The EMERGE Alliance is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lesley Lelourec as its new Secretary General. The position, attached to the University of Limerick as the coordinating institution of the EMERGE Erasmus+ project, places Dr. Lelourec at the heart of the Alliance’s governance and coordination activities.
As Secretary General, Dr. Lelourec will be directly connected to all nine partner universities, serving as the chair of the Steering Committee and a key facilitator of communication across EMERGE’s governance bodies. In this role, she will ensure a smooth flow of information between partners, oversee the circulation of decisions, and reports, as well as the governance archive. Acting as the central point of coordination, she will play a pivotal role in supporting EMERGE’s collaborative and strategic development.
Dr. Lelourec is also Senior Lecturer in English and Irish Studies in the Department of Applied Languages and Business (LEA) at Université Rennes 2, where she is a member of the ACE research unit.
Born in the UK, she has lived and worked in France since graduating in European Studies from the University of Bath, and holds postgraduate degrees from the universities of Strasbourg, Sorbonne Nouvelle and Rennes 2 in France.
Her extensive experience in international relations and higher education leadership includes serving as Vice President for International Relations / Internationalisation at Rennes 2 University (2015–2023) and as Special Advisor for Rennes 2 to the EMERGE Alliance. In both roles, she played a key part in preparing successive EMERGE project proposals, including the successful 2024 bid approved by the European Commission as part of the European Universities Initiative.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Lelourec has also served as President of the Centre de Mobilité Internationale de Rennes, as a member of the Board of the Institut Confucius de Bretagne, and Director of the Centre d’Études Irlandaises at Rennes 2. Her leadership and commitment to fostering international cooperation, inclusion, and multilingualism reflect EMERGE’s core values and strategic priorities.
About EMERGE
EMERGE – Empowering the Margins of Europe through Regional and Global Engagement – brings together nine universities from eight countries, uniting institutions located in Europe’s geographic, social, and economic peripheries:
- University of Limerick (UL), Ireland – Coordinator
- Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Greece
- Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF), Germany
- University of Inland Norway (INN), Norway
- Neapolis University Pafos (NUP), Cyprus
- Université Bretagne Sud (UBS), France
- Universidade da Coruña (UDC), Spain
- Université Rennes 2 (UR2), France
- Matej Bel University (UMB), Slovakia
Together, EMERGE universities collaborate around the themes of inclusion, solidarity, resilience, multilingualism/multiculturalism, and sustainability — five principles that lie at the heart of the Alliance’s mission to transform higher education through deep, transnational cooperation focused on equity, regional impact, and global relevance.