Press release#
1 January 2022#
Academia Europaea appoints first female President#
The Academia Europaea has appointed Marja Makarow as its new President. She will be the seventh President since AE was established over 30 years ago, and the Academy’s first-ever female leader.
Makarow is Professor Emerita of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and former Vice-President for Research at the University of Helsinki
. She has served as Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation (2008-2011), Vice-President of the Finnish Research Council - Academy of Finland ( 2012-2016) and Director of Biocenter Finland (2016-2021). She is Board member of the European Innovation Council (EIC) and former Governing Board member of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT).
On becoming AE’s new President, Makarow said, “It is a great pleasure and responsibility to lead Academia Europaea into its fourth decade. The opportunity to develop and strengthen our academy in the coming years is an exciting challenge.”
The Academia Europaea was set up in 1988, in recogition that a greater sense of community between Europe’s scientists and scholars would enhance the effectiveness of its research. Academia Europaea began as a small group of 100 founding members, and now has a thriving membership of almost 5,000 world-leading researchers, mainly from across Europe but also worldwide. Amongst them are 80 Nobel laureates. Academia Europaea operates through a network of hubs in Barcelona, Bergen, Budapest, Cardiff, Munich, Tbilisi and Wroclaw. An essential part of AE’s mission is to support policymaking in Europe, through its role in SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies), which is part of the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism.
In her first interview since becoming President of Academia Europaea, Professor Marja Makarow sets out her priorities for Academia Europaea.
