Oxford  - 30 April 2008    With an increasing focus by politicians, policymakers and stakeholders in the science community on matters that affect research publishing and publishers in the broadest sense, STM is pleased to announce the appointment of Barbara Kalumenos as its Director of Public Affairs.

Although the remit of the Director of Public Affairs is global and will involve working wherever STM publishers are challenged by governmental and quasi governmental issues, the new Director will concentrate in the first instance on activities within the European Union.

With this newly created position the International Association of STM Publishers will build on the work of its volunteer Public Affairs Committee while simultaneously strengthening its professional publisher advocacy team.

Barbara Kalumenos holds a degree in Biology from Ludwig-Maximilians-
University in Munich and has worked in leading positions in sales and marketing for various international companies focused on scientific information. From January 2006 she was Director of External Relations within Elsevier B.V., responsible for the dialogue with stakeholders from science, politics and the library community in the German-speaking countries. Talking about her new role, Barbara commented: “I am thrilled to have been chosen for this position and I am looking forward to championing the key issues that surround the research publishing industry and its public affairs.”