Foreword by the Co-Chairs
Welcome to the April edition of the monthly newsletter – the last before our eagerly awaited AGM!
This year’s AGM and International Conference is set to be our biggest ever! Thanks to all the hard work of the Local and Programme Organisers, the Office team, and the enthusiasm from members, alumni and our partners and sponsors, we have a whopping 173 people registered. This includes 88 (44% of 199) existing members and 34 (75% of 45) new members.
For the first time this year, new members will arrive 2 days early and undergo a 2-day science leadership course, building on what we’ve learned from the two successful programmes in Africa and the ASEAN region. We aim for this to be a recurring event, meaning that in 5 years’ time all of our members will have had the chance to undergo science leadership training. Our hope is that this training will make a difference both to your careers and to your participation as active GYA members.
We are also particularly looking forward to welcoming guests to the conference from a wide range of countries and organisations, from our Advisory Board (which will have some new members – see the news item below), representatives from several National Young Academies, to our global strategic partners.
If you are unable to join us at the AGM in person, we will be livestreaming the public sessions.
As this is the last newsletter before the next round of elections for the new Executive Committee, we’d like to express our sincere gratitude to the 2017/18 EC dream team. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication towards growing and strengthening the GYA. We are confident that new members who share the drive, vision, and passion to take the GYA to greater heights will take over the leadership reins.
Happy reading, and hope to see you in Thailand!!
Tolu & Moritz
On behalf of the Executive Committee
Table of contents
- GYA News
- GYA in the Media
- News from Our Members
- Our Activities
- WG and Flagship Project Highlights
- National Young Academies Update
- GYA Strategic Conferences Updates
- GYA External Partners
- Other Upcoming Events
GYA News
AGM to be livestreamed on Youtube
The successful livestreaming of the Global Access to Research Software Report on Facebook in March 2018 was a step in the direction of developing our livestreaming capabilities for the upcoming AGM. For the AGM itself, we will use the GYA YouTube Channel. We will livestream on 9 and 10 May beginning with the conference’s Opening Ceremony at 10:00 local time (UTC +7). Please don't forget to subscribe!
2019 AGM planning is underway
The theme of the 2019 Anniversary AGM and Conference will be ‘Re-Enlightenment? The role, relevance and realities of Enlightenment ideas in a globalized world’.
If your Working Group or Incubator Group is interested in this theme and would like to organise a pre- or post-AGM workshop, please contact the 2019 LOC and POC by the end of May 2018.
The AGM and Conference will take place from 29 April to 3 May 2019 in Halle (Saale), Germany, at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Your Feedback on GYA News
An article recently appeared about the GloSYS Africa team’s work in the University World News.
The Next Einstein Forum reported on a GloSYS side-event at its recent Global Gathering in Kigali, Rwanda.
An article appeared in the Leopoldina news on 5 April highlighting the first GYA Lunchtime Talk held at the Leopoldina by GYA member Benjamin Hennig (Iceland).
The German Young Academy (Die Junge Akademie) recently reported on the GYA’s participation in a Parliamentary Evening event held in March.
(If you have written about the GYA and/or come across articles about the GYA in the media, please let us know by clicking the feedback link below).
News from Our Members
Tolu Oni’s (South Africa) project titled ‘Integration of housing and health policies for inclusive, sustainable African cities’ has received support from the International Council for Science. Read more here.
Your Feedback on News from our Members
Our Activities
Working Group, Incubator and Flagship Project highlights
Call for North-South Interdisciplinary Grant 2018/19
The 2018 call for applications for the GYA North-South Interdisciplinary Project Grant is now open. This grant scheme, introduced at the AGM 2014, seeks to support the development of small-scale, innovative, curiosity-driven, blue-sky, exploratory research pilots or prototypes that unite researchers in developed and developing countries and cross-disciplinary boundaries. Project ideas should innovatively combine research questions from very diverse disciplines. A list of past recipients can be found here.
