DRESDEN, 13 October 2022
CESAER, the strong and united voice of universities of science and technology in Europe, has announced that Mattias Björnmalm will serve as its new Secretary General.
Following a competitive recruitment, our Board of Directors appointed Mattias at its meeting which took place at Technische Universität Dresden on 13 October.
Commenting on their appointment, Mattias Björnmalm said:
“I thank the Board of Directors for its trust and confidence in me; it is an honour and privilege to be appointed Secretary General of CESAER.
“Vaccines, computers, cars, the atom bomb: our history is overflowing with examples of advances in science and technology that have changed trajectories of entire societies and the lives of ordinary people, for better or for worse. The key question is, at a time of ever-advancing developments in science and technology, how do we make sure these are for the benefit of humankind?
“Universities of science and technology and their communities are key players here, and I look forward to continuing working with our Members to find out how.”
Our current Secretary General, David Bohmert, will depart the association at the end of the year after a successful tenure of seven years, our Board of Directors accepted his resignation with gratitude for his service. Mattias will lead our association’s Secretariat from 1 January 2023.
Mattias Björnmalm, PhD, is an experienced scientist and policy professional. As of 1 January 2023, he will serve as Secretary General of CESAER – the strong and united voice of universities of science & technology. His other engagements include as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Bionics Institute, as an invited member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network and in the Marie Curie Alumni Association. Previously, he led the project qBionano at Imperial College London and was an editor in science & policy for the journal Angle.
In addition to his advocacy and policy experience, Mattias has an extensive scientific background in engineering, nanoscience & biomedicine, with dozens of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
In 2017, he was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Union; during this process he was selected as one of Europe’s thirty most ‘highly promising researchers’ out of the 8,916 funding proposals submitted.
In 2019, he was awarded an Imperial College London President’s Award: ‘recognised for outstanding achievements in policy engagement’.
Mattias is originally from Stockholm (Sweden) and following some years in Melbourne (Australia) and London (United Kingdom), he is currently based in Leuven (Belgium).
His contact details are available here.
A photo (1500 x 800 pixels) is available here.
For more information, please contact Gary Paterson, Communication & Outreach Officer, at gary.paterson@cesaer.org