Orla Feely re-elected as President, eight Directors elected

The elections took place on 24 October 2024 during the thirty-ninth General Assembly in Brno, hosted by Brno University of Technology.

The General Assembly decided that Orla Feely (President of University College Dublin) should continue leading the association for a second two-year term from 2026 to 2027.

Commenting on her re-election, President Orla Feely said:

“It has been a real privilege to serve as President of CESAER and to witness first-hand the dedication, creativity and impact of our Member universities, and the work we do together. In a time of great change, I believe deeply in the importance of our community — the strong and united voice of universities of science and technology across Europe. I look forward to continuing this journey together.”

Orla Feely previously served as our Vice President and Treasurer from 2019 to 2021, and in 2024, she became President of CESAER.

Eight Directors elected

The General Assembly also elected eight Directors for a four-year term from 2026 to 2029.

Elected for the first time to the Board of Directors are:

• Damien Fabrègue (Vice President for International Affairs at Institut National des Sciences Appliquées Lyon, France)
• Per Michael Johansen (Rector of Aalborg University, Denmark)
• Ilkka Niemelä (President of Aalto University, Finland)
• Simone Rehm (Vice Rector for Information Technology at University of Stuttgart, Germany)
• Michel Verleysen (Vice Rector of Science and Technology Sector at Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
• Ena Voûte (Pro Vice Rector International Affairs at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)

Toril Hernes (Vice President for Research and Innovation at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway) and Justyna Lubośna (Rector’s Representative for International Educational Programs at Gdańsk University of Technology, Poland) were re-elected for a second four-year term. They have served on the Board since 2023.

The elected Directors and President will join Tim Bedford (Associate Principal Research & Knowledge Exchange at University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom), Katharina Füglister (Director of International Affairs at EPFL, Switzerland) and Roberto Zanino (Rector’s Senior Advisor for International University Networks at Politecnico di Torino, Italy) to form a Board of twelve.

The elected candidates will succeed Guillermo Cisneros Perez (Rector Emeritus of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain), Mihnea Costoiu (Rector of National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Romania), Jennifer Herek (former Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at University of Twente, Netherlands), Mikael Östling (former Deputy President of KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), Karine Samuel (former Vice-President for International Affairs at Université Grenoble Alpes, France) and Ronald Tetzlaff (former Chief Officer Technology Transfer and Internationalisation at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany) who will finish their terms at the end of 2025.

The re-elected President and the eight elected Directors will start their terms on 1 January 2026.

Board of Directors 2026-2027

Following the outcome of the elections as elaborated above, the CESAER Board of Directors from 2026 to 2027 will be:

• Orla Feely (President)
• Tim Bedford (Director)
• Damien Fabrègue (Director)
• Katharina Füglister (Director)
• Toril Hernes (Director)
• Per Michael Johansen (Director)
• Justyna Lubośna (Director)
• Ilkka Niemelä (Director)
• Simone Rehm (Director)
• Michel Verleysen (Director)
• Ena Voûte (Director)
• Roberto Zanino (Director)
• Mattias Björnmalm (Secretary)

Contact

For more information and any enquiries, please contact the Secretariat.