"Where are we with the 'Stairway to Excellence'? The Role of European Universities" Short bios of the speakers 26 June 2015 9.30-12.30h Room JDE 51 Yoomi Renström (SE/PES), Chair of the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) Yoomi Renström is Mayor of the Municipality of Ovanåker (Sweden). She is a graduate of the University of Uppsala, where she studied Literature, Psychology, and Information and Communication. She pursued her studies at the University of Falun, where she received Headmaster education. Before becoming a politician, she worked with disabled people both as member of the staff and later as a manager. She is the President of the district board of the Swedish Social Democratic of Gävleborg County. She is also member of the International Committee of SALAR, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. Yoomi Renström has been member of the Committee of the Regions since 2007. 1/9
Markku Markkula, (FI/EPP), President of the Committee of the Regions Markku Markkula, city councillor of Espoo (Finland) and member of the Committee of the Regions since 2010 was elected President of the Committee of the Regions on 12 February 2015 for the term of two and half years, until June 2017. Markku Markkula was born in Kolari (Finland) north of the Arctic Circle on 15 July 1950. He is married, with one son and two daughters. He loves to spend his free time fishing and hiking. Markku Markkula is a Member of the Board of the Helsinki Regional Council and the Chairman of the Espoo City Planning Board. Mr Markkula also works at Aalto University as the Advisor to Aalto Presidents, where his focus is on European Union research, innovation and education policy affairs. A long-standing politician, Mr Markkula is a former member of the Finnish Parliament (1995-2003). During his time as an MP, he served as a member of two permanent parliamentary committees: the Committee for Science, Education and Culture, and the Committee for the Future. As an MP his international role included the Presidency of EPTA Council, European Parliamentary Technology Assessment Network. As a tribute to his achievements, he was elected to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame in 2008. He became Member of the CoR in 2010 and has held a number of positions in the institution over the last fifteen years including the 1st Vice-Chair of the EPP Group and Chair of EPP Group's Task Force on Europe 2020. He also authored a number of opinions including A Digital Agenda for Europe, Horizon 2020, and Industrial Policy Package. 2/9
George Grammatikakis (EL/S&D), Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Education and Culture He did his postgraduate studies at the Imperial College of London University (Ph.D.) After his return to Greece, he worked at "Demokritos" and later at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva As a Visiting Professor at Harvard University he got involved with the history of science Twice elected (1990-1996) Rector of the University of Crete and for three years he has served as Chairman of the Ionian University in Corfu He has participated in international committees of experts dealing with the prospects of education and research in the European Union He has written four books He has received various distinctions, while he was honored by the Hellenic Physical Society for his contribution to education and science 3/9
Csaba Borboly (RO/EPP), Member of the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) and President of Harghita County Council, Rapporteur on "European Higher Education in the World" Joined the Századvég Political School in Budapest, Hungary, attending political management classes in 1992-1993, before starting his studies at the Eötvös Loránd University between 1993-1999. In 2001 he nationalized his degree in Romania, in the specialty of public administration. Between 1999-2004 he was the president of the Youth Council of Csík Region, and since 2004 vice president. Since 2000 he is an active member of Harghita County Council: between 2000-2004 as a county councillor, and since 2008 he is the president. He is the president of the National Council of Self-Governments of DAHR. Married, 2 children. Lies to spend time with his family, walking in the countryside, cooking, reading, skiing, cycling and horse riding. 4/9
Simon Roy, Policy Officer, Higher Education Unit, DG Education and Culture, European Commission Simon Roy is a policy officer in the European Commission's higher education policy team in DG Education and Culture. He deals with the overall follow-up of the Commission's modernisation agenda for higher education, including coordination with the broader Europe 2020 and ET 2020 strategies and the European Semester. He is also responsible for the team's work on higher education funding, the employability of graduates and the regional impact of higher education institutions: areas where he has worked extensively with Member State authorities and institutions. Before joining the Commission in 2010, Simon worked for almost 10 years in policy evaluation and impact assessment, including in the field of European Cohesion and Research funding. Rumyana Kolarova, Head of Department and Jean Monnet Lecturer of European Politics, Sofia University and former Minister of Education of Bulgaria Kolarova is Jean Monnet Lecturer in European Politics at the Department of Political Theory of Sofia University 'St Kliment Ohridski'. A political theorist, her research interests include comparative politics and methods, models of transition to democracy, and the history of political science. Recent publications in English include Citizens' Europe? Reflections on the Implications of the Lisbon Treaty (co-editor and author of two chapters) 5/9
