Our Board of Directors has appointed the (Co-)Chairs for our six task forces and one workgroup under the Work Plan from 2026 to 2027, and has expressed its deepest gratitude for Chairs and Envoys completing their mandates.
On 10 December 2025, during a meeting kindly hosted by Politecnico di Torino, our Board appointed the following persons to (Co)-Chair our task forces and workgroup following nominations by our President and Secretary General:
- Co-Chairs of Task Force European Funding and Policies 2026-2027
- Christian Gerhardts (TU Dresden) (Co-Chair since 2021)
- Wendy Sonneveld (Ghent University) (Co-Chair since 2020)
- Co-Chairs of Task Force European Higher Education 2026-2027
- Justyna Lubośna (Gdańsk University of Technology) (Co-Chair since 2022)
- Petri Suomala (Aalto University) (new Co-Chair)
- Co-Chairs of Task Force Innovation 2026-2027
- Tim Bedford (University of Strathclyde) (Co-Chair since 2016)
- Lisa Ericsson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (new Co-Chair)
- Co-Chairs of Task Force Institutional Analytics 2026-2027
- Johan Blaus (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (new Co-Chair)
- Peter Elspass (Leibniz University Hannover) (Co-Chair since 2021)
- Co-Chairs of Task Force Openness of Science & Technology 2026-2027
- Irna van der Molen (University of Twente) (new Co-Chair)
- Simone Rehm (University of Stuttgart) (Co-Chair since 2020)
- Chair of Task Force Talent, Careers and Staff Development 2026-2027
- Paul Murray (University of Strathclyde) (new Co-Chair) leads the leadership development programme hosted by the University of Strathclyde.
- Chair of Workgroup Dual-Use, Defence and Space 2026-2027
- Peter Ertl (TU Wien) (new Co-Chair)
The new Co-Chairs and Chair will take office as of 1 January 2026 with a mandate until 31 December 2027.
On behalf of the Board and the Secretariat, we would like to thank all of the appointees for their willingness to Co-Chair the task forces and the workgroup, and to co-lead the implementation of the work plan.
We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the Co-Chairs who complete their mandates by 31 December 2025 and who are not continuing under the next work plan, namely:
- Tanya Bondarouk (University of Twente) & Manuel Heitor (Instituto Superior Técnico) as Co-Chairs of Task Force Human Resources 2024-2025.
- Alberto Garrido (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) as Chair of Task Force Sustainability 2024-2025
- Jennifer Herek (University of Twente) as Co-Chair of Task Force Openness of Science & Technology 2024-2025
- Toril Hernes (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) as Co-Chair of Task Force Innovation 2024-2025.
- Roberto Zanino (Politecnico di Torino) as Co-Chair of Task Force Learning & Teaching 2024-2025
The Board also would like to express its highest appreciation to our Envoys whose mandate finish by 31 December 2025, namely:
- Manuel Heitor (Instituto Superior Técnico) as CESAER’s Research Careers Envoy
- Karel Luyben (TU Delft) as CESAER’s EOSC Envoy
- Per Michael Johansen (Aalborg University) as CESAER’s Envoy to Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU
For more information, please contact our Information & Communication Officer Julian Kasapov.
