the University of Cambridge, UK.