After 7 years as Director of the Copenhagen-based Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) Jørgen Delman will move to become a Professor of Modern China Studies at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at Copenhagen University.
During his time at NIAS, Dr. Delman (58) has presided over major professional and organizational changes at NIAS.
He has been instrumental in creating its new ownership structure with a partnership between Copenhagen University as legal owner and the Nordic NIAS Council as its Nordic partner. The Nordic Council of Ministers has remained the main sponsor of NIAS.
Jørgen Delman has 27 years of experience as researcher, consultant and manager. He came to NIAS in 2002 from a position as Head of the Department for Private Sector Development in RAMBØLL, a major Danish consulting company.
During his time with the company (1991–2001), Dr Delman worked six years in China as European Director at the EU-China Centre for Agricultural Technology – CECAT (1991–1996).
From 1996-2001, he worked as in-house project manager, consultant and research manager on another major EU project in China, the China-EU Dairy Development Project. The research component of the project focused on on economic reform and the dairy sector.
NIAS, from being primarily a research institute, now combines research and services, the latter being primarily directed towards the members of the Nordic NIAS Council.
NIAS research and services have experienced considerable developments over the last few years and NIAS has also been undertaking a number of consultancies of various types.
In 2006, NIAS was evaluated by three independent international peer evaluators and received high marks for its performance. The evaluation also emphasized that NIAS has succeeded in maintaining its position as an internationally recognized hub in Nordic Asian studies networks.
In 2008, NIAS celebrated its 40th anniversary in style with two international conferences and a special issue of NIASnytt Asia Insights.
NIAS is in the midst of a process to recruit a new Director.
