News from the ESF’s 25th annual assembly

The European Science Foundation’s 25th annual assembly has unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Reinder van Duinen as the ESF’s next President. In addition, the meeting admitted the first research organisations from Estonia to the Foundation’s membership and endorsed a number of revisions to the ESF’s statute and rules of procedure.

Dr. van Duinen, who will take over from the ESF’s current president Sir Dai Rees on 1 January 2000, is President of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). NWO is the largest Dutch organisation in the field of fundamental and strategic scientific research and has been a Member Organisation of the ESF since 1974.

After training as a physicist, Dr. van Duinen began his professional career at the University of Groningen where he worked first as a senior research scientist and then from 1971-1982 as head of the Space Research Group. While at Groningen, he was responsible for developing scientific instrument packages for the Dutch satellites ANS and IRAS as well as spending some time as a Caltech visiting professor.

In 1982, he moved to head up the Space Division of Fokker Aircraft and subsequently became the company’s President in 1987 and was vice-chairman of the Board of Management from 1988-1994.

Since becoming President of the NWO in 1994, Reinder van Duinen has also come to play an increasingly prominent role in promoting science at a European level, not only within the European Science Foundation, but also as a member of the NATO Science Committee and of EUROHORCS.

Welcoming the appointment, Enric Banda, ESF Secretary General, comments: "In Reinder van Duinen, the ESF has found a very worthy successor to Sir Dai Rees. In his 30-year career Reinder has spent time on both sides of the scientific fence – in academia and in industry. He understands as well as anyone the important contribution that fundamental research can make to Europe’s social and economic growth. And I am looking forward to working closely with him to ensure that the Foundation plays an even fuller role in helping unlock this potential."

The Assembly also approved the applications for membership from the Estonian Science Foundation and the Estonian Academy of Sciences bringing the total number of ESF Member Organisations to 67 from 23 countries. In addition, the meeting endorsed a number of changes to the ESF’s statute designed to maintain the effectiveness of Foundation’s decision-making structures in the context of an expanding membership.

The next meeting of the Assembly will take place in Strasbourg on Thursday 30 November and Friday 1 December 2000.

Press contact:

Andrew Smith
Head of Communication and Information, ESF
+33 (0)3 88 76 71 32

Notes for editors:

The ESF President is elected for a three-year term and is eligible for reelection once only.

The European Science Foundation is the European association of 65 major national funding agencies devoted to scientific research in 22 countries. The ESF assists its Member Organisations in two main ways: by bringing scientists together in its scientific programmes, networks, exploratory workshops and European research conferences, to work on topics of common concern, and through the joint study of issues of strategic importance in European science policy.

Category: Media Centre, Press Releases 1999