At the General Assembly of the Estonian Academy of Sciences held on 9 October, the members of the Academy elected Mart Saarma as the new President of the Academy.
Mart Saarma emphasized that the most important task of the Academy is to keep the Estonian flag of science flying high. "Estonian science is outstanding in many fields, especially in basic research. As President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, I intend to advance the quality of Estonian science by focusing more on innovation and research that are directly related to Estonia's development. Secondly, I would like to create a system where new research results and technologies are regularly presented to the government and the Parliament of Estonia, as well as to the Estonian people, in order to contribute to science-based decision-making," said Mart Saarma.
Academy member Mart Saarma is research director of the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki. He was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 1990 in the field of molecular biology. He has been, or is currently, a member or chairman of the scientific councils of several national and international institutions as well as a member of the editorial boards of several journals. In addition, Mart Saarma is a member of the Finnish Academy of Technical Sciences and Academia Europaea, a foreign member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Board of Tallinn University of Technology and an honorary doctor of the University of Tartu.
The current President of the Academy, Tarmo Soomere, will have his second term of office expire on 7 December 2024. According to the law of Estonian Academy of Sciences, the same academy member cannot be elected President for more than two consecutive terms. The five-year term of the next President will start on 8 December 2024.
The Academy's divisions had also nominated Academy members Jaak Järv and Maris Laan as candidates for President. No further nominations were presented at the General Assembly.
Photo gallery of the Academy General Assembly (by Reti Kokk).