"HERCulES" [Higher Education, Research and Culture in European Societies]#

The Expert Group HERCULES (Higher Education, Research and Culture in European Society) was formally established in 2004 by the Board of Trustees of the Academia Europaea with a mission to assist and advise the AE Board of Trustees on issues that are relevant to research and policy in European institutions of higher education and learning, and also to develop activities that relate to aspects and problems of the management, philosophy, and operational activities of those institutions. Even before the group’s formal establishment a number of symposia on these same topics had been organized.

The group consists of approximately 12 members, drawn from a variety of disciplines. The group has developed into one of the most active and dynamic groups within the Academia, especially through the preparation and organization since 2005 of a series of international symposia that address important and topical issues and problems of higher education. These are summarized elow. Moreover, the outcomes of the in depth and critical analyses of these issues during the conferences have resulted in the publication of ‘Proceedings’. Through the dissemination of these Proceedings volumes, we have made a contribution to the further discussion and reflection about the topics in academic circles, and by doing so potentially to the future development and shaping of higher education in Europe.

Occasionally, the conferences have also led to a formal statement about an issue that, after approval by the Board of Trustees, is published as an official standpoint of the Academia Europaea.

Through these activities, the HERCULES Expert Group provides the AE with an powerful vehicle for promoting the international visibility of the Academia Europaea, and an important lever for the positioning of the Academia in the European higher education space.

With the Wenner-Gren Foundations http://www.swgc.org/welcome.aspx#

Published proceedings of the Wenner-Gren Foundations international symposia: Online versions of publications from the HERCuLES Wenner-Gren International series can be accessed via http://www.portlandpresspublishing.com/content/wenner-gren-international-series

Current members of the group#

• Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (Physics, IHES, Paris, France, jpb@ihes.fr)

• Helena Buescu (Comparative Literature, University of Lisbon, Portugal, hbuescu@letras.ulisboa.pt)

• Kirsten Drotner (Media Studies, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, drotner@sdu.dk)

• Jürgen Enders (Education Management, University of Bath, United Kingdom, j.enders@bath.ac.uk)

• Marie Farge (Physics, École normale supérieure, CNRS, Paris, France, marie.farge@ens.fr)

• Alban Kellerbauer (Physics, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe, Germany, alban.kellerbauer@ec.europa.eu

• Georg Krücken (Higher Education Research, INCHER, University of Kassel, Germany, kruecken@incher.uni-kassel.de)

• Marja Makarow, (Applied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Helsinki, Finland, marja.makarow@helsinki.fi

• Gemma Modinos, Reader in Neuroscience & Mental Health, and Wellcome Trust & The Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, United Kingdom, gemma.modinos@kcl.ac.uk

• Christine Musselin (Sociology, SciencePo, Paris, France,c.musselin@cso.cnrs.fr)

• Peter Scott (Education, University College London, United Kingdom, P.Scott@ioe.ac.uk)

• George Sharvashidze (Education Research, Tbilisi State University, Georgia, giorgi.sharvashidze@tsu.ge)

• Britt-Marie Sjöberg (Molecular Biology, Stockholm University and the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Sweden, britt-marie.sjoberg@swgc.org)

• Jo Tollebeek (Cultural History, University of Leuven, jo.tollebeek@kuleuven.be)

• Marijk Van der Wende (Higher Education, Univrsity of Utrecht, the Netherlands, m.c.vanderwende@uu.nl)

• Milena Žic Fuchs (Linguistics, University of Zagreb, Croatia, mzicfuch@ffzg.hr)

HERCuLES Information