Scientific Advisory Boards: set-up, management & evaluation

We have successfully helped clients to build and manage Scientific Advisory Boards in various scientific research areas.

A Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) usually functions in an advisory capacity to the General Management and/or Board of Directors of a company, which is actively engaged in scientific research.

The main function of an SAB is to assist the Management Board in establishing and reviewing the Scientific Research Strategy, proposing scientific priorities based on societal needs and new scientific evidence, and more generally speaking providing objective scientific peer review from an external bigger-picture perspective.

An SAB usually meets between 2-4 times a year. It should consist of enough active members to cover the respective scientific disciplines that are of relevance in your company. Ad-hoc members can be added to specific meetings, depending on the research topics on your agenda.

The duties and functioning of an SAB are described in a so-called ‘SAB Charter’, outlining the general purpose and mission of the SAB, the responsibilities and duties of SAB Chairperson and SAB members, and the reporting process and duties to the General Management, among others.

Our services include:

Set-up of an SAB

Finding and recruiting scientific experts that can serve on your SAB
Assist with setting up contracts with SAB members
Define onboarding measures
Define SAB meeting structure (frequency per year, duration per meeting)
Define SAB composition (balance of external/internal members)
Define evaluation criteria

Management of an SAB

Develop templates for meeting agenda and minutes
Set agenda in collaboration with Management
Meeting management
Meeting follow-up
Yearly evaluation of SAB effectiveness (both members and processes)