The tenured professors of UL assemble for the first meeting

“Tenure is a new direction in the development of academic staff, and a tenured professor is a person whose excellence we have verified in research as well as teaching, and of whom we anticipate furthering the recognition of the university, its excellence in the field that each of the newly elected professors represents. We look forward to both an increasing in the number of doctoral students and achieving a significant number of publications, as well as a serious contribution to raising and modernizing the quality of study programmes,” defining the role of tenured professors, said Professor Indriķis Muižnieks, UL rector, adding that in the foreseeable future the number of tenured professorships will increase, reaching more than 100 tenured professors.

During the meeting, the tenured professors were introduced to the goals, tasks and expected results of the tenured professors’ work, the necessary work resources, as well as the opportunity of work organization and administrative support. After discussing their duties, the tenured professors agreed that it would be worthwhile to create their own tenured professors’ club, where they would exchange ideas and share their experiences.

At the close of 2023, six tenured professors were elected:

• Una Riekstiņa has been elected in the field of basic medical sciences, including pharmacy;
• Andris Ambainis has been elected in the field of computer science and informatics;
• Vyacheslavs Kascheyevs has been elected in the field of science of physics and astronomy;
• Inta Mieriņa has been elected in the field representing group of social sciences;
• Raivis Bičevskis has been elected in the fields of philosophy, ethics, and religion, the subfield of social philosophy;
• Andra Kalnača has been elected in the field of linguistics and literary studies in the subfield of Latvian synchronic linguistics.

The reflections of tenured professors on their field of science are available on UL homepage.

The main responsibilities of the tenured professor include defining the priority research areas and directions in their specific field of science, attracting the necessary funding for the implementation of the research programme, managing research projects, as well as participating in international consortia and projects. It is no less important to develop study programmes and courses at the master’s and doctoral level, to supervise the preparation of doctoral theses, as well as to promote wider public recognition of their field of science.