As previously announced, the Young Academy of Europe has been actively involved in advising on the creation of an agreement for reforming research assessment, as part of the Core Group organised by the European Commission.
The Core group involved 20 research organisations, representing the diversity of the research community across Europe, contributed to the drafting process led by the Drafting Team, while EU Member States and Associated Countries have been consulted on the agreement in the framework of the ERA Forum and the European Research Area Committee (ERAC). Over 350 organisations from +40 countries covering all stakeholder groups have expressed interest in the Agreement, through a number of stakeholder meetings held over the past 6 months.
Today, the final Agreement is made public. It sets a shared direction for changes in assessment practices for research, researchers and research performing organisations, with the overarching goal to change the system to maximise the quality and impact of research. The Final version of the Agreement can be accessed here.
We are delighted to announce that the André Mischke YAE Prize 2022 for Science and Policy was awarded to Dr. Gergely Toldi. The full press release can be found here.
Dr. Toldi is a senior lecturer at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, working in neonatal medicine and innovative research in immunology and the field of flow cytometry. He is also co-chair of the ‘Widening European participation’ thematic mission of the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub. For his successes in immunology, he received numerous awards, prizes, fellowships, and grants including the International Medis Award (Paediatrics) 2016. Dr. Toldi has been involved in various organizations and activities, e.g. as Board Member of the German Society for Cytometry, Member of Global Young Academy, Executive Committee Member of the Hungarian Young Academy, and Member of the COVID19 Advisory Group of the InterAcademy Partnership. Within the ‘Widening European participation’ mission of AE, he plays an important role in increasing the competitiveness of early career researchers (ECRs) from EU13 countries and improving their representation on the European level. He is also a founding delegate of the Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS), a new initiative to create a formal platform of European young academies for their involvement in European science advice through SAPEA. Through his clinical role, Toldi developed evidence-based regional and international guidelines and led quality improvement projects shaping current clinical practice in several aspects of neonatal intensive care. He has been active in public dissemination of essential information related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the benefits of immunisation, and he was involved in science communication during the World Science Forum (WSF) organised in Budapest in 2019. Dr. Toldi helped set up both the Hungarian Young Academy (2019) and the United Kingdom Young Academy (2022), and coordinated large-scale surveys of early-career researchers in Hungary and UK. These surveys helped implement several changes to improve ECRs’ opportunities and guide related science policy to date.
By awarding him the YAE Prize, the YAE recognises internationally leading academic research, management, and policy making. The YAE will award the sixth annual YAE Prize, honouring our Founding Chair André Mischke, at the joint annual AE /YAE meeting in Barcelona (October 2022).
We are delighted to announce that the YAE will be widely represented at this year’s EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference. The biennial ESOF conference is the largest interdisciplinary meeting on science and innovation in Europe, for and with society.
Gemma Modinos, YAE Chair, will give an invited keynote address on Friday 15 July at 15:00-16:00 (CEST) on the Main stage (Stadsgehoorzaal) in Leiden (also online), titled “Sustainable Academic Careers: Young Scholars’ Perspective”.
Furthermore, the YAE has two accepted sessions in this year’s programme.
Out of 300 submitted proposals for ESOF2022, the a sesssion on Research Precarity initiated by the Science Outreach Task Force of YAE and led by Noel de Miranda and Katalin Solymosi was accepted. The session will be organized jointly with the Young Academy Leiden and the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICRSA). The session is entitled “New radical career paths for researchers – breaking the existing norm of short-term contracts leading to precarity” and will take place on Saturday, 16th July, from 9:45 am – 11:00 am in Kamerlingh Onnes Building (KOG) in Leiden (but also online). The YAE will be represented by Anna Kuppuswamy (selection committee vice-chair of the YAE). The panel aims to initiate and continue discussions on how to reinvent academic careers such that we can support a healthy and sustainable academic system.
