Members of Academia Europaea elected as Fellows of the Royal Society#
Eleven members of Academia Europaea have this year been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences, among them Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, former President of the European Research Council.
Sir Paul Nurse MAE, President of the Royal Society, said:
Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavour. Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry.
Our Fellowship is strengthened not only by individual distinction, but by the diversity of perspectives and experiences its members bring. This incoming cohort highlights the truly international character of contemporary science and underscores the vital role that plays in achieving breakthroughs that benefit us all.”
The elected AE members are:
- Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon MAE FRS
Nicolaas Kuiper Honorary Professor, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France, member of the Mathematics Section of Academia Europaea since 1995.
- Professor Lars Chittka MAE FRS
Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, elected to the Ecology and Evolution Section of Academia Europaea this year.
- Professor Leslie Ann Goldberg MAE FRS
Professor of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, member of the Informatics Section of Academia Europaea since 2014.
- Professor Gilles Laurent MAE FRS
Director, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Max Planck Society, Germany, member of the Physiology and Neuroscience Section of Academia Europaea since 2017.
- Professor Simon Levin MAE FRS
James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, USA, member of the Ecology and Evolution Section of Academia Europaea Section of Academia Europaea since 2022.
- Professor Can Li MAE FRS
Director, Solar Energy Center, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, member of the Chemical Sciences Section of Academia Europaea since 2008.
- Professor Elly Tanaka MAE FRS
Director, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Vienna BioCenter, Austria, member of the Cell and Developmental Biology Section of Academia Europaea since 2015.
- Professor Baroness Katherine Willis MAE CBE FRS
Professor of Biodiversity, Department of Biology, University of Oxford and Crossbench Peer, House of Lords, elected to the Ecology and Evolution Section of Academia Europaea this year.
- Professor Michael Wooldridge MAE FRS
Ashall Professor of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, member of the Informatics Section of Academia Europaea since 2015.
- Professor Kun Zhou MAE FRS
Professor, Associate Chair (Research) of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, elected to the Physics Section of Academia Europaea this year.
- Professor Peter Zoller MAE FRS
Professor Emeritus, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, Austria and Emeritus Scientific Director, Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria, member of the Physics Section of Academia Europaea since 2013.
About the Royal Society#
The Royal Society’s
fundamental purpose, reflected in its founding Charters of the 1660s, is to recognise, promote and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.
As an independent Fellowship made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from across the scientific landscape, the Society recognises excellence and elects Fellows from all over the world. Fellows are elected for life through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science. There are currently approximately 1,900 Fellows, including around 85 Nobel Laureates. Each year up to 109 Fellows (including up to 24 via the Foreign Membership route) are elected from a group of around 800 candidates who are proposed by the existing Fellowship.
As a national academy, the Society represents the UK research community and collaborates with international partners to advocate for science and its benefits. It provides authoritative and independent advice on matters of science that support the public good, including policies that promote excellent science and scientific issues that inform public policy.
The initiative to found Academia Europaea was taken by the Royal Society and resulted in a meeting in London in June 1986 between Arnold Burgen (UK), Hubert Curien (F), Umberto Columbo (ITA), David Magnusson (S), Eugen Seibold (Germany) and Ruud van Lieshout (NL) who agreed to the need for a new body that could express the ideas and opinions of individual scientists from across Europe.
