Message from the Chair
“I am very excited to have been elected as the Chair at our recent AGM in Barcelona. It was a pleasure to meet so many of you there, and I have big plans for the coming year. Some areas I would like to focus on are:
Communication
We need better communication within the YAE, and between the YAE and other organisations such as other Academies, and also European-level organisations. We have some ideas here, but please do contact us with your suggestions.
Changes in the Board
Marcel Swart, our previous Chair, has worked very hard in the last years. Together with the Board and other members, he has established strong connections between the YAE and the Academia Europaea, organisations such as SAPEA and EuroDoc, has pushed for the YAE to be registered as a charity, and managed countless documents and emails (I have no idea how he did this). Two other Board Members, Monica Brinzei and Karin Sigloch, are stepping down. Monica has joined the Academia Europaea, together with Yan Lavallee and other YAE members. We have two new Board members, Gemma Modinos and Zeila Zanolli.
Remember – you do not need to be on the Board to participate. All members represent the YAE, and your input is valued.
Best wishes for the holiday season, and a wonderful year ahead!”
Dr Mangala Srivinas, Chair of the Young Academy of Europe
Message from the Vice-Chair
“I am also very pleased to be elected Vice-Chair, and look forward to working with the Board to further improve and expand the YAE. One component of this is the survey we conducted of our membership in 2018, whose first results we are able to present here. In addition, open access issues have become very important in Europe with the advent of Plan S and its implementation guidelines.
Survey
We started a survey in late January 2018, which many of you have taken. We have about 100 responses so far, so there is quite a lot of data on work load, stress, tenure track requirements and so on. Please check out the very preliminary overview analysis that I presented at the Annual General Meeting, but be aware that there is a lot more that can be learned from the responses. Can you help with further analyses? If it falls within your expertise, please let us know!
Plan S
Academic publishing is undergoing big changes with coordinated action by the European Commission and the cOAlitionS of national funders aiming to achieve immediate open access to the results of publicly funded research starting from 2020. More funders are supporting the initiative, now including also The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the USA and several funders in China, and it seems certain that real change is finally happening. In September, the YAE made a joint statement on the plan’s principles with Eurodoc and the Marie Curie alumni association, and we are working on a new statement on the implementation guidelines. We will be circulating a draft with our members in early January and would love to hear your views.”
Dr Toma Susi, Vice-Chair of the Young Academy of Europe
Message from the Outgoing Chair
“After almost two years my term as Chair has now ended, and Mangala is now taking over as Chair after having served as Vice-Chair during that same two years, which means she is well prepared for the job. I will stay on the YAE Board for one more year as Outgoing Chair, mainly in an advisory role and where needed helping the new Chair.
Apart from the expansion of the membership in these past two years (we’re now close to 230 FYAE fellows); the participation in the Science Advice for Policy by European Academies (SAPEA) and acting as portal to the European National Young Academies for it (more topics and news to come about SAPEA shortly); having successfully nominated our former Chair Nicole Grobert for the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors; helping shape the future of European research for young scholars through helping shaping Plan S; the most impactful event for the YAE in these past two years has been the unexpected passing away of our Founding Chair André Mischke. It is for this reason that the YAE Board, YAE Advisory Council and the AGM in Barcelona decided that the annual prize will be renamed to the André Mischke YAE Prize on Science and Policy, to be awarded for the first time at the next AGM in Barcelona (23-24 October 2019).”
Dr Marcel Swart, Outgoing Chair of the Young Academy of Europe