Mari Moora and Tõnu Esko to join the Rector's Office

On 12 June, Rector Toomas Asser introduced the new composition of the Rector's Office to the university council. In Asser's second term of office, Aune Valk will continue as Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, and Professor in Community Ecology Mari Moora will be the new Vice Rector for Research. The position of the Vice Rector for Development will be restored in the Rector's Office, and it will be held by Professor of Human Genomics Tõnu Esko. The renewed Rector's Office starts work on 1 August 2023.

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"In the new term of the Rector's Office, we plan to have a special focus on entrepreneurship. Over the past year, we have already reorganised the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and want to strengthen its cooperation with the Grant Office," said the rector. "Another important direction is sustainable development in research, teaching and also in the day-to-day work of the university. During the rector elections, I found reassurance that entrepreneurship and sustainable development will be so important in the coming years that responsibility for these topics in the Rector's Office must be at the vice rector's level." 

Asser added that negotiations with the members of the Rector's Office would continue to agree on a more precise division of duties. This will involve reviewing the current portfolio of the vice rector for research as well as the responsibilities previously held by the vice rector for development and, for the past year, by the director of development. 

The current Director of Development Taivo Raud will continue as the head of the Rector's Strategy Office. Area directors will remain the same also in the new Rector's Office: Director of Administration Kstina Vallimäe, Academic Secretary Tõnis Karki and Head of Finance Kalle Hein. 

The current Vice Rector for Research Kristjan Vassil, who joined the Rector's Office of Rector Volli Kalm in 2017, is returning to academic work. On 26 May, the University of Tartu senate elected Vassil as Professor in Applied Technology Studies.