News
ALLEA Presidency Re-elected
31-03-2009
More than 50 ALLEA Member Academies have re-elected Jüri Engelbrecht as ALLEA President for a second term (2009-2012). This result was announced on Tuesday, 31 March 2009, during the ALLEA Steering Committee meeting in London by the representative of the Presidential Election Committee, Steering Committee member Marie-Therese Flanagan (Royal Irish Academy). Following the recommendations of the Member Academies, the Steering Committee proceeded to re-elect Nicholas Mann for a second term as Vice-President.
These elections fell in a year in which no General Assembly was held. This is why the electoral process had to be conducted by correspondence. It was overseen by the ALLEA Presidential Election Committee, composed of ALLEA Honorary President Pieter Drenth, KNAW, Steering Committee member Marie-Therese Flanagan, Royal Irish Academy, and Executive Director R. Klein.
The process started in December 2008; Member Academies were invited to present nominations of new candidates. By the deadline of 31 January 2009 no nominations of opposing candidates had been received. Instead, many Member Academies expressed their appreciation for the work of the current Presidency and the wish to see it lead ALLEA in the transition phase towards a new Strategic Plan 2010-2015. In February 2009 ballot papers were sent out. By the end of March ballot papers were returned, all with votes in favour of the current President
The re-elected Presidency will serve until 2012, half-way through the ALLEA Strategic Plan 2010-2015, when a new Presidency will need to be re-elected, as President and Vice-President can only be re-elected once. The next Presidency will be responsible for developing the next ALLEA Strategic Plan 2015-2020.
President and Vice-President said they felt strengthened in their resolve to continue working towards a robust Strategic Plan for ALLEA, thanks to the resounding endorsement and clear mandate received from Member Academies. They acknowledged the work of the Head Office and the increased importance of the Steering Committee as Executive Board for ALLEA in this process, with Board members acquiring portfolios of responsibility over certain areas of ALLEA activity.