Director Appointment

It is with great pleasure that the ECPR announces that Professor Martin Bull has been appointed to be the first Director of ECPR, starting 1 September 2013 for a period of six years. His main tasks will be to manage ECPR Central Services, direct ECPR operations, advise and assist the Executive Committee in the ECPR's strategic direction, representation of the discipline and various portfolio activities, provide support and advice to the ECPR's Council and its Speaker, and further the institutionalisation of structures and procedures within the ECPR.

Professor Bull has considerable experience and expertise in ECPR matters, having served as the Academic Director of ECPR (2006-13) and previously served as a member of the Executive Committee (2003-06). He is Professor of Politics at the University of Salford where he is also Deputy Chair of the University's Senate. His research interests lie in the field of Italian and comparative European politics.

The position of Director is new and was created as a consequence of a fundamental review of governance by the ECPR in 2011-12, as a result of which the two former positions of Administrative Director and Academic Director were abolished and replaced with a single Directorship. These changes were designed and drafted by the ECPR's Constitutional Reform Group, adopted by the Executive Committee and then presented to the ECPR Council as part of a package of constitutional reform, which was approved by electronic ballot. The Directorship was filled by competitive appointment. Following a two month call, eight applications were received for the post, with two candidates subsequently being short-listed and interviewed in Colchester in May 2013. Once Professor Bull accepted the post, a process of negotiation with his University followed which has now been successfully concluded.

Professor Bull said, "I am very honoured to have been appointed as the first Director of the ECPR. The challenges facing the ECPR in the coming period are considerable, yet so are the opportunities, and I hope therefore to be able to contribute to the Consortium's continued success. In view of its size and the scale of its activities, the ECPR is the only organisation that can properly represent European political science, and this carries with it ever expanding demands and responsibilities, which I am confident we can meet. I thank the Executive Committee for placing their trust in me, and look forward to working with them over the coming six years."

We welcome Professor Bull as Director of the ECPR and wish him every success in his new position.

The Executive Committee of the ECPR