Posted on July 20, 2022

Agreement on reforming research assessment published

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.

Posted on June 15, 2022

6th edition of the annual André Mischke YAE Prize awarded to Gergely Toldi

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).

Posted on December 18, 2020

Press release: Fourteen Young Academies in Europe prepare to deliver science advice

 

Press Release

Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS)

18 December 2020

 

Fourteen Young Academies in Europe prepare to deliver science advice

On 2nd of December 2020, standing delegates of European Young Academies joined for the first General Assembly of YASAS: the Young Academies Science Advice Structure. After years of informal, yet constructive collaboration and knowledge exchange on topics of concern to early-career researchers, the initiative was taken to create a formal platform for cooperation of European Young Academies. 

“YASAS is a collaboration of fourteen Young Academies (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Young Academy of Europe, Global Young Academy) but invites other European Young Academies to join its ranks. It seeks to deepen the exchange between European Young Academies in order to strengthen the voice of Young Researchers in European science policy and science advice”, says Dr. Jacek Kolanowski (Young Academy Poland), newly elected YASAS President. The YASAS General Assembly also elected four YASAS Executive Board members: Dr. Maral Dadvar (Global Young Academy), Dr. Lukas Haffert (German Young Academy), Dr. Moniek Tromp (Young Academy of Europe), and Dr. Marie-José van Tol (Dutch Young Academy).

YASAS aims to contribute to the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism by joining the Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) project. Currently, SAPEA brings together five European science academy networks. YASAS aims to strengthen SAPEA and the delivery of science advice in Europe by joining as a sixth member network and by directly representing early-career academics. 

The Young Academy of Europe has played a key role in the initiation and set-up of YASAS, over the past few years. The YAE will also act as the legal representative of YASAS in SAPEA.

All participating Young Academies are excited about this new collaboration, as it is a big step forward for young scientists and scholars to have a direct voice in European science policy and science advice.


For more information, contact the YASAS Board at yasas.board@gmail.com.

Posted on May 15, 2020

Fourth edition of the annual André Mischke YAE Prize awarded to Grant Hill-Cawthorne

We are delighted to announce that the André Mischke YAE Prize 2020 for Science and Policy was awarded to Dr Grant Hill-Cawthorne.

Dr. Hill-Cawthorne is a medical microbiologist and Principal Science adviser to the UK Parliament. He completed medicine and medical training at the University of Cambridge, UK. He then moved to Saudi Arabia, to set up a laboratory specialising in pathogen genomics at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, where he completed his PhD on the use of genomics for public health microbiology. In 2011–2012, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne was appointed to the highly competitive NHS Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow scheme, and was Clinical adviser to the Deputy Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), having responsibility for health and social care. From 2013–2018, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne was Senior Lecturer in Communicable Diseases Epidemiology at the School of Public Health of the University of Sydney, where he is currently adjunct Associate Professor in Global Health. For his successes in research, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne has received numerous fellowships and grants, amounting to over $9 million of research funding gained, and has produced influential policy-related publications in leading journals.

Furthermore, since May 2018, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne is Head of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), the science advice unit within the UK Parliament that bridges research and policy. Devoted to engage younger scholars in science policy, he developed a Parliamentary Academic Fellowship Scheme to embed academics in parliamentary departments for discrete research projects designed by Parliament. For 2020, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne is the President of the European Parliamentary Technology Assessment network (EPTA), the international organisation for legislative science advice units. Dr. Hill-Cawthorne has been involved in various scientific organisations and bodies active in the area of science and policy, both in the UK (POST, NICE) and abroad, as he is currently the President of the EPTA network. Finally, Dr. Hill-Cawthorne is intensively active on scientific dissemination. For example, he acted as the University of Sydney’s principal media communicator during the Ebola-virus and Zika-virus global health crises, writing a number of media articles himself, as well as being interviewed countless times on TV and radio, and contributing to the print media.

By awarding the André Mischke YAE Prize for Science and Policy, we recognise his internationally leading roles in academic research, management, and policy making. Dr. Hill-Cawthorne will give the André Mischke YAE Prize lecture at the next YAE meeting (which will be held online in October 2020), and will collect the award at the next joint annual AE/YAE meeting in Barcelona 2021.

Download the press release here.

Posted on April 19, 2020

Press release: The Young Academy of Europe participates in Horizon 2020 Project CALIPER

The Young Academy of Europe (YAE) proudly announces that, is an official member of the CALIPER project which has received funding by European Union’s Research and Innovation Framework Program Horizon 2020. CALIPER will last four (4) years and aims at making Research Performing (RPO) and Research Funding Organizations (RFO) more gender equal increasing the number of female researchers in STEM, improving their careers prospects and integrating a gender dimension in research.

Nine (9) RPOs/RFOs involved in CALIPER project cover a wide geographical area across the Europe from Southern, Balkan, Central European and Baltic countries. Thus, CALIPER elaborates on a diverse landscape of STEM research infrastructures in varying cultural settings. In addition to the aforementioned RPOs and RFOs, the project’s Consortium features two SMEs and a pan-European Professional Association to support the Project undertaking management, scientific assistance, evaluation and dissemination activities.

