With this page, the GYA aims to provide a repository for global and national young academies as well as partner institutions to link their work on COVID-19, any statements, or information dissemination activities, initiatives to support scientists, to coordinate and facilitate institutions or governments.
Please contact if you want to share what your academy is doing, or want to contact other young academies for joint activities, or an exchange of experience and best practices. Furthermore, use the hashtag #covid19ya to link what you, your NYA or partner organisations do to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Check out our YouTube playlist on COVID-19!
Global Young Academy
GYA Interdisciplinary Grant 2021/22: Young Researchers and the COVID-19 Pandemic
The project aims to document the struggles of young researchers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with a global perspective but also from an internal point of view. The group will create and compile a written testimony of the human facets of experiences in these times of crisis, taken from a diverse group of early to mid-career researchers…
COVID-19 threatens to lead to a “lost generation” of researchers: IAP and GYA issue joint communique
The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) and the Global Young Academy (GYA) lay out recommendations to mitigate the harms of COVID-19 and seize on the opportunities to improve higher education systems around the world.
Mitigating losses: How science diplomacy can address the impact of COVID-19 on early career researchers
Despite the failures to tackle early coordinated responses at national and multinational levels, the global emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic promoted unprecedented actions on the science-policy, science-communication, and science-diplomacy interfaces worldwide.
GYA Working Group focusing on the pandemic and it’s influence on art.
By incorporating COVID-19 in their works, artists are expressing the effects of the current coronavirus pandemic on life in ways that are different from and complementary to standardized measures of pandemic impact.
The GYA Women in Science Working Group have published a paper on “GYA Women in Science stay and work from home: How might we make Covid-19 lockdown work for us?“.
This publication shares working group members’ inspiring experiences on how they deal with the current challenging times balancing work and family responsibilities, while working hard towards finding solutions for the future of this world.
A group of GYA members from Latin America organised a webinar titled “Covid-19 in Latin America: perspectives from young scientists”.
Due to historically low expenditures on public health and other structural problems, Latin America faces the COVID-19 pandemic from a weak and vulnerable position. As such, the challenges in this region are harder in comparison with the rest of the world.
Global Young Academy is part of a global group of science academies releasing COVID-19 statement
At this critical time we, G-Science Academies of Science and of Medicine from across the globe, including academies of the G7 countries, are engaging within our countries in many ways. But we all believe it essential to emphasize, together, the URGENCY OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, in several dimensions
Reward and appreciate solidarity in times of crisis
The academic system should recognize and reward support given to colleagues, the creation of new online modes of teaching, and displays of solidarity. The GYA believes that this will contribute to a better and healthier science system.
The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted the world and it will not be the last pandemic to wreak havoc on humanity.
Global health and the economy are at serious risk if proper mitigation measures are not taken in each country. To mitigate transmission of the virus, we need rapid, synchronised international action. Governments must consider the best science available to make informed decisions, the public must act as responsibly, …
COVID-19 primer from GYA Executive Committee member Sandra Lopez-Verges
The COVID-19 virus is on everybody’s mind these days. To help make sense of the situation, we reached out to GYA Executive Committee member Sandra Lopez-Verges (Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama), who is a microbiologist/virologist.
Young Academies
As part of their campaign “Bootons la COVID-19”, members of the Academy of Young Scientists of Benin toured southern Benin for a month visiting high schools and colleges to directly explain the measures needed to “boot” COVID-19. The initiative was coordinated by the Academy of Young Scientists of Benin, led by its President and GYA member Victorien Dougnon (University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin). A video report is available on YouTube (in French, with English subtitles).
Implementation of the “Bootons COVID 19! Module” project in schools in Benin, with partners (April 2021) (video in French)
Initiative to “Reward and appreciate solidarity in times of crisis” (1 April 2020) – endorsed by the GYA
Article on Pool-based Testing Approaches for Covid-19 (May 2020)
Live Zoom discussion on Authoritarianism and Corona on 29 April 2020
The Hungarian Young Academy also published a paper in the journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences entitled “Difficulties of Young Researchers during the Covid-19 Pandemic” (in Hungarian (abstract available in English)).
The Hungarian Young Academy recently organised an online workshop and forum focusing on COVID-19 vaccination in collaboration with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (available in Hungarian). Speakers included early-career researchers who covered topics like the history of vaccination, vaccine development, type of vaccines, mRNA vaccines and vaccine hesitancy.
