Lithuania’s Science Council delays appointment to public broadcaster’s board over complaint

The Lithuanian Science Council has postponed the announcement of its representative to the board of LRT, the national broadcaster, after receiving a formal complaint about the selection process, LRT.lt reports.

A council spokesperson confirmed the decision would not be made public until the complaint is examined, stating: “At present, a complaint regarding the selection procedure has been received, so the Lithuanian Science Council will not publicly announce the appointed LRT board member until the complaint is reviewed.”

The council emphasised its commitment to a “consistent, ethical, and responsible” approach, ensuring an “impartial, procedurally correct, and transparent” resolution before finalising and publicly confirming the appointment.

The selected candidate’s name will be disclosed only after the complaint is resolved and the council’s chair approves the final decision. Nine candidates had applied for the position.

According to LRT.lt, the council had provisionally ranked ISM University of Management and Economics prorector Vita Akstinaite first, followed by Kaunas University of Technology professor Andrius Jurelionis and Vytautas Magnus University political scientist Ignas Kalpokas.

The current Science Council delegate on LRT’s board is Darijus Beinoravičius, who resigned from his academic post at Mykolas Romeris University last year after its ethics committee found his submitted research paper contained plagiarism, violating academic integrity rules.

LRT’s board comprises 12 members, with four each appointed by the president, parliament, and public organisations.