CALIPER will orchestrate the core inward auditing/internal assessment and GEPs design with outward actions engaging external stakeholders to activate synergies at all different junctions of the ‘education-research-transfer to market of STEM research results’ chain through the establishment of Research and Innovation (R&I) Hubs in each RPO/RFO of the project. CALIPER will adopt an intersectional approach to gender equality issues, paying attention to the ways gender inequalities are linked to and intersected with other discriminations.

Being a Member of CALIPER Consortium, YAE seeks to foster internal procedures that are going to result to tailored gender equality policies and sustainable structural changes in favor of a gender balanced and competent environment. The Organization is projected to assess the current conditions regarding gender issues and work on creating a GEP to introduce specific steps towards enhancing female researchers’ role. YAE is the member of CALIPER who leads the communication with the academic network across Europe to spread information about the project accomplishments and to facilitate the engagement of those interested with the project activities.

CALIPER envisions to create strong foundations for women’s engagement with higher management and decision-making roles in research and business field of STEM. The project is going to influence both the internal environment of the involved research organizations and the innovation ecosystem existing in their respective countries in order to welcome gender equality designs. Leading by the example of YAE, progress throughout CALIPER the goal is to enhance female researchers career prospects, increasing the involvement of young females into STEM research and solidifying the gender dimension is research and innovation, which constitute objectives of the European Research Area (ERA).

Email:  info@caliper-project.eu

Website: https://caliper-project.eu/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaliperEu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaliperEU/

LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/caliper-eu

Posted on February 17, 2020

Press release: Researchers call on EU institutions to ensure free circulation of scientific knowledge

Brussels, 17 February 2020

A joint statement calling on EU institutions to ensure the right of researchers to share their research findings without embargoes or restrictions has today been issued by three organisations representing early-career and senior researchers in Europe and beyond. The statement by the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc), the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), and the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) calls upon the European Commission to propose legislation ensuring that researchers always retain the right to share their publicly funded, peer-reviewed research findings.

Our three organisations represent a broad spectrum of researchers: Eurodoc represents 100,000+ doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from 29 national associations across Europe; MCAA has 14,000+ members who are current or previous beneficiaries of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; YAE consists of 200+ outstanding and recognised researchers in Europe.

YAE Vice-Chair Toma Susi: “Embargoes are an unjustified disservice to society, researchers and science itself, and it is becoming increasingly clear they are a thing of the past. European governments and others who fund research are entitled to demand immediate open access to research supported by taxpayer money. Legislation like this would ensure that researchers do not end up as collateral damage or bargaining chips in this long-overdue transition.”

Eurodoc President Eva Hnátková: “Immediate access to the most up-to-date information is crucial to tackling urgent societal challenges. A clear example of this is the laudable commitment by funders and publishers to ensure that all peer-reviewed research publications relevant to the coronavirus outbreak are made immediately open access to help save lives. But why should we stop there? Aren’t saving lives from other diseases also urgent and important? And isn’t this equally true for the climate crisis and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals? There is no valid reason to lock away research outputs that are so vital to help us tackle all of these urgent and important challenges.”

MCAA Chair Matthew DiFranco: “In addition to the many open access journals that exist, there are also numerous subscription-based journals that already today allow researchers to share their findings in open access repositories without embargoes or restrictions. We call upon the publishers that still force barriers on the flow of knowledge to modernize and accept the need for immediate access. While a European directive is important as it would solve this challenge for all researchers in Europe, ensuring that all publishers modernize their policies would solve this problem for all researchers globally.”

We thank all of our members who contributed to this statement. 

Please reference the joint statement using: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3669124

Posted on June 5, 2019

Press Release: Researchers respond to revised guidance for Plan S

The European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc), the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), and the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) jointly welcome the revised implementation guidance for Plan S published by cOAlition S on 31 May 2019. Revisions to the guidance are based on 600+ feedback submissions to the open consultation that represented both individual and organisational stakeholders including researchers.

Our three organisations recognised the need to revise the scholarly publishing system and chose to work constructively with cOALition S to ensure full and immediate Open Access without adversely affecting researchers. We jointly supported the principles of Plan S with critical comments for further development and subsequently submitted feedback to the implementation guidance for Plan S with comprehensive recommendations. We are pleased to see greater clarity in the revised guidance details and believe that the three routes to compliance in Plan S will provide researchers with ample options to publish their research.

The revised guidance has extended the implementation deadline by one year to 01 January 2021 and addressed our main concerns including (1) exemptions for CC BY-ND licences (in the Humanities and Social Sciences) (2) softening of the mandatory technical requirements for publications and publishing venues and repositories (3) explicit support for venues with no author-facing fees and societies and open infrastructures (4) commitment to develop clear guidelines for waivers/discounts for authors and for collaboration with non-cOAlition S researchers (5) commitment to implement a new research incentive and reward system.

