This year, the General Assembly of the Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS) and the annual meeting of the European Network of Young Academies (ENYA) were held in Berlin from the 21-23rd of May. Young academy members from all over Europe were also invited to participate in a public symposium of ALLEA (the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities) entitled “European Research Collaboration in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape”. The Young Academy of Europe (YAE) was represented on these events by Viktorija Vaštakaitė-Kairienė (YAE Activities Chair), who was also the member of the YASAS Board as an elected representative of the Lithuanian Young Academy in previous years. In addition, Katalin Solymosi (YAE Chair) also took part in the hybrid YASAS General Assembly and in hybrid parts of the ENYA meeting.
The delegates and observers of YASAS were welcomed at the YASAS General Assembly meeting on the 21st of May. The YASAS president, Helen Eenmaa, presented an update about the previous and ongoing activities of YASAS. During the General Assembly, the preliminary results of the SAPEA survey about the engagement of early- to mid-career researchers with science policy were presented, further strategic steps were discussed, and amendments to YASAS statutes were presented and agreed upon. Among others, the YAE member Noel de Miranda (representing the Dutch Young Academy, De Jonge Akademie) was selected as a new YASAS Board member.
The ENYA-meeting is an annual event that brings together all the young academies from across Europe to engage in discussions on critical issues. This year’s ENYA meeting was co-organized by the Global Young Academy and the German Young Academy (Die Junge Akademie) on the 22nd of May in Berlin. It was entitled “Young Academy Collaboration in a Dynamic Geopolitical Landscape”. The event carried on the topics covered at the 2023 ENYA meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, such as shared interests and best practices. Six Young Academies were invited to deliver brief presentations during this session. This session was utilized to showcase recently completed projects, emphasising the process, accomplishments, lessons learned, and challenges encountered by each Academy. During this session, the other Young Academies presented a variety of projects that focused on the intersection of science and art, scientific policy and diplomacy, academic freedom, career development, and initiatives that arose as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. In the second part, young academicians joined a meeting with ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, and public symposium “European Research Collaboration in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape”. Other parts of the program included engaging seminars, discussions, and presentations.
Two workshops on ‘Academy interactions for better policy advice’ were held by SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies) on the 23rd of May to improve the contacts across European academies about science advice for policy. During the morning session, ’Cooperation between Academies in scientific advice’, ALLEA emphasized the importance of collaboration in scientific advice. In the afternoon, at the workshop ‘Achieving diversity, inclusiveness, and the involvement of Early- and Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) in scientific advice’, YASAS sought to promote diversity and inclusion in scientific advice, with a focus on involving researchers in their early to mid-career stages.