During summer 2024, Katalin Solymosi (as Chair of the Young Academy of Europe, YAE) along with the leaders of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA), the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) and the International Consortium of Research Staff Associations (ICoRSA) prepared two side event propositions for the World Science Forum 2024 (WSF2024), which took place between 19-23 November, 2024 in Budapest (Hungary).
The first side event, titled “Engaging Researchers and Researcher Associations in Science Advice, Diplomacy, and Science for Peace” took place on November 19 from 14:00 to 15:30 CET at the Reading Room, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The event was dedicated to discussions and a keynote lecture by Stella Reschke (Secretariat of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance) about the involvement of young researchers and research staff organizations in science diplomacy and science advice. It featured, among others, Scott Bremer (YAE Chair) as speaker and Katalin Solymosi (Outgoing Chair) as rapporteur. The detailed programme of the event is available on this homepage of the WSF2024 and here.
Organizers, rapporteurs, moderator and speakers of the WSF2024 science diplomacy related side event of Eurodoc, MCAA, ICORSA and YAE (on the picture from left to right): Norbert Bencze, Hannah Schoch, Katalin Solymosi, Pil Maria Saugmann, Mostafa Moonir Shawrav, Rosarii Griffin, Stella Reschke, Irene Castellano Pellicena and Scott Bremer
The second side event co-hosted with the above organizations was titled “How to Make Academic Careers Attractive and Sustainable” and was held on 20 November, from 14:00 to 15:30 CET at the Ceremonial Hall of Pesti Vigadó. The event was moderated by Rosarii Griffin (ICoRSA), with panelists Slaven Misljencevic (Policy Officer, European Commission), Carl Vannetelbosch (Policy Officer, UNESCO), Nicola Dengo (Vice-President, Eurodoc), Katalin Solymosi (Outgoing Chair, YAE) and Gian Maria Greco (Chair of the MCAA). Moderators of the discussion included Pil Maria Saugmann (President of Eurodoc), Philippa Warren (Activities Chair, Young Academy of Europe) and Mostafa Moonir Shawrav (MCAA). Hannah Schoch (Secretary and board member, Eurodoc), Norbert Bencze (General Board Member, Eurodoc), Pavlo Bazilinskyy (Treasurer, MCAA), and Sal Music (ICORSA) were rapporteurs and moderators facilitating the discussion. One of the main take-home-messages of the event was that early to mid-career researchers would like to have their seats and their voices heard at all tables where important decisions on the future of European and global R&I are taken. The video of the event is available here, its detailed description is featured on the WSF2024 website and here.
Moderator and panelists of the Eurodoc, MCAA, ICORSA and YAE WSF2024 side event related to academic careers (on the picture from left to right): Rosarii Griffin, Gian Maria Greco, Katalin Solymosi, Nicola Dengo, Carl Vannetelbosch and Slaven Misljencevic
In the morning of November 19, Katalin Solymosi (Outgoing Chair of YAE) took part as panelist and speaker on the 16th High Level workshop of Science Europe, in a panel entitled “Reducing R&I disparities in Europe: best practices to promote the freedom and excellence of research in Europe“, where she gave some insights to the topic from early to mid-career researchers from EU13 countries. This workshop was also a side event of the WSF2024 (for details see here and here) also organized in line with the Hungarian EU Presidency. A detailed report of the event is available here.
Participants of the 16th High Level Workshop of Science Europe on the European Research Area
On 20 November 2024, between 9:00-10:30 in the Makovecz Hall of Pesti Vigadó, Katalin Solymosi (Outgoing Chair of YAE, founding member and previous co-chair of the Hungarian Young Academy) and Pil Maria Saugmann (President of Eurodoc) featured as panelists in a side event at the WSF2024 in Budapest, organized by ALLEA (The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities), the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) and the HUN-REN. The title of the side event was “Rethinking Research Assessment to Shape Innovative, Inclusive, and Impactful Science in Europe”. Other panelists were Andrea Balla (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Natalia Manola (OpenAIRE AMKE) and Tung Tung Chan (Erasmus University Rotterdam), and the event was moderated by Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra (CoARA). The video of the event is available here, and its description can be found on the WSF2024 homepage as well as here.
Moderator and panelists of the World Science Forum side event dedicated to rethinking research assessment (on the picture from left to right): Tung Tung Chan, Natalia Manola, Katalin Solymosi, Pil Maria Saugmann, Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra and Andrea Balla.
Participants of the side events took part in other panels of the Forum, and the four collaborating organizations (Eurodoc, ICoRSA, MCAA and YAE) also contributed to the drafting of the declaration of the WSF2024. It was our proposition to add a sentence to the final declaration about the importance of involving early-career researchers in science policy.