Furthermore, along with Academia Europaea Cardiff Hub and CALIPER, the YAE is also involved in another ESOF2022 panel entitled “The Chair: Fact or Fiction? Addressing the challenges faced by women leaders in academia” which will take place on Saturday, 16th July at 14:15-15:30 CEST online. Moniek Tromp (vice-chair of YAE) is one of the panellists, with Gemma Modinos (chair of YAE) chairing the session. The proposal was developed by Mangala Srinivas (previous chair of YAE, CALIPER), Katalin Solymosi (YAE), Juliet Davies and Louise Edwards (AE Cardiff Hub) and will feature discussion on how to create a brighter future for women aspiring to fulfilling academic careers and leadership positions, as well as an effective work-life balance. A keynote will be delivered by Susanne Täuber for the University of Groningen. You can find more information on this session on the AE Cardiff Knowledge Hub website following this link.
ESOF is an excellent conference and we look forward to having a large YAE representation. We therefore strongly encourage you to register to attend. More details on the event, programme and registrations can be found on the ESOF website: https://www.esof.eu/
On the 28th of March 2022, the Academia Europaea Cardiff Knowledge Hub, KU Leuven Libraries and the Young Academy of Europe co-organised a webinar on the Diamond Open Access publishing model, where scientific articles are not subject to Article Processing Charges (APCs).
During the webinar, the panellists discussed the latest developments in Open Access publishing and what it means for researchers, research-intensive institutions, funding bodies, libraries and publishers.
Diamond journals represent a large percentage of open access publishing output and are mostly owned and managed by universities, learned societies and other not-for-profit organisations. Two organisations leading the development of an international strategy on Open Access, Science Europe and Coalition S, have recently launched an initiative that will offer worldwide support to building and sustaining the Diamond Model. The action plan was published on 2nd March.
The webinar was chaired by Professor Ole Petersen, Honorary Vice-President, Academia Europaea. The panellists involved:
Professor Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of Coalition S
Dr Bregt Saenen, Senior Policy Officer at Science Europe
Professor Sarah de Rijcke, Scientific Director at the CSTS at Leiden University
Professor Demmy Verbeke, Head of KU Leuven Libraries Artes
Professor Toma Susi, FYAE and former YAE Vice-Chair, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at Open Research Europe
The summary of the webinar, the panellists’ slides, and the briefing paper can all be found on the AE Cardiff Knowledge Hub website here.
The YAE Chair, Gemma Modinos, and YAE Board Members, Katalin Solymosi and Anna Kuppuswamy, have published an invited article for the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS).
The post, “The Young Academy of Europe: 10 years supporting science advice and policy“, provides an overview of the key YAE achievements from a decade of making the voice of European young scholars heard for science advice and policy. The full text of the post is accessible following the link below:
The YAE supports the Stick to Science online signature campaign. This initiative has been set up to call for an open and inclusive European Research Area (ERA), and urges the EU, UK and Switzerland to reach association agreements so that the two countries can continue to contribute scientifically and financially to Horizon Europe and the ERA.
You can learn more about the campaign, and sign up as an individual and/or an organisation on the Stick to Science website: https://stick-to-science.eu/
The recordings from the YAE-led sessions during the 2021 Building Bridges meeting are now available on our Youtube channel. Building Bridges is organised jointly by the Academia Europaea and the Young Academy of Europe, and in 2021 it was hosted by the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of Academia Europaea.
The YAE-led sessions included the following events:
The 2021 André Mischke YAE Prize for Science and Policy lecture by Prof. Marian Verhelst, available here.
A panel discussion on “Redefining Rewards and Recognitions for European Scholars”, which included expert speakers Michael Murphy (European University Association), Kostas Glinos (European Commission), Moniek Tromp (YAE Vice-Chair) and Rebecca Lawrence (F1000), and was moderated by Gemma Modinos (YAE Chair). The recording is available here.
We are grateful to the AE Barcelona Knowledge Hub for making the recordings available to us.