Online workshop and forum on COVID-19 vaccinations, in collaboration with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (in Hungarian) (February 2021)
Paper on the “Difficulties of Young Researchers during the Covid-19 Pandemic” in the journal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (in Hungarian, abstract available in English) (December 2020)
Statement on Difficulties of young researchers under Covid-19 crisis (April 2020)
The Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) launched a nationwide vaccine awareness campaign to address the Indian public’s apprehensions against the COVID-19 vaccines. INYAS believes it is their duty to participate in making people aware about the benefits of immunisation through vaccine and abolish the myths that are deterring people from taking the shots. This multi-pronged campaign includes documents in 11 languages including Hindi and English, a COVAC NEWS mobile application made by INYAS, a Pan-India Infographic, and a webinar series dedicated to increasing vaccine awareness.
Launch of a nationwide vaccine awareness campaign (April 2021)
Webinar on Clinical Aspects of Covid-19: Myths and Myth Busters, jointly with the Council of Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR) India, on 24 April 2020.
Translations of the World Health Organisation’s Myth Busters on Corona Virus into various regional languages of India for a wider outreach
Webinar on “Women Scientists in the Forefront against COVID-19” (August 2020) in celebration of Women’s month in South Africa; podcast here
Webinar on ‘What Science will look like after COVID-19? COVID-19 and its Impact on Knowledge Production and Research in Africa’ (July 2020); podcast here
Webinar on ‘Harnessing health Innovations in Africa to tackle COVID-19 & beyond’ (June 2020) (video available here)
Various activities by academy members, see overview here
Coordinating translation of official Covid19 information into a number of languages spoken in the African continent, including Tshivenda, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Swahili, Portuguese, Sepedi, IsiZulu, Shona, and others
Launch of the Sanitary Sufficiency Indicator, a standardized method to better assess the impact of Covid-19 between countries, in collaboration with Methadodos and DSLAB
Spanish scientists are fighting Covid-19 (Webinar, 16 April 2020). View presentations
Op-ed on “How America Must Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic” (18 March 2020)
AI-based chat bot to combat misinformation about Covid19
Special issue of the VYA Monthly Bulletin on ‘How to combat COVID-19 with zero death and positive economic growth so far’ (June 2020)
Survey on the impact of COVID-19 on young researchers (June 2020)
Online symposium on COVID-19 epidemiology in April 2020; this can be watched on YouTube here.
Partners
The American Society of Microbiology is keeping the pulse of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In the eye of a pandemic, the need for a trusted, up-to-date resource of coronavirus research plays a crucial role in supporting the scientific community on the frontlines fighting the virus.
Online panel discussion on Science Communication in Times of COVID-19 under the Spotlight, on 7 October 2021, with the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
Online panel discussion on Challenges in COVID-19 Vaccination, on 3 February 2021, with the Indian National Science Academy (INSA).
Online panel discussion on COVID-19 and Multimorbidity: How to Deal with Multiple Infectious Diseases in Parallel?, on 26 November 2020, with the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS), the Senegal Academy of Science and Technology (ANSTS), and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS).
Online panel discussion on The Hidden Crisis: Mental Health in Times of COVID-19 on 28 September 2020.
Online panel discussion on Contact Tracing Apps: Promising Tool in the Fight Against COVID-19? on 15 July 2020.
INGSA is a collaborative network for policy exchange, capacity building and research across diverse global science advisory organisations and national systems. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, INGSA has created an information hub to aggregate and share the resources and discussions relating to how science advice and evidence functions in emergencies. In September 2020, INGSA published a report on “Evidence-to-policy in the coronavirus crisis“, which documents the evidence pathways behind COVID-19-related policy interventions from over 100 countries.
NASAC also organised a webinar on “The Response of African Science Academies to the COVID-19 Pandemic” (22 July 2020).
This statement, by the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), aims to articulate priorities for action that are worth considering so as to prepare for, control and mitigate the health consequences of COVID-19 in Africa and provide an impetus for change. View the NASAC statement: NASAC Statement on COVID-19 FIN070420
The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) provides an overview of European science academies’ COVID-19 responses on a dedicated website.
The European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) have published a commentary on “How can science help to guide the European Union’s green recovery after COVID-19?” (May 2020)
Future Earth is a major international research platform providing the knowledge and support to accelerate transformations to a sustainable world. In parallel to the efforts to contain the spread of the virus and protect those who are most vulnerable, Future Earth provides an opportunity for reflection and reimagination of our future by launching a rapid foresight survey: rapid foresight survey. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities we will face when we begin to rebuild from this crisis? Are there new perspectives or new approaches that might emerge from this crisis that could help or constrain us from advancing toward a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable world?
The International Science Council (ISC) is a non-governmental organization with a unique global membership that brings together 40 international scientific Unions and Associations and over 140 national and regional scientific organizations including Academies and Research Councils. Find its portal dedicated to scientific debates on COVID-19 following this link: https://council.science/covid19