Open Science First Fridays talks continue in May!
The GYA’s Open Science working group is organising Open Science First Fridays – a series of discussions on current topics impacting Open Science, ranging from ChatGPT to Open Science policies on every first Friday of the month.
Join us on 2 May at 14:00 UTC for “Supporting public participation in peer review through training initiatives”, presented by Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States.
Register here for the meeting.
What is the future for European climate policy?
The German Young Academy together with the Young Academy Ireland,the Young Academy of Italy, the Young Academy of Sweden, and the GYA, is organising its 11th Climate Lecture on 27 May 2025, from 16:00-17:30 UTC via Zoom to explore the question of what the future of European climate policy looks like.
The “Climate Lecture” will provide a diversity of academic views across the social sciences and EU Member States on the future of climate policy-making at the European level. The panel will discuss inequality and populism as challenges to enacting further climate change mitigation policy. At the same time, this lecture will provide an understanding of the diverse implications of EU climate policy legislation for various member states. For more details or to register, see here.
Young Academy of Spain offers workshops
The Young Academy of Spain will hold a series of online workshops geared towards applying for European Research Council (ERC) grants (see image above for topics).
The May workshop will focus on the Physical Sciences and Engineering panel of ERC grants. The event will feature two successful ERC grant application cases, who will share their experiences, allowing attendees to ask any questions they deem appropriate.
Register for the Physical Sciences and Engineering workshop on 27 May here.
Young Academies hybrid workshop “Free Scientific Research Under Threat”
The Argentinian Young Academy and the German Young Academy are organising an International Workshop titled “Free Scientific Research Under Threat” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and online from 14-16 October 2025.
In the current international scenario, marked by increasing political polarization, free scientific research oftentimes finds itself challenged or under threat. This workshop seeks to openly explore different challenges and threats to scientific and academic freedom in an international setting, with the aim to jointly develop best practices on how to prevent, circumvent or deal with them.
Proposals for presentations can be submitted here (deadline 15 May 2025); for any questions, please contact the Argentinian YA at .
Young Academies from Poland and Sweden meet
In April, the Polish Young Academy and the Young Academy of Sweden held a joint meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on the occasion of the Polish YA’s General Assembly meeting. Paweł Rowiński, the President of ALLEA, participated in parts of the meeting about academic freedom, which examined how Young Academies could contribute to shaping research policy and safeguarding academic autonomy, and discussed potential action points on the road to implementing the Stockholm Charter.
See a brief report here.
Academic Freedom
In April 2025, members of the German Young Academy published “Protecting academic freedom: Strategies against anti-democratic forces”. The authors argue that in light of globally increasing erosion of academic freedoms and systematic attacks, actors and stakeholders in the science system need to develop strategies to counter these developments. They call on science system actors to work to protect and strengthen academic freedom.
A number of Young Academies from Europe (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Spain, and Sweden) have meanwhile signed an ALLEA statement on “Threats to academic freedom and international research collaboration in the United States”. The statement expresses concern about the political control of research in the United States and its global consequences.
“Compassionate Science” project launched
The Swiss Young Academy is launching a new project dedicated to promoting research practices characterised by empathy and humanity. Their project “Compassionate Science – Integrating empathy and compassion in research” aims to promote a shift towards empathy-driven and human-centered research practices by highlighting and sharing best practices from researchers already integrating compassion into their work and by creating engaging visual tools that inspire young researchers to reflect on the societal impact of their research.
In March 2025, the Swiss YA also launched a new podcast series: “Spark –Stories from Advocates for Global Change”. The series features thought-provoking, student-led interviews with a wide array of academic and non-academic experts from Switzerland and beyond. Together, the stories explore urgent global issues such as artificial intelligence, the impact of social media on democracy, human rights, and climate change. The podcast series offers young listeners (ages 16–23) an accessible entry point into the world of transdisciplinary research, showcasing how collaboration across different fields of study is essential to solving complex real-world problems.