GYA alumnus Huanyu Cheng (Pennsylvania State University, USA) and member Suraj Bhattarai (Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Nepal) were nominated and selected to participate in the 70th anniversary Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, which was postponed to 2021 and held in virtual form from 27 June to 2 July 2021.
“The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to interact with and access guidance from the greatest minds in the interdisciplinary research that brings medicine with physics and chemistry. Here is one piece of advice from Prof. Avram Hershko that I like the most “Accidental observations may be the most important ones. Grab your luck!”
– Huanyu Cheng (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Early-career researcher participants were able to network with each other in presentation and networking sessions, with 74 Nobel Laureates contributing to the programme – more than ever since 1951. 690 young researchers from around 100 countries were invited to participate in over 70 hours of conference programme. Many #Lino70 panels and discussions are now available online in the Mediatheque: 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – Videos (lindau-nobel.org).
“It was a fascinating experience participating in the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Interdisciplinary), as a nominee of the Global Young Academy. In this virtual event, young scientists were the focus of all interactive sessions and were given ample opportunities to interact with the Nobel Laureates. Although I could attend only few scientific sessions, I was much inspired by the talks of the experts, especially from the field of Medicine, as they shared their views on ongoing COVID-19 crisis, its prognoses, and public trust in science. Professor Elizabeth Blackburn (Nobel Prize Winner – Medicine 2009) shared how science can be both good and bad for humans, giving examples of a pencil and the CRISPER gene-editing tool, and called on global scientists to use scientific achievements wisely. I look forward to attending the 72nd Lindau Meeting (Medicine) in-person in Lindau in the summer of 2023.”
– Suraj Bhattarai (Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Nepal)
The closing panel discussion of the meeting addressed the topic “Why trust science?”, which connects to discussions among GYA members at the 2021 International Conference of Young Scientists “Trust in Science”.
