ECIU executive meeting elects new president

Van der Chijs will be in charge of shaping the future development of the consortium. This includes a stronger emphasis on its public profile and in innovation in education, in the relation between research and business, and a future reinforcement of entrepreneurial ties. He will be working closely with Professor Asta Pundziené (Vice-Rector for Research and Professor at Kaunas University of Technology) and with Professor José Mendes (Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Aveiro), who were selected Vice-President and Treasurer at the ECIU meeting held in Mexico.

Victor van der Chijs had been ECIU's vice-president since the spring of 2016. As vice president, he worked actively on shaping the future of the consortium and, as a result, the ECIU will soon open an office in Brussels with the aim of having a stronger influence on EU policies.

Van der Chijs takes over from UAB Professor Lluís Tort, who was elected president of ECIU in November 2015. Professor in Physiology at the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Dr Tort has occupied many positions at the UAB, including Vice-Rector for Strategic Projects and Planning, Director of the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, and coordinator of the BIOcluster. He has also been president of the Catalan Society of Biology (IEC) and appraiser for the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation of Spain (ANECA-Academia), the AQU agency, and for other scientific agencies in Canada, Norway, Chile, Greece, Belgium, Taiwan and for the European Commission.

The consortium, founded in 1997, brings together a group of European universities, one from each country, which have a particular interest in developing a culture of innovation and in the role of the university as a catalyst for collaboration and the transfer of research and knowledge to society. The ECIU universities are characterised by the strength of their research, by being, in many cases, under 50 years old, and by their deep involvement in innovation and transfer.