Professor Martin Kahanec, from the Department of Public Policy at Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of Academia Europaea, as well as Chair of the Class for Social and Related Sciences.
In his role as Class Chair, Professor Kahanec has also been appointed Vice-President of Academia Europaea. He succeeds renowned Swedish scholar Professor Björn Wittrock in leading the Class for Social and Related Sciences.
Professor Kahanec was elected to these positions at the 36th Annual Meeting of Academia Europaea members, held on November 26, 2024, in Wroclaw, Poland. Both terms are for five years and commenced on January 1, 2025.
Commenting on his election, Professor Kahanec said: “Being elected to the leadership of Academia Europaea is not only a profound personal commitment but also a recognition of the sustained and systematic efforts of the research teams I have worked with at the Central European University in Vienna and elsewhere.”
Kahanec emphasized his vision to enhance Academia Europaea by fostering collaboration and engagement among its members and strengthening its role in addressing critical academic and societal challenges. This includes promoting interdisciplinary dialogues, actively engaging with emerging trends such as the evolution of 4th-generation universities and advancing Academia Europaea’s strategic positioning as a scientific authority in Europe and globally through initiatives like SAM/SAPEA and the S20 formats. The professor also highlighted his commitment to safeguarding academic freedom and institutional resilience, particularly in the context of democratic backsliding, while advocating for the independence and integrity of academic institutions worldwide.
Several prominent CEU professors are members of Academia Europaea, including CEU President and Rector Shalini Randeria, who serves as Deputy Class Chair.
Founded in 1988, Academia Europaea is a pan-European academy of sciences comprising over 5,500 members, including many of the world’s most distinguished scholars and 88 Nobel laureates. The academy is organized into four classes: Humanities, Social and Related Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Life Sciences. The overall operations are managed by a ten-member Board of Trustees. Academia Europaea plays a critical role in European scientific advisory bodies such as SAM (Scientific Advice Mechanism) and SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies), providing independent scientific evidence and policy recommendations to the European Commission, Parliament, and Council. The academy also represents the European Union in the S20 format, a scientific platform within the G20 group of the world’s largest economies. For more on Academia Europaea, please click here.
Martin Kahanec is a Professor at CEU’s Department of Public Policy and Director of The Shattuck Center for Human Rights at CEU. His main research interests are economic policy, labor and population economics, migration, EU mobility, ethnicity, and reforms in European labor markets. Professor Kahanec has held several advisory positions and leading roles in a number of scientific and policy projects with the World Bank, the European Commission, European Parliament, European Court of Auditors, OECD, and other international and national institutions. He is a member of the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Science, Technology and Innovation as well as a former member of the Scientific Board of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic; former member of the national COVID-19 Economic Crisis Management Council at the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic and member of Minister's advisory council (2020-2021). For more on Professor Martin Kahanec, please visit this site.
Central European University (CEU) members of Academia Europaeaare:
Class "Humanities":
Professor Tim Crane, Department of Philosophy
Professor Katalin Farkas, Department of Philosophy
Associate Professor Agnes Melinda Kovacs, Department of Cognitive Science
Professor Tijana Krstic, Department of Historical Studies
Professor Balazs Trencsenyi, Department of Historical Studies
Class "Social and Related Sciences":
Professor Emeritus Laszlo Csaba, Department of International Relations
Professor Emeritus Jean-Louis Fabiani, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Professor Gyorgy Gergely, Department of Cognitive Science
Professor Julius Horvath, Department of Economics
Professor Martin Kahanec, Department of Public Policy
Professor Miklos Koren, Department of Economics
University Professor Botond Koszegi, Department of Economics
Professor Shalini Randeria, CEU President and Rector
Professor Natalie Sebanz, Department of Cognitive Science
Professor Adam Szeidl, Department of Economics
Professor Andrea Weber, Department of Economics
Class "Exact Sciences":
Professor Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy