New president of philanthropy network elected

Tuesday 18 January 2022

Professor Tobias Jung of the University of St Andrews has been elected as the new President of the European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP).

Professor Jung, who is Head of the School of Management and Director of the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good at the University, will take up the role later this month.

The European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP) is an international interdisciplinary network focused on advancing, coordinating and promoting excellence in research on philanthropy in Europe.

Professor Tobias Jung

Professor Jung said: “This is both a great honour and a fantastic opportunity to advance the European philanthropy research field.

“While Europe can look back on centuries of philanthropic practices and traditions, the knowledge base on philanthropy has tended to be dominated by insights and ideas from the US.

“Strengthening contextual and more nuanced understanding of philanthropy in Europe, and for European philanthropy policy and practice, is paramount.

“If we want to successfully utilise the significant potential philanthropy presents for addressing pressing social, economic and environmental challenges, we need to make sure that we proceed from a robust, critically-reflective and research-informed knowledge-base.”

Professor Jung is a leading expert in philanthropy, particularly on the nature and roles of philanthropic foundations and trusts.

He is co-editor of the international handbook on philanthropy, The Routledge Companion to Philanthropy, co-editor of the Global Perspectives on Philanthropy and Public Good book series, and book review editor for Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ). He is a Trustee of Foundation Scotland, Scotland’s community foundation, and an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Japan Branch.

Professor Jung is also director of The Centre for the Study of Philanthropy and Public Good, which he founded with colleagues at St Andrews in 2016 with a focus on strengthening, enhancing and challenging theory, practice and policy relating to philanthropy and its relationship to public good through scholarship, engagement and impact.

Founded in 2008, ERNOP brings together 250 members from almost 30, mostly European, countries. Working closely with European networks of philanthropy professionals and individual philanthropic institutions, as well as with other academic research networks in related areas, ERNOP is advancing philanthropy research, knowledge exchange and capacity building across academia, policy and practice.

Since its inception, ERNOP has organised a biennial research conference, now widely considered to be the leading conference on European philanthropy research.

ERNOP actively pursues the representation of the study of philanthropy in key European fora and the informing of philanthropy-related policy-making at national and European levels. To contribute to the institutional capacity building of European research centres studying philanthropy, ERNOP organises AGAPE, A Gathering of Academic research centres on Philanthropy in Europe.


Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office.

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