Two New Vice-Rectors Elected

The Executive Council of the Canton of Bern has elected two new Vice-Rectors of the University of Bern and thus confirmed the candidates proposed by the Senate. The first election occurred due to a change in the Rectorate: current Rector Martin Täuber is to resign as of 31 July 2016 due to age and is handing over the office to his designated successor Christian Leumann. Since Leumann is acting Vice-Rector Research, the management of his Vice-Rectorate had to be re-staffed. Physician Daniel Candinas will be the new Vice-Rector Research. The second election was necessary because the previous Vice-Rector Development, Walter Perrig, was given emeritus status last year. His successor will be sport scientist Achim Conzelmann.

As of 1 August 2016, the Executive Board will consist of the following members: Christian Leumann (Rector, new), Doris Wastl-Walter (Vice-Rector for Quality, to date), Bruno Moretti (Vice-Rector for Teaching, to date), Daniel Candinas (Vice-Rector for Research, new), Achim Conzelmann (Vice-Rector for Development, new) and Administrative Director Daniel Odermatt (to date). The Executive Board is still supported by the Secretary General Christoph Pappa.

Brief biography of Prof. Dr. Daniel Candinas

Daniel Candinas has been a full professor of surgery with focus on visceral surgery (surgery of the abdominal organs and inner glands) and Chairman of the Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine at Bern University Hospital for 14 years. The 54-year-old native of the Grisons also served as Chairman of the Department of Gastrointestinal, Liver and Lung Diseases in the Faculty of Medicine for six years and established the Abdomen Center at Bern University Hospital during this period. Candinas studied at the University of Zurich, where he also obtained his postdoctoral qualification. He initially worked in Great Britain and France before he went to Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA) as a research fellow, where he became an instructor in surgery. His activity led him back to Great Britain, where he was a senior consultant in liver, pancreas and transplantation surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (UK) before his professorship in Bern. In 2010 he was honoured with an honorary doctorate by the Medical University of Varna for developping a transplantation program. Candinas is additionally involved as a board member in several associations and foundations. For instance, during the course of two years he presided as a member of the Swiss Society for Visceral Surgery and is a member in the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Surgery. His research priorities are cellular mechanisms of liver regeneration, tumor emergence and the development of robot controlled navigation systems for clinical use.

Brief biography of Prof. Dr. Achim Conzelmann

The new Vice-Rector for Development Achim Conzelmann has been a full professor of sport science since 2005 at the University of Bern’s Institute of Sport Science, where he also serves as chairman. Conzelmann was also Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences. The 57-year-old studied at the University of Tübingen, where he worked as a lecturer for sport science after earning his postdoctoral qualification. In 2003 he accepted a position as professor of sport science with emphases in sports psychology and kinesiology at the University of Kiel. He switched to Bern in 2005. In addition to his teaching and research activity, Conzelmann is a member in numerous sport science institutions, for instance as an expert in the Research Committee at the Swiss Federal Office of Sport or as President of the Swiss Society of Sport Sciences. He managed several projects on behalf of the Swiss federal government as well as national and international sports associations and foundations. Conzelmann’s research interests are personality development in and through sports, personal sport consulting, motoric development in the lifespan, talent research and successful ageing through sport.