The aim of the ECePS project – the ERA Chair in E-Governance and Digital Public Services is to strengthen the Center of IT Impact Studies (CITIS), a research unit within the Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu (UTARTU) so that it can act as a world leader in the field of research on e-governance, public e-services and data driven public innovation. We will do so by recruiting a leading expert in the field to serve as an ERA Chair for E-Governance and Digital Public Services who will in turn create a top-level research team capable of conducting cutting edge research that examines the fundamental questions of scientific and practical importance. The ERA Chair will trigger structural changes within UTARTU to support this effort by: • Initiating changes to CITIS research unit, including creation of a CITIS Supervisory Board, formation of advisory groups with members from industry, government and scientific community, and a Professorship position for the ERA Chair. • Integrating researchers from other departments relevant for e-governance research into the CITIS structure, including the SoBigData Research Infrastructure, the Institute of Social Studies, the School of Economics and the Faculty of Law as well as UTARTU’s High Performance Computing Center. • Building partnerships with governments and leading technology companies to create new models for attracting public and private research funding. The ERA Chair will also act as a role model to produce spill-over benefits for UTARTU to modernize rules and practices regarding the recruitment and performance measurement of researchers and professors, systematically implement processes to address RRI priorities and improve UTARTU’s gender policies and practices.