14 November 2022 – EMBO Member Roberto di Lauro was a group leader at the EMBL, a professor at the University of Naples Federico II, served as President of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, and as the scientific attaché to the Italian Embassy in London. Di Lauro is currently retired from research, but he still works on science evaluation as a member of Italy's National Committee for Research Evaluation. We talked about molecular biology, the challenges of evaluating and funding different types of research, and the occasional uses of having a minister’s cell phone number.