If you have any questions about this grant, please contact Review Committee Chair, Karly Kehoe (Canada) by e-mail or GYA Project Officer Jennifer Plaul.
GloSYS Africa team holds well-attended session at Next Einstein Forum in Kigali
A subset of the GloSYS Africa team – current members Abdeslam Badre (Morocco) and Fridah Kanana Erastus (Kenya), GYA alumnus Abidemi Akindele (Nigeria) and GloSYS researcher Marie Neumann – held an hour-long interactive session at this year’s Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering in Kigali, Rwanda, on 28 March. As one of the largest gatherings of scientists in Africa to date, this conference was an ideal opportunity to increase the profile of the GloSYS Africa project. Despite taking place at 07:30 on the last day of the conference, a diverse group of roughly seventy stakeholders attended the session. The team briefly presented select preliminary findings from the GloSYS Africa survey (with preliminary data analyses provided by Hsin-Chou Yang and his team in Taiwan), and then moved into an interactive workshop in which they engaged with the audience to gather feedback on improving survey dissemination and explore implementable strategies to address the challenges facing young scientists in Africa highlighted in the survey data. Many thanks to Anna Coussens (Australia/South Africa) and Tolu Oni (South Africa) for arranging this very valuable opportunity!
Summer School on science advice
The Science Advice Working Group is co-organising an Evidence and Policy Summer School together with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA).
This summer school, titled ‘The role of population and migration for sustainable development in the European neighbourhood’, will take place 5 to 7 September 2018 in Laxenburg, Austria, and aims at early- to mid-career scientists interested in how to achieve impact on policy-making, as well as at policymakers interested in how to commission and use research in their daily work. The deadline for applications is 17 May 2018. Please visit the JRC’s website for details on how to apply.
Your Feedback on Working Group, Incubator and Flagship Projects
National Young Academies
NYAs at the GYA AGM 2018
The GYA is delighted that a number of NYAs will be represented at our 2018 AGM in Thailand! Apart from several of our GYA members who are also members of a national young academy, representatives from the German Young Academy, the Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology and the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Early Career Researcher Forum (NZ) will attend.
A breakfast meeting on 10 May will bring together these representatives and GYA members who are either already active in their national NYA or who are interested in establishing an NYA in their country.
Worldwide Meeting of Young Academies 2019 in Vietnam
The GYA wishes to thank all young academies who took the time and submitted a proposal to host the 4th Worldwide Meeting of Young Academies (WWMYA) in 2019 in answer to our call. The GYA was very pleased to receive several very well-developed and highly interesting proposals. The GYA Executive Committee and Office have now reviewed them all and are pleased to announce that the 2019 WWMYA will be hosted by the Vietnam Young Academy. Congratulations!
Your Feedback on NYAs
GYA Strategic Conferences Updates
25 March 2018. Research capacity in Africa is increasing rapidly, and needs to expand at an even faster pace to ensure that the continent and its youthful population can compete in the global knowledge economy in upcoming decades. At the same time, the complexity and tremendous societal and environmental challenges reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals demand interconnected, and often large, international teams, and an increasingly inter- and transdisciplinary research approach. To address these issues, representatives of the research community, universities, funding bodies, science programme managers and journalists attended the workshop titled ‘Connecting Networks to Co-design Transformative Science Leadership Programmes for Africa’. Discussion centred around six broad themes: underrepresented or disadvantaged groups; the scientific/research community; the media; university management; industry; science funders and funding agencies. The complete report is available here.
25-27 April 2018. The GYA Working Group Global Migration and Human Rights is presently holding an International Working Meeting titled ‘Global Individual Responsibility – The Role of the Citizen in Refugee Integration’ at the Munich Center for Ethics, University of Munich. The conference is funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and will open with a public keynote lecture by Professor Alison Philipps, who holds a UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration at the University of Glasgow.
