What is EURAS?

EURAS, the European Academy for Standardization e.V., was founded in Hamburg in 1993 by researchers from various academic fields (i.e. economics, engineering, social sciences, law, and information sciences). It is a registered society under German civil law, and a non-profit organisation. The foundation of EURAS was prompted by a common desire to promote and achieve progress in the academic treatment of standardization, involving the widest possible range of disciplines. While EURAS emphasizes the need for European co-operation, it is internationally oriented and welcomes the participation from and collaboration with colleagues from other regions.

 

EURAS' objective is to promote research and education in the field of standardization.

The society's activities focus on:

•  promoting standardization research,
•  a critical evaluation thereof in the interest of scientific education,

•  improving opportunities to publish research results, and

•  supporting the development and professionalization of standards education.

EURAS offers a platform for exchanging information, collaboration and dissemination. It does so by organizing annual EURAS workshops and publishing the workshop proceedings, a newsletter, and the EURAS Yearbook.

The Workshops draw academic researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, representatives from national and regional standards bodies, representatives from government agencies and company representatives, who share an interest in standards. In principle, workshop presentations can address any aspect and field of standardization. In the past, there have been lectures on standards for IT and telecom, scientific methods, accountancy, water quality, gas, infrastructures, etc.

Since 2006 several thematic working groups are active (e.g. the EURAS working groups on Education , Conflict resolution , History of standards , and Industry Requirements ), each with its own activities and outcomes.

Initiatives for collaboration range from European projects on education (e.g. Asia-Link) and research (e.g. NO-REST), to writing articles which would otherwise have not been written.

While EURAS emphasizes the need for increased European co-operation, it is internationally oriented and welcomes the participation from and collaboration with colleagues from other regions.

 

Fact File

Name	European Academy for Standardization e.V.
Short name	EURAS
Legal status	Registered non-profit society
Board of Directors	•  Dr. Tineke Egyedi, Delft University of Technology (president) •  Prof. dr. Wilfried Hesser, Helmut-Schmidt-University (vice-president) •  Dr. Kai Jakobs, Aachen University (vice-president) •  Jürgen Wehnert, Urbane Ressourcen (vice-president) •  Heide Coenen, University of Hamburg (managing director) •  Jörg Gröndahl, University of Hamburg (treasurer)
Managing Editor of the EURAS Yearbook of Standardization	Prof. dr. Manfred J. Holler, University of Hamburg, Institute of SocioEconomics, IAW
Contact address	EURAS Heide Coenen / Jörg Gröndahl c/o Department of Economics University of Hamburg Von-Melle-Park 5 20146 Hamburg Tel: +49 40 42838-4462 Fax: +49 40 42838-6329 groendahl@econ.uni-hamburg.de
URL	www.euras.org