International Alliance of Research Universities
The International Alliance of Research Universities was launched on 14 January 2006 as a co-operative network of 10 leading, international research-intensive universities who share similar visions for higher education, in particular the education of future leaders. The IARU Chair is elected from among the IARU Presidents for a period of 2 years. Past IARU Chairpersons: At the launch the presidents elected Professor Ian Chubb, 2005 - 2008 ; Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, 2009 - 2012 ; Professor Ralph Eichler, 2013 - 2014 ; Professor Ralf Hemmingsen, 2015 - 2016 ; Professor Nicholas Dirks, 2017 ; Chancellor Carol Christ, 2017 - 2018 ; President Makoto Gonokami, 2018 - 2020 ; Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope, 2021-2022 ; Vice-Chancellor Anthony Freeling. The current chairperson of IARU is Professor Daya Reddy, the Interim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
In January 2016, the University of Cape Town joined as the 11th member.
Its Presidents meet annually at a host university venue to discuss joint initiatives under the following categories:
- Global education initiatives, which includes the flagship ;
- Institutional joint networking;
- Grand Challenge, and most notably its ; and,
- Research initiatives.