Now in its tenth year, the European Review welcomes a new Editor-in-Chief: Theo D’haen from the University of Leuven, who is taking over from his predecessor, Sir Arnold Burgen. Sir Arnold’s merits and services to the Academia Europaea are immense. During his time as the Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society (of London) in the 1980s, he was instrumental in the discussions, together with his counterparts across Europe, that led to the formation of the Academia Europaea in 1988. He was elected as the Academia’s inaugural President and in this sense may rightly be regarded as its founding father. Furthermore, he was the inspiration and founder of the European Review and has served from the very beginning as its Editor-in-Chief, and so doing made the Review virtually synonymous with his name.
The European Review was launched in 1992, with the first issue being published in 1993. That first issue focused on the timely topic of migration and it is interesting to note that the twentieth annual anniversary conference of the Academia, which will take place in Liverpool in September 2008, will again visit this highly topical subject. From the beginning, the Review has addressed policy, theory, research and practice across the entire spectrum of science and the humanities, focusing on various aspects that are of current European interest. At the launch of the new journal, Robert Jackson, the then Parliamentary Secretary at the UK government Office of Public Service and Science, said of the Review: ‘I greatly welcome this new venture from the Academia Europaea, which is rapidly establishing itself among the major learned societies of Europe. The Academia provides an exciting forum for scholars of all disciplines in the new and wider Europe.’
‘The European Review,’ he continued, ‘will help in the important task of bringing science to a wider public, setting science in its proper place – as an integral part of the sum of human knowledge and understanding of the world we are living in.’
In accordance with this important task, and as stated in the original programme for development of the European Review, the Review is in no way intended to have the character of an ‘in-house’ journal for the Academia Europaea. Rather, the objective of the Review is the broader promotion of science and the humanities in their international context, as well as to provide a forum for discussions of subjects of major importance to Europe. A continued feature of the Review from its very beginnings has also been its strong interdisciplinary outlook, thereby providing a means for introducing novel elements into the discussion of subjects that otherwise would not rise above the unexceptional. Sir Arnold also took the initiative to extend the original programme by introducing ‘focus issues’, which are devoted to a single topic, dedicated, for instance, to the theme of the annual meeting of the Academia, or to other issues of strong European scholarly interest.
Through a sustained policy of adherence to these principles, the European Review now plays a distinguished role in extending and diffusing knowledge across an ever-developing Europe. Once again, and in no small measure, we have Sir Arnold to thank for his continuing personal commitment to this project. Sir Arnold Burgen – and we say so without in any way wishing to overlook the roles and the merits of his co-editors and the members of the editorial board – has, in the minds of the members of the Academia Europaea, always been the European Review, its mastermind and its soul. With his retirement (a term perhaps still to be loosely interpreted) a great era in the history of the Review closes. The Academia Europaea bows to him and salutes the work he has done both for the Academia and the European Review. By the same token and marked by this first issue of volume 16, we welcome the new Editor-in-Chief, Theo D’haen, and offer to him the best wishes of the Academia Europaea, fully confident that the continued strengthening of the journal is assured.
