IALE-Europe is managed and administered by an elected Executive Committee. The current Executive Committee was elected in November 2025 and will stand until the IALE European Congress in 2029.
Theo van der Sluis | President | The Netherlands, Wageningen Environmental Research
Morten Graversgaard | Secretary General | Denmark, Aarhus University
José Muñoz-Rojas | Treasurer | Portugal, Universidade de Évora
Ioannis Vogiatzakis | Membership Administration | Italy, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Diana Surová | Communication Manager | Czech Republic, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Cătăline Munteanu | Switzerland, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Beatriz Pierri Daunt | Spain, Open University of Catalonia
Veerle Van Eetvelde | IALE Council representative | Belgium, University of Ghent
Position statement and action plan of the IALE-Europe Executive Committee period of 2022-2025
The proposed list for the IALE-Europe Executive Committee (EC) 2025–2029 represents a newly initiated team that will foster fresh dynamism while building on the variety of experiences of its members of national chapters and European members.
In composing this list, we carefully considered geographical distribution, professional experience, and diversity in research and teaching expertise across the broad interdisciplinary field of landscape ecology. Four members will join the EC for the first time, bringing new perspectives and fresh ideas. Three members, already serving since 2022, will ensure continuity. The representative of IALE-Europe in the Council of IALE will be invited for the EC meetings in order to maintain the link with IALE International.
The new Executive Committee believes it is essential to include all proposed members in order to secure the sustainable organisation of IALE-Europe, drawing on their varied experience and background knowledge of different aspects of the association. To further strengthen the involvement of younger landscape ecologists at an early career stage, the EC will also launch a call for one additional member. This will support our ambition to ensure a smooth handover of governance to a new team and leadership in 2029.
Action plan 2025-2029
1. Bringing the members together
IALE-Europe is an inclusive community that gathers around fundamental and applied topics within landscape ecology. The Executive Committee EC will invest in research, educational and networking activities to create new energy and synergies in physical and online events, furthering the development of a Europe-wide transdisciplinary landscape community.
2. Communication with the members
A bi-annual IALE-Europe Newsletter and regular newsflashes have been established in the past terms, in combination with the website. The new EC wants to further elaborate on these communication channels, and explore alternative options for communication. It will encourage its members and the national chapters to participate in active communication.
3. Supporting the national chapters
The members of the EC will be in dialogue with the national chapters, encourage the exchange of ideas and activities among the chapters, support and disseminate information regarding their events, help sustain the existing chapters and assist the foundation of new chapters.
4. Relation with IALE International
The activities initiated or organised by IALE International will be supported and communicated with the European landscape ecology community. The IALE Europe EC will maintain good relations with the Executive Committee of IALE International. The representative of IALE-Europe in the Council of IALE will be invited to attend the EC meetings in order to keep the link with IALE International.
5. Supporting the early-career landscape ecologists
The EC will continue to support the working group of early career landscape ecologists and landscape researchers. As in the previous term an additional member of this group will be recruited to represent them in the EC.
6. Leading IALE 2029 European Congress
The venue and organiser of the next European Congress will be identified after an open call that will be launched in November 2027. The EC will provide full support to co-organise a successful meeting.
7. Supporting and developing working groups
The four working groups of IALE-Europe are considered as working themes to organise different activities around European stakeholders, landscape ecology education and landscape ecology practice. We will review the activities, whether there is support for further development of these groups, and possibly initiate new working groups. We will explore cooperation opportunities with IALE international WGs.
8. Organising PhD courses
The EC will organise one PhD course to be launched in the following years and one accompanying the IALE 2029 European Congress.
9. Review membership and subscription organization
The Committee will review whether the membership procedures can be streamlined to facilitate easy renewals and payments, also in line with the website (under development).
10. Fostering and establishing relationships with other landscape-related networks and projects in Europe
The EC aims to stimulate dialogues with other European bodies, institutions and organisations with interests in- and supporting landscape research. We are open to collaborations within European projects and with other landscape-related networks. IALE-Europe EC will attend specific events to present IALE Europe and its activities, and so widen its audience.