The COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) is the general assembly of the COST Association. It is composed of the official representatives of the Members, including Israel. The latter, however, has no voting rights. The general assembly is chaired by the President of the COST Association, Prof. Åse Gornitzka. The Presidency rotates among the COST members every two years.
Prof. Åse Gornitzka
President of the COST Association
Professor Åse Gornitzka holds a PhD in Political Science and a Doctoral degree from the Faculty of Public Administration at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. Since 2021 to this day, she has served as Pro-Rector at the University of Oslo, Norway. From fall 2025, she will return to her position as Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo.
Before assuming the presidency of the COST Association, Professor Gornitzka has served in several governing bodies and committees in research and higher education policy arenas, both at national and European levels. She has also been a Board Member of SCANCOR—the Scandinavian Consortium for Organisational Research—at Stanford University and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
Prior to her current position, she has held academic positions at Arena- Centre for European Studies at UiO, as a senior researcher in an independent research institute in Oslo, and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Bergen.
Professor Gornitzka has published over 120 journal articles and book chapters. Her research focuses on reform and transformation in higher education and research, as well as policymaking in the knowledge sector at both national and European levels, and the governance and organisation of universities. She has also contributed to research on the nexus between scientific expertise and policy making, especially at the European level.
Read Professor Åse Gornitzka’s biography here
Ministry of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia
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Swedish Research Council
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Head of Unit for International Cooperation of the Department for Higher Education and Science Policy of the Higher Education and Science Committee
Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia
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Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure
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Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology
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Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology
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Research Council of Lithuania
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Ministry of Higher Education and Science
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Environmental Technology Laboratory,
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Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap
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Research and Innovation Foundation
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Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia
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Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia
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Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
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Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades / Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
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Madrid-Spain
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Research Council of Finland
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Germany
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Department of International Cooperation
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Latvian Council of Science
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National Research Fund – FNR
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National Authority for Scientific Research
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Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic,
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Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Enterprise Ireland
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Estonian Research Council
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University of Belgrade
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University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”
Skopje
the Republic of North Macedonia
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VINNOVA
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