The Academia Europaea (AE) Task Force on Environment, Sustainability and Climate (TFESC) along with the AE Cardiff Hub organised a dynamic, facilitated workshop with the objective of identifying transformative actions and best practices to promote sustainable agriculture and healthy food systems in Europe. During the event held between 20-22 September, 2023, at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, members of the task force including members of AE and Young Academy of Europe (YAE) were exploring the capacity of AE and YAE to take an active and leading role in addressing pressing climate and environmental challenges, by harnessing the wealth and diversity of expertise found within the organisations.
Participants at Wolfson College Cambridge. From left to right: Verena Winiwarter, Jane Hill, Eystein Jansen, Stephen Evans, Phoebe Koundouri, Carl Walter Matthias Kaiser, Poul Holm, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner, Urbano Fra Paleo, Mark d’Inverno, Katalin Solymosi, Ray Dixon, Helena Bilandzic, Arturo Anadón, Peter Wagner, Patricia Holm. (Missing from photo: Kathrin Golda-Pongratz)
European Review is the official international multidisciplinary journal of Academia Europaea, with Alban Kellerbauer (former YAE board member) as editor-in-chief, and several YAE members and alumni (Denys Makarov, Gemma Modinos, Marcel Swart) as editors. Recently, the European Review celebrated its 30th birthday. On this occasion, on 3rd July, Academia Europaea organized a conference entitled Science and Scholarship in a Changing Europe in Cambridge, where Katalin Solymosi (Vice-chair) represented the YAE in a panel discussion. For more details about the conference see this link.
On 13th September 2022 the YAE signed a memorandum of understanding formalising a new cooperation with the AE Bergen Hub. The MoU was signed by Eystein Jansen for the AE-Bergen Hub and Gemma Modinos for the YAE. The event was facilitated by Scott Bremer, YAE Activities Chair.
Receiving support for administrative tasks by the Bergen Hub will be a great help for the YAE and we very much look forward to future collaborations for policy-related activities!
Image courtesy of Nils Olav Sæverås, AE Bergen Hub
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.
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.
The Young Academy of Europe (YAE) and the AE Cardiff Hub have entered a collaboration agreement with the aim of working together more closely and enhancing operational effectiveness.
Academia Europaea Cardiff Knowledge Hub’s 30th anniversary reception, held on 14th January, featured a lively discussion on Plan S, an initiative for open-access science publishing. Plan S was launched in September 2018 by an international consortium of research funders, cOAlition S, supported by the ERC and launched by Science Europe.
Prof Ole Petersen, the Hub’s Academic Director, and Dr Mangala Srinivas, Chair of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), introduced the topic, followed by audience discussion.
Dr Mangala Srinivas, Chair Young Academy of Europe (YAE) contributing to the debate
Although Plan S is seen as a force for change and is supported by some very important funding bodies, such as UKRI, the Wellcome Trust and the Gates Foundation, there remain a number of challenges and some institutions remain cautious. There are challenges for researchers. They include those trying to build their career through publishing in high-impact journals that are not generally open-access, and those who do not have the advantage of research grants to meet the costs of publishing fees, often in developing countries. At the same time, it was recognised that the academic publishing industry may undergo a fundamental transformation, with new not-for-profit publishing initiatives and fresh publishing strategies adopted by learned societies and others.
15th January 2019. For further information please contact info@yacadeuro.org
At the joint YAE/AE/ALLEA meeting in Budapest, it was great to see such a large input from many of our YAE fellows. One of the main contributions was from our Chair Marcel Swart, who was involved in a round-table session on SAPEA and joined by academies from the UK, Germany, Hungary, EURO-CASE, the Director-General Research and Innovation EU and the Presidents of ALLEA and Academia Europaea. Our Chair highlighted that the science policy discussed in SAPEA mainly affects young researchers in the future, and hence it is very important that young researchers should be involved in the SAPEA processes as they are through the YAE, with one of our fellows leading one of the chapters for the Food from the Oceans topic and another fellow being member of one of the Working Groups.
As well as taking part in many of the important discussion sessions in the joint meeting, some of our fellows also had the opportunity to share their research. In particular we heard from Mangala Srinivas who presented about Cellular Therapies in Europe: Current status and future possibilities in a plenary session titled Health and Disease, and Healthy Living. The session covered a broad area of health and disease, and ended with a panel discussion on the regulatory issues facing health care today. Regulatory issues are a major concern, given that many new types of therapies, including cell therapies, simply do not fit the schemes developed for traditional drugs and is something that Mangala highlighted in her talk. Mangala also commented,
“I’m not sure I would have received this invitation to talk if not for the YAE, so that’s just another benefit of being an active member!”