Tatjana Muravska, Jean Monnet Chair, Director of the Centre for European and Transition Studies, University of Latvia Dr. Muravska was a contributor to the 1999 volume on "Latvia and the European Union" referenced above. In 1996 she was a Visiting Fellow at Dalhousie University under the auspices of the Baltic Economic Management Training Program. She has written extensively on transformation processes in Eastern and Central European countries in the context of European integration. Carlos Rodrigues, Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences and Territorial Studies, University of Aveiro, Portugal He is a teacher and researcher at the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) He has a PhD in Social Sciences, a MSc in Innovation and Development Policy and a degree in Urban and Regional Planning. His research is mainly focused on territorial systems of innovation, with particular emphasis on the role played by higher education organisations in innovation-driven development. His teaching activities embrace a diversity of fields, from science and technology policy and territorial innovation, to strategic planning and planning theory. He has a long experience of service provision to private (e.g., entrepreneurial associations) and public organisations (e.g., local government and regional authorities) He is a member of the Department s board of directors and the coordinator of the University s Centre for Asian Studies. He is a full member of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy. Before becoming an academic, Carlos worked as a journalist in several national newspapers and international news agencies. 6/9
Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit, International, Inter-institutional and Stakeholder, Relations Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Since 2010 Dr Ulla Engelmann is Head of the Interinstitutional and Stakeholder Relations Unit of the European Commission s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Brussels, being responsible for above relations including member states and industry. Ulla Engelmann studied chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany and completed a PhD in analytical and radiochemistry at the National Research Centre in Karlsruhe in 1992. She started working at the JRC in Ispra, Italy in 1993, the first years in fusion research and from 1997 onwards she managed the public relations team. In 2004 she became JRC Head of the Internal and External communications Unit, based in Ispra and Brussels, responsible for strategic communication for all JRC sites. Dimitri Corpakis, Head of Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation unit, DG RTD, EC Dr Dimitri CORPAKIS, an engineer by training, has to date more than 30 years experience in European affairs. Before joining the European Commission in 1990, he worked as an EU expert with the Greek Ministry of Education. After an assignment with the ESPRIT Programme (European Strategic Programme for Research in Information Technologies), he moved to the R&D Policy area, with personal contributions to several initiatives (moving towards e-science, setting-up the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB), the pilot action on Regions of Knowledge, and contributing to the first Benchmarking exercise (Expert Group on Impact of R&D on Competitiveness and Employment). As of January 1 2014, Dimitri leads the new Unit on Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation, in the new Directorate for the Innovation Union and the European Research Area of the Directorate General for Research and Innovation. 7/9
Robert Tijssen, Chair of Science and Innovation Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands, www.u-multirank.eu project consortium Robert Tijssen holds the Chair of Science and Innovation Studies at Leiden University. Robert is extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University (South Africa), and board member of South Africa s DST-NRF Center of Excellence in Scientometrics and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. He is a research fellow at Leiden University's Campus The Hague, as well as the LDE Center for Frugal innovation in Africa (an inter-university research consortium of Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam). His interests and activities are at the nexus between science, innovation and higher education systems. The current research agenda includes quantitative studies of research cooperation, performance indicators for university rankings, university research and industrial R&D, socioeconomic impacts of science, the South African science system, and university-developed inclusive innovations in Africa. Robert is member of the editorial advisory board of Research Evaluation, an international peerreviewed academic journal. Most of his advisory and consultancy portfolio relates to monitoring and evaluation of university R&D performance. Performance metrics and indicators are important analytical tools. Research management issues related to quality assurance systems, reward and incentive systems, knowledge transfer mechanisms, and commercialisation of research are among this key topics of interest. Those activities include the Netherlands Review Committee on Higher Education. Robert is CWTS manager of U-Multirank, a European Commission supported transparency tool of higher education institutions worldwide, and sits on the U-Multirank executive board. He is also board member of the European Network of Indicator Designers. He contributes to the CWTS Leiden Ranking, as well as the European Commission s Innovation Union Scoreboard, the U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems, and produces CWTS University-Industry Research Connections Scoreboard, a unique open-access web-based information source on public-private research collaboration within 750 universities. 8/9
Thomas Jørgensen, Head of Unit, European University Association (EUA) Thomas Ekman Jørgensen is Head of Unit at the EUA, responsible for the EUA Council for Doctoral Education. His specific work areas are the training of researchers, development of doctoral schools, doctoral programmes and researcher careers. He has also worked on global trends in doctoral education including issues such as capacity building and global research collaborations. Dr Jørgensen studied History and German Studies at the University of Copenhagen and the Free University Berlin. He received his PhD in History and Civilisation from the European University Institute in Florence in 2004 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen and at the Université libre de Bruxelles before coming to EUA. As a historian, he has worked on students and left-wing movements around 1968. He has also published on youth movements during World War I. 9/9