Archives: Boards

Joy Johnson is president and vice-chancellor of Simon Fraser University, and professor in its Faculty of Health Sciences. Joy is committed to carrying out SFU’s vision to be a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future.

Prior to her appointment as president, Joy served as SFU’s vice-president, research and international, and oversaw the evolution of cutting-edge research, innovation and international engagement across eight faculties. Under her leadership, SFU achieved the fastest research income growth of any university in Canada, with a focus on mobilizing knowledge to enhance the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of communities.

Prior to SFU, Joy had a distinguished career in academics and research. She is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has co-authored more than 180 peer-reviewed articles.

Joy is chair of the Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia and chair of the Universities Canada board.

As International Office Director, Wilbert van der Meer is responsible for international academic partnerships at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). He works closely with both internal and external stakeholders to strengthen CBS’s global network, including collaborations on educational programs, research initiatives, and strategic alliances. Wilbert is responsible for CBS’s policies and strategies for internationalisation.

Previously, he held the position of Head of Education at CBS and, prior to that, served as Deputy Secretary General at Universities Denmark.

Wilbert van der Meer represents the CBS Vice-Rector of Education, Anna Thomasson, in the Aurora European universities alliance.

Simona Gibalová is fourth year General Medicine student at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice). As current President of the Aurora Student Council (ASC), she will leverage on her extensive experience as former Aurora Student Ambassador in the ASC. From collaboration on creating the Aurora Students’ Rights Charter to representing Aurora in the European Student Union, she will brings a unique perspective from an Aurora Associate Partner university to the ASC board for the first time.

Simona’s vision for this year involves deepening student collaboration on a local and European level, improving the Aurora Student Ambassador programme and bringing forward the needs of students from associate partner universities. She believes that the ASC is a unique opportunity for every student involved to gain new, outside-of-classroom knowledge, share good practices and gain growth on both personal and professional levels.