In September this year the EMBL Alumni Association will be holding its three-yearly board elections. The process will be conducted online, and candidates will comprise continuing and new board members who may serve for a period of three to six years in total.

Who are we looking for?

Ideally, the EMBL Alumni Association board should be representative of the whole alumni body in gender, nationality, geographical location, EMBL functions, Units, and Sites, as well as post- EMBL careers and working sectors. In particular, the current board would like to see more female members.

The current deputy Chair of the Alumni Association board, Niovi Santama, Associate Professor at the University of Cyprus, sees this position as a fantastic opportunity not only to give back to an institution which played such a significant role in her formative scientific training, but also to stay in touch with current developments in the Laboratory. “I very much enjoyed the boundless creativity and ideas of the board members. With the support of the Alumni Office, and in true EMBL spirit, these ideas were quickly transformed to action. It was very rewarding to see the materialisation of the John Kendrew Young Scientist Award, the Matti Saraste memorial garden, the Alumnipedia and the various reunions, local chapter meetings and get-togethers.”

Your role as board member

It is the role of the board to meet twice a year in rotation at Headquarters in Heidelberg and an EMBL site to manage alumni association business. This includes:

• reviewing memberships, accounts, fundraising, local chapter meetings, reports from working groups, progress of running projects and initiatives
• planning get-togethers and reunions
• discussing new initiatives and projects
• providing feedback from other alumni for consideration.