Your Feedback on GYA Strategic Meetings
GYA External Partners
EC JRC: On 27 March during the Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering in Kigali Rwanda, Co-Chairs Moritz Riede and Tolu Oni, together with Ghada Bassioni (Egypt) and Managing Director Beate Wagner had the opportunity to meet Vladimir Šucha, the Director-General of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC). Speaking about science advice and the necessity for scientists to learn how politicians tick and vice versa, the idea was developed that GYA members, during a sabbatical, could devote their time to an internship at JRC headquarters. This opportunity is not only open to Europeans, but all members of the GYA. If you are interested, please contact GYA Co-Chair Moritz Riede.
INGSA: The GYA has been invited to develop and run a capacity building (mini-SLP) workshop for young scientists attending the biannual global INGSA meeting. This year, the meeting will be held in Tokyo, Japan, from 6 to 7 November. Co-Chair Tolu Oni is liaising with INGSA partners to develop this programme in partnership with GYA members Connie Nshemereirwe (Uganda) and Binyam Mendisu (Ethiopia) – both of whom have facilitated previous SLP workshops – as well as INGSA workshop facilitators and representatives from the Japan Young Academy.
Upcoming Events
| 7-11 May 2018 |
GYA Annual General Meeting and 8th International Conference for Young Scientists 'Forever Young: sustainable and healthy longevity through science and technology', Pattaya, Thailand |
| 16 May 2018 |
International Day of Light inauguration at UNESCO, Paris, France |
| 16-18 May 2018 |
ALLEA 2018 General Assembly in Sofia, Bulgaria |
| 21-25 May 2018 |
ASSAf-TWAS-AAAS Workshop on Science Diplomacy, South Africa |
| 29-30 May 2018 |
IAP regional SDG meeting, the Americas, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 5-6 June 2018 |
UN Multistakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, New York, USA |
| 24-29 June 2018 |
68th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Physiology and Medicine, Lindau, Germany. |
| 25-29 June 2018 |
AAAS Science Diplomacy & Leadership Workshop 2018, Washington, DC, USA. |
| 3-5 July 2018 |
Founding General Assembly International Science Council (ICSU/ISSC), Paris, France |
| 4-6 July 2018 |
Ghana Academy of Sciences-NASAC-Leopoldina Conference on “Sustainable African Cities”, Accra, Ghana |
| 6 July 2018 |
Young African Scientists in Europe / Jeunes chercheurs africains en Europe Conference 2018, Toulouse, France |
9-14 July
2018 |
European Science Open Forum (ESOF), Toulouse, France. |
| 9-18 July 2018 |
UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, New York, USA |
| 20-24 August 2018 |
AAAS-TWAS Science Diplomacy course, Trieste, Italy |
| 5-7 September 2018 |
IIASA-JRC-INGSA-GYA Evidence for Policy Summer School 2018 “Science, Policy and Demography”, Laxenburg, Austria |
| 10-12 September 2018 |
IAP Regional Workshop on the UN SDGs – Europe, Halle, Germany |
| 25-28 September 2018 |
World Social Science Forum “Security and Equality for Sustainable Futures”, Fukuoka, Japan |
| 7-9 October 2018 |
STS Forum 2018, Kyoto, Japan |
| 14-16 October |
World Health Summit, Berlin, Germany |
| 22-24 October 2018 |
CILAC, Open Science Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean, Panama City, Panama |
| 5-8 November 2018 |
International Data Week 2018, Gaborone, Botswana. |
| 6-7 November 2018 |
Third INGSA Biennial Conference, Tokyo, Japan |
| 9-11 April 2019 |
IAP Conference and General Assembly, South Korea |
| 29 Apr-3 May 2019 |
GYA Anniversary Conference and Annual General Meeting /Alumni Reunion, Halle, Germany |
Your Feedback on Upcoming Events
Want to learn more about GYA activities throughout 2018 and about upcoming events? Visit us on our website.
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