Toma Susi (YAE Vice-Chair and contact for Plan S):

Our organisations spent considerable time to understand and discuss the reasons for Plan S and implementation details such as copyright and licensing and the many technical requirements. This was vital for developing informed and constructive policy recommendations, which has clearly been effective given the amendments of the guidance and the public recognition of our feedback by cOAlition S.

Véronique De Herde (Eurodoc Secretariat Coordinator and contact for Plan S):

cOAlition S has listened to the concerns of researchers and positively revised the guidance. More transparency in publishing costs/prices plus a new reward system not focused on journal impact factor will release researchers from the increasingly unaffordable prestige-driven model and enable more cost-effective and fair ways of publishing and evaluating research.

Mattias Björnmalm (MCAA Vice-Chair of WG Policy and contact for Plan S):

We hope to see more awareness-raising and communication as well as ongoing interaction with the research community leading up to the implementation of Plan S by cOAlition S. These issues have been debated for more than a decade and real change is long overdue. It is now crucial that researchers take an active and leading role in the future of Open Access.

We hereby reaffirm our support for Plan S and look forward to working closely with cOAlition S to ensure a successful implementation of Open Access for researchers.

Issues addressed: [http://eurodoc.net/eurodoc-plans-annotation-2019.pdf] (PDF 400 kb)

5th June 2019. For further information please contact Toma Susi | @mostlyphysics | chair@yacadeuro.org

The official signing ceremony
Posted on February 26, 2019

Press release: YAE officially registered as a charity

The Board of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) met at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich on the 25th of February 2019 to officially register the YAE as a charity in Germany.

The official signing ceremony
The official signing ceremony

Registration as a charity establishes the official status of the YAE and enables it to start raising funds and receive donations, and to grow further as a community and a positive force for influencing scientific policy throughout Europe. The charity status also allows the YAE to register at the EU and to participate fully in future grants.

Mangala Srinivas signing on behalf of the YAE
Mangala Srinivas signing on behalf of the YAE

“The YAE is delighted that it can now call the LMU Munich as its official home and wants to express its gratitude for making this possible”, says Mangala Srinivas, the current chair of the YAE. “It is also welcome that space, and some funding, can be available for all members to organise events relevant to the YAE at the LMU.”

The YAE was set up in 2012 as a bottom-up, pan-European initiative of a dynamic and innovative group of recognized European early career scientists and scholars with outspoken views about science and science policy.

 

 

YAE board members at Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen coming together to see the registering of the charity.
YAE board members at Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen coming together to see the registering of the charity.

26th February 2019. For further information please contact info@yacadeuro.org
Posted on January 28, 2019

Press Release: Researchers Respond to Implementation of Plan S

A joint response to the implementation guidance for Plan S has today been issued by three organisations representing early-career and senior researchers in Europe. The response by the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc), the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), and the Young Academy of Europe (YAE) offers concrete recommendations on the proposed guidance for implementing Open Access via Plan S.

Our three organisations represent a broad spectrum of researchers in Europe: Eurodoc represents 100000+ doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from 29 national associations across Europe; MCAA has 10000+ members who are alumni fellows of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA); YAE consists of 200+ outstanding and recognised researchers in Europe. We all strongly support the main goals of Open Science and Plan S.

The joint response builds upon previous recommendations by our organisations on the principles of Plan S and aims to ensure its realistic implementation from the perspective of European researchers. Eurodoc President Gareth O’Neill:

“Plan S has shaken the academic community awake and created a lively discussion on Open Access publishing. cOAlition S has addressed some key concerns from researchers in the technical guidance but still leaves other issues open and sets too strict standards for the desired broad adoption of Plan S.”

The proposals on copyright and licencing are still somewhat contentious. YAE Vice-Chair Toma Susi who coordinated the response for YAE:

“Copyright licences are complicated and often misunderstood. Plan S requires an open CC BY licence which applies only to publications and is necessary for unrestricted text-and-data mining and other desired reuses. This is why it is the right choice for publicly funded research. However, humanities and social science scholars have expressed valid concerns over misrepresentation and translations with CC BY. Our recommendation is thus to allow the option of an ND licence.”

The key to the successful implementation of Plan S lies in the research evaluation system. Mattias Björnmalm who coordinated the response for MCAA:

“A crucial factor for Plan S to succeed is that funders and institutions modernise their research and researcher assessment (e.g. for grants, hiring, and promotion) and evaluate research on its own merits instead of relying on faulty metrics. Good practices already exist from many funders and institutions. We ask institutions and especially the members of cOAlition S to not only sign but to start implementing the DORA principles in their research and researcher evaluation.”

We thank all of our members who contributed to this statement and also Bob Jones, Bianca Kramer, Raman Ganguly, Ignasi Labastida i Juan, Peter Murray-Rust, Jon Tennant, and Peter Suber for critical feedback. Any errors are attributable to Eurodoc, MCAA, and YAE.

28th January 2019. For further information please contact Gareth O’Neill | @gtoneill | +31651003175 | gareth.oneill@eurodoc.net