The Academy’s Board of trustees authorised the election of 470 international scholars. The new members elected this year are distributed across the four classes of the Academy as follows: 91 members elected for the class of the Humanities, 70 members at the Social and Societal Sciences group, 198 members for the class of the Life Sciences and 111 new members belonging to the class of the Exact Sciences.
From the specific section assigned, each member will cooperate in the accomplishment of the Academy's mission. Erik Jones was appointed for the section on ‘Governance, Institutions and Policies: Education, Health and Welfare’.
The prestigious Academy was founded in 1988 to respond to the need for a new body that could express the ideas and opinions of individual scientists from across Europe. It is currently composed of 6,000 members involved in "the promotion of European research, advice governments and international organisations in scientific matters, and further interdisciplinary and international research.”
Membership of the Academy is by invitation only and only existing members may propose new candidates. Members are individual scientists and scholars that cover all branches of knowledge.
This appointment represents for Professor Jones an important recognition to his career and expertise: "It is an honour to be recognized by European colleagues, this way. It is also a great opportunity. I hope to use this connection to raise awareness of the Robert Schuman Centre and the European University Institute, and to strengthen links between colleagues here and those I look forward to meet."
Before joining the European University Institute as Director of the Robert Schuman Centre, Erik Jones was Professor of European Studies and International Political Economy at the Johns Hopkins University.