Prof. Verhelst received the 2021 YAE Prize
2021 YAE Prize laudatio by Dr. Arild Husby
@Rubén Duro/AE-BKH
2021 YAE Prize lecture by Prof. Verhelst
@Rubén Duro/AE-BKH
Panel Discussion on Reforming Rewards and Recognitions
Panel Discussion on Reforming Rewards and Recognitions
@Rubén Duro/AE-BKH
Panel Discussion on Reforming Rewards and Recognitions
@Rubén Duro/AE-BKH
Professor Sierd Cloetingh will end his term as President of the Academia Europaea at the end of December 2021, having served the Academy in this role for the past 7 years. The Young Academy of Europe congratulates and expresses its warmest gratitude to Professor Cloetingh, who has been a pivotal figure in the advancement of the YAE since its founding days.
The YAE has had the pleasure of closely collaborating with Professor Cloetingh since the very beginning of the YAE in 2012. During this time, the YAE established further links and fruitful collaborations with Professor Cloetingh through, for example, the Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA), the Academia Europaea (AE), and the European Collaboration in Science & Technology (COST).
Professor Cloetingh has made breakthrough contributions to science. Not only through his pioneering scientific research in the area of earth sciences, but also through his visionary and robust approach to shaping Europe’s science funding arena and science policy. His dedication to making Europe an attractive place for researchers worldwide is evidenced by the many distinguished posts he has held (President AE, Vice-President ERC, President SAPEA, President COST) and proactively filled with original and pragmatic ideas that have created tangible impacts, for instance through the creation of the Proof of Concept (ERC-PoC) program and the COST Innovator Grant.
His constructive ideas have been widely implemented over the past decade, helping a large number of researchers and especially early-career scientists in Europe to 1) establish themselves as independent researchers, 2) network with scientists across the disciplines, 3) efficiently engage with industry without losing sight of their fundamental research, and 4) actively engage with science policy.
Through his role as President of the AE (2014-2021) and COST (2017-2019), among others, and his friendly and welcoming character, the YAE has had the opportunity to frequently exchange thoughts and ideas with Professor Cloetingh in the context of Europe’s science policy in general, and particularly concerning the challenges that early-career researchers face today.
Professor Cloetingh is an internationally leading figure on many levels, with an extraordinary talent to foster the next generation of scientists in Europe and beyond. His enthusiastic support for young researchers has been particularly striking and refreshing in today’s competitive research environment. One example is the YAE itself. Professor Cloetingh worked closely with our Founding Chair André Mischke† to create the YAE. Since then, he has been a great supporter of our grassroots initiative, and solid figure for us to seek advice without imposing his signature during the formation of the YAE and beyond. He had further impact by generously guiding/mentoring our founding member and former chair Professor Nicole Grobert, who was selected as Member (May 2018) and Chair (November 2020) of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission – a testament of his ability to see and create opportunities, and translate them into success.
Professor Cloetingh gave a warm farewell speech during our recent AGM in Barcelona in October 2021 (see below photo), where we had the opportunity to thank him in person for his valuable contributions to help the YAE be where it is today. Reflections on his time as President of the Academia can also be found on this excellent interview by the Academia Europaea Cardiff Knowledge hub.
YAE Chair Gemma Modinos gives a farewell present to Professor Sierd Cloetingh at the 2021 YAE AGM. We also had the pleasure to welcome the new AE President Elect, Professor Marja Makarow.
Nominations are now open for the 2022 edition of the YAE Prize! More information about the Prize, including previous Prize recipients and requirements, can be found here. Note that you do not need to be a YAE member to nominate.
A detailed document describing the nomination procedure for the 2022 edition can be found here: André Mischke YAE Prize 2022.
The YAE, together with 14 other representatives of research and innovation (R&I) organisations penned an open letter on 4th October 2021 to reiterate to the member states and the European Commission the added value of including European R&I stakeholders in the ERA governance system, especially in both its co-creation and implementation. See the full text of the open letter for more information.
4TH october 2021. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT INFO@YACADEURO.ORG