Another of our YAE members to talk about their research was Kate Hendry who spoke in the Climate, Environment, Water and Future Earth plenary session. Kate talked about the issues of high latitude and mountain glaciers melting at an ever increasing rate. Kate said,
“The removal of freshwater, locked up as ice on land, into the ocean is causing unprecedented rates of sea-level rise”
She also discussed the evidence that subglacial melt from the Greenland ice sheet releases a large quantity of key nutrients, such as phosphate and silicon, in addition to trace elements both in dissolved form and as reactive particles. As these nutrients escape into the ocean, they will have a major impact on the marine ecosystems, potentially changing algal populations that feed important fisheries. These changes will have clear impacts on local populations, reliant on natural marine resources. We can only mitigate against these impacts by curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which will take a global effort of multi-lateral agreements. We can also engage with local populations, and plan for changes and help with adaptation. However, we are only just beginning to understand the impact of ice sheet melt on nutrient cycling and oceanic ecosystems, and we don’t fully understand what the future holds for these marine resources. Kate ended her talk by reminding the audience that there is a clear need to put resources into modelling future outcomes, and include nutrient cycling and ecosystems into our future projections.
Having such a strong contribution from our YAE fellows in meeting such as the YAE/AE/ALLEA, is crucial in shaping future research and research policy. We hope that many more of our YAE fellows have the opportunity to speak and take a leading role in the next joint meeting.
Best wishes
YAE board
17th Oct 2017. For further information please contact info@yacadeuro.org
Many of you joined us in Budapest for our Annual General Meeting and joint meeting with the Academia Europaea. Those who were there, will agree that is was a wonderful occasion held in a beautiful backdrop of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. We had a very productive first day where we were joined by hfp consulting, who lead an informative workshop on time management. We all then went on to enjoy the Launch Party for the YAE charity, were new and old members got to network and form new friendships. Due to the new charity status of the YAE we spent some time discussing the Bylaws and also heard some interesting presentations from several of the National Young Academies, which we hope will join us in helping to grow the YAE in numbers and status.
Finally we had the important business of electing our new board members in which there were 7 vacant positions. Members of the Board who stepped down were: Sven Bestmann, Nicole Grobert, and Alexander Fidora. Their contribution and countless efforts on behalf of the YAE were enormous and we owe them a great debt of thanks.
Following the outcome of the election, the composition of the new Board for 2017/2018 is as follows:
Marcel Swart
Chair
Mangala Srinivas
Vice-Chair
Sebastian Leidel
Treasurer
Monica Brinzei
Secretary
Yan Lavallee
Selection Committee Chair
Lydia Schumacher
Selection Committee Vice-Chair
Sylvestre Bonnet
Selection Committee Vice-Chair
Toma Susi
Membership Chair
Karin Sigloch
Membership Vice-Chair
Manuel Fernández-Götz
Membership Vice-Chair
Kate Black
Communications Chair
Raúl Arenal
Communications Vice-Chair
Following our own AGM, there was the Joint AE/ALLEA/YAE meeting, where the YAE was well represented during the scientific sessions, both by speakers and session leaders. The highlight of the Joint Meeting however was the very first YAE Annual Prize, which was awarded to Rianne Letschert, Rector of Univ. Maastricht, you can read more about Rianne and the prize here.
We have already started planning the next annual AGM meeting, which will most likely take place in Barcelona in the third week of November. We hope many of you will be able to join us then.
As part of the initiative “Spreading Excellence in Europe“, the YAE, in collaboration with the Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub Wroclaw, the Academy of Young Scholars and Artists and Nature Publishing Group, hosted the first “Excellent Science Days” in Wroclaw, on 5th-6th November 2015. The major objective of this event was to promote excellence across Europe by strengthening the potential of young researchers from central and eastern Europe to become competitors in European excellence initiatives, as well as enhancing their capacity to successfully submit their research manuscripts to top-level natural sciences journals. Thanks to Aleksandra Nowak from the AE Knowledge Hub, Magdalena Rowinska Zyrek from Wroclaw University, Sabina Górska from the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Liesbeth Venema and Iulia Georgescu from Nature Publishing group for making this workshop such a success.
9th November 2015. For further information please contact info@yacadeuro.org
