Peking University, Oct. 11, 2013: During the 25th Anniversary Conference and annual meeting of the Academy of Europe held in Wroclaw, Poland from September 15th to 19th, PKU alumni Professor Wang Ning and Zhang Longxi were elected foreign members.
The Academy of Europe, or the European Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Letters, was founded in 1988 with its headquarters in London, UK. An international scientific organization, across both east and west European countries, it has been proposed by ministers of science in European countries and founded by several national academies of science in Europe, including the Royal Society of UK. The Academy of Europe is divided into 20 academic sessions, covering humanities, social science, natural science and technologies. It is one of the geographically and disciplinarily broadest and academically most influential organizations in the world. Its members are from 35 European countries, mainly elected from the academies of science in each country, representing the scientific elite and academic authority in humanities and science. Among its foreign members in humanities are American philosopher of language Chomsky, Australian linguist Halliday, American comparativists David Damrosch and Martin Puchner.
The nominees are first recommended by academicians from different countries to the sessions respectively, where they will be further recommended to nominal committee for communicative review after the preliminary examination, and finally the examination from special committee is needed.
Now the academy has nearly 100 foreign academicians from different disciplines. Usually those nominated for foreign members must be elected members of the academy of science in their own countries, or possess foreign membership of national or regional academy.
Wang Ning graduated from Peking University in 1989 with a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature. His studies include modern theory, postmodernism, globalisation and cultural issues, world literature, etc. Zhang Longxi graduated in 1981 with an MA in English Literature. He has made in-depth studies on Sino-Western comparative poetics.
Written by: He Jianfeng
Edited by: Zhao Xiaowei
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
