The Annual General Meeting is currently currently coming to a close in Porto, Portugal.
Ecsite now has a new President: Herbert Münder, General Manager at Universum Bremen, Germany. Several Trustees were also elected or re-elected. Congratulations!
Get to know the new President & Board on the dedicated page.
New Presidency & Vice Presidency
“It is a great honour for me to be elected as Ecsite President,” stated Münder. “I will do my very best to fulfil the expectations of the Ecsite members. For me one of the most important roles of Ecsite will be the clarification scientific facts in times of fake news.”
Herbert Münder has been sitting on the Ecsite Board since 2014 and had been serving as Vice-President since June 2016. “I feel very committed to continue the work defined by the strategic plan and steered by the President and Board during the last few years,” Münder added. He named two main priorities for his mandate: servicing the “new” full member organisations that have started taking part in Ecsite governance thanks to recent membership changes introduced this year; and in the context of fake news and negations of scientific results, working together as a field to empower citizens to take an active and informed role in public discussions.
Münder started his professional career as a physicist. He joined Universum® Bremen in 2012, two year after opening. He developed a new strategy and steered the redevelopment the permanent exhibition after 15 years of being open for business. Three topic areas can now be explored: Technology, Humans and Nature. In addition, temporary exhibitions and educational programmes complete Universum’s offer.
Before joining Universum, Münder was the Managing Director of Wissenschaft im Dialog (2002-2011), which he developed from a small team into a center of competence for science communication in Germany. During that period he was also a board member and later President of Eusea, the European Science Events Association. He is also currently President of the German science and technical museum network MINTaktiv.
[Update on 17 June] As our previous Vice-President was elected President, the Ecsite Board has designated Anna Omedes, representing the Consorci del Museu de Ciències naturals de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain), to take over as Vice President.
Michiel Buchel, representing the NEMO Science Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), is becoming Past President.
"Being President of Ecsite for 2 years is an adventure," Buchel declared. "A short but intense journey. By the time you get to know all the stakeholders, were able to be present at some important events from members and you feel you sort of understand how great and diverse this family is, your term is over. That is why I have asked the board to change the internal regulations and make it possible for my successor to do an extra term. If approved by the members of course," he added.
"I am also very happy that my initiative to open up the membership for many more institutions to become full members received such great support. Full members used to be the minority with most of the rights, now they have become the majority within the different types of memberships. This feels and is more democratic and will bring more engagement and exciting new ideas from all over Europe. Being a volunteer for Excite costs some time but it is a great experience, working together with a wonderful team and fantastic colleagues in the board. I hope and expect my successor will have the same unique experience," Buchel concluded.
Trustees election
Several Trustee's seats were up for election - they were elected or re-elected:
Treasury
Cité de l’Espace (Toulouse, France) - Jean Baptiste Desbois, CEO
Other Trustees
- Copernicus Science Centre (Warsaw, Poland) - Robert Firmhofer, Chief Executive Officer
- Experimentarium (Hellerup, Denmark) - Kim Gladstone Herlev, Director
- focusTerra – ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland) - Ulrike Kastrup, Director
- Fondazione IDIS - Città della Scienza (Naples, Italy) - Luigi Amodio, Director (taking over from Vincenzo Lipardi)
- Technopolis®, the Flemish Science Centre (Mechelen, Belgium) - Patricia Verheyden, Director of strategic initiatives
- Universcience (Paris, France) - Bruno Maquart, Chairman and CEO
- Vitensenteret, the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology (Oslo, Norway) - Jan Alfred Andersson, Manager
Warm thank yous
To those Trustees finishing their mandates:
Past Presidency
Pavilion of Knowledge - Centro Ciência Viva (Lisbon, Portugal) - Rosalia Vargas, President
Other Trustees
- AHHAA Science Centre (Tartu, Estonia) - Pilvi Kolk, Member of the Management Board
- MUSE, Museo delle Scienze (Trento, Italy) - Michele Lanzinger, Director
- Parque de las Ciencias (Granada, Spain) - Ernesto Páramo Sureda, Director
- Swedish Museum of Performing Arts (Stockholm, Sweden) - Daniel Wetterskog, Head of Museum