General Council and Board
Aurora has a general council which consists of the rectors/presidents of the Aurora universities – or their formal representatives. The general council meets twice a year. Around these statutory meetings, the more encompassing Aurora Biannual meetings have evolved.
Alongside the general council, the aurora universities Network has a board of five rectors and presidents who are charged with the management of the association. Since November 2020 the board composition is:
- U Iceland rector Jón Atli Benediktsson, Aurora President
- VU Amsterdam President Mirjam van Praag, member
- UEA Vice-Chancellor David Richardson, member
- UEA Student President Callum Perry, student member
- URV rector Maria Jose Figueras, member
- UDE rector Ulrich Radtke, member
Aurora Coordinators
Institutional coordinators
Aurora also works closely with its coordinators who are the oil to keep the Aurora engine working. Aurora coordinators consist of Institutional coordinators and Communication officers.
Each Aurora university has an “institutional coordinator” who monitors the Aurora activities in their own institution as well as in the network. At some universities, this role is shared.
- VU Amsterdam: Esmee Paques (e.m.paques@vu.nl)
- University of Iceland: Friðrika Harðardóttir (fridrika@hi.is) and Hálldor Jónsson (dori@hi.is)
- University of East Anglia: Richard Harvey (r.w.harvey@uea.ac.uk)
- University of Innsbruck: Thomas Baumgartner (thomas.baumgartner@uibk.ac.at)
- University of Duisburg-Essen: Petra Günther (petra.guenther@uni-due.de)
- University of Aberdeen: Richard P.K. Wells (r.wells@abdn.ac.uk) and Stephen Hill (s.hill@abdn.ac.uk)
- University of Naples Federico II: Alessandro Arienzo (alessandro.arienzo@unina.it)
- Université Grenoble Alpes: Constance Chevallier-Govers and VP Karine Samuel (aurora-ic@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr)
- University of Rovira i Virgili: Marina Casals (marina.casals@urv.cat)
- Palacky University Olomouc: Selma Porobic (selma.porobic@upol.cz)
Communication officers
Aurora has a dedicated communications officer at each member. The group of Aurora network communications officers is chaired by University of Iceland communications’ director Jón Örn Guðbjartsson (jonorn@hi.is).
Aurora office
Aurora is supported by a small central office consisting of 4 team members:
- Kees Kouwenaar, Aurora secretary-general (kees.kouwenaar@aurora-network.global)
- Sabine Sainte-Rose, Aurora European University Alliance program director (sabine.SR@aurora-network.global)
- Maria José Montaña Correa, Aurora office manager (maria-jose.mc@aurora-network.global)
- Anna Klas, Aurora communication officer (a.r.c.klas@vu.nl)
- Willem Ivo de Boer, Aurora EU liaison officer (pim.de.boer@aurora-network.global)
