Over 10 GYA members and alumni contributed actively at the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Conference and General Assembly in Cairo, Egypt, some of them in IAP leadership positions.
GYA Co-Chair Yensi Flores Bueso (University College Cork, Ireland) moderated, and Executive Committee member Carina Geldhauser (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) was a panelist in the joint CoARA/ALLEA/GYA side event “From Metrics to Meaning: How Reforming Research Assessment Drives Innovation, Impact and Trust in Science”.
This event served as the informal opening of the three-days conference part of the meeting, and was jointly moderated by Paweł Rowiński, President of The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and GYA Co-Chair Yensi Flores Bueso.
Discussion during this event explored the many practical challenges involved in moving away from pure metrics in establishing academic excellence. Examples such as narrative CVs were discussed and evidence was shared that fairer funding decisions can be reached by lotteries after a basic qualification of the entries is confirmed.
IAP Young Affiliates
At the time of the last IAP Conference & General Assembly in 2022, the GYA had been the only young academy to be a full IAP member – and had been a co-organiser of the Joint IAP & Young Academies Meeting back then. This time, the GYA was joined by 11 other young academies who have all recently joined IAP as IAP Young Affiliates.
The Roundtable Discussion “IAP Young Affiliates Engagement”, which included representatives of the UK Young Academy, the Swiss Young Academy, the South African Young Academy of Science, the Young Academy of Japan, and the Indian National Young Academy of Science, featured input from each academy on their motivation to join the global academies network.
GYA Managing Director Beate Wagner was a discussant during the Roundtable, and saw the good uptake of IAP’s offer of affiliate membership as a chance to intensify the work between Young Academies and the established academies globally.
The Right to Science
The “Science Diplomacy as a Bridge for At-Risk and Displaced Scholars” session, moderated by GYA alumna Saja Al Zoubi (Dalhousie University, Canada), explored how best to support at-risk and displaced scholars. Saja was joined on the panel by GYA member Encieh Erfani (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics & Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Canada).
This session also explored the right to science, which is enshrined not only in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also codified as binding international law through the United Nation’s Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Overall, the Cairo meeting brought together the global academy community for dialogue on the role of science in addressing societal challenges.
Throughout the meeting, discussions underscored the essential contribution of science academies in providing independent advice, supporting researchers, and fostering collaboration across borders and sectors. Participants emphasised the need for openness, trust, and long-term perspectives in strengthening global science systems.
Artificial Intelligence continues to captivate
Also in view of GYA’s upcoming Annual General Meeting and Conference 2026 theme, “Machine Intelligence for Society and for all Sciences”, the discussion on “Responsible and Sustainable AI for Society” was very interesting to follow. Moderated by Ashutosh Sharma (President of the Indian National Science Academy and GYA Advisory Board Member), the topic was opened by Stephanie Burton (Council Member and former Interim President of the Academy of Science, South Africa), who spoke about AI in doctoral education.
GYA alumna Ramia Al Bakain spoke on behalf of the TWAS Young Affiliates Network building on her experiences of what AI can do in her discipline.
Thomas Krieg, one of the Vice Presidents of GYA’s host academy, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, reported on Leopoldina’s recent influential publication on Social Media and the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents.
On the last day of the Conference, the members of the IAP General Assembly came together to carry out their statuary responsibilities. Former GYA EC member Hiba Baroud represented the GYA in this meeting, which also functioned as an onboarding of the new IAP leadership team.
GYA leadership roles within IAP structures
Numerous GYA members and alumni have been selected for various IAP committees for the 2025-2028 period. Those present at the meeting included:
Advisory Committee
- Ghada Bassioni (Ain Shams University, Egypt)
Capacity Building Development & Programme Committee
- Siok Yee Chan (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
- Tomislav Meštrović (University North, Croatia)
- Shymaa Enany (Suez Canal University, Egypt)
- Wibool Piyawattanametha (King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand)
Policy Advice Development & Programme Committee
- Stella Tsani (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
- Goran Bandov (University of Zagreb, Croatia)
Communications, Education & Outreach Committee:
- Chibuike Udenigwe (University of Ottawa; Canada)