GYA EC member Markus J. Prutsch, who is a former Co-Chair of the GYA Science Advice working group and is a member of the YASAS Board, represented the GYA and YASAS at the High-Level “Science for Policy in Europe” conference, taking place in a hybrid format in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2023 and organized by the European Commission (DG RTD) and SAPEA. Bringing together around 1,500 policymakers, science advisors, researchers, ethics experts, and other professionals working in the science-policy interface, the conference focused on the following four key issues:
- What are the trends, challenges and opportunities for the future of evidence-informed policymaking?
- How can we build stronger science-for-policy institutions, networks and ecosystems in Europe?
- How can we develop the competences and skills needed for effective science-for-policy mechanisms?
- How can we improve the governance of science for policy?
Among other things, Markus took part as a speaker and panellist in the plenary session “How can we build better Science for Policy ecosystems in Europe?” alongside Maria Chiara Carrozza (President of the National Research Council, Italy, and Chair of the European Science Advisors Forum – ESAF) and Nicole Grobert (Chair of the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors).
In September 2023, the GYA returned to the YASAS Board with the election of EC member Markus Prutsch (European Parliament, Belgium) as a new YASAS Board member during their General Assembly meeting.
About YASAS
YASAS – the Young Academies Science Advice Structure in Europe – was formed in December 2020 and brings together national young academies from Europe as well as the transnational Young Academy of Europe and the GYA. It is the first formalized platform for collaboration between Europe’s Young Academies. It seeks to deepen the exchange between the Young Academies and aims to strengthen the delivery of science advice in Europe by directly giving voice to early- and mid-career academics.
The goal behind the establishment of YASAS was the formation of a functional network of Europe’s young academies, in order to be able to become a partner network in the SAPEA consortium as one of six Europe-wide networks (the others are acatech, ALLEA, EASAC, FEAM, and the Academia Europaea).
SAPEA – the Science Advice for Policy by European Academies consortium – contributes to the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM). The current SAPEA+ Horizon project started on 1 May 2022 and will continue until December 2024.
In this project, YASAS, in addition to being part of the science evidence work of SAPEA+, is in charge of a work package dedicated to increase the representation of early- and mid-career researchers at all levels of SAM. To this end, YASAS is developing, monitoring and supporting SAPEA’s strategy to improve the involvement of early- and mid-career researchers, as well as building a strategic network of these researchers across Europe.
YASAS currently brings together 13 national young academies (Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Spain and Sweden) and two transnational young academies (Young Academy of Europe, Global Young Academy) but invites other European Young Academies to join its ranks. The Young Academy of Europe also acts as the legal representative of YASAS and hosts the YASAS Science Policy Officer.
GYA members and Office staff helped facilitate the creation of YASAS from the start, by joining initial discussions about the set-up of YASAS in 2019/2020, supporting the eventual establishment process, and providing in-kind administrative staff support to assist the work of the YASAS Board during the first year of YASAS operations in 2021.
Currently, the GYA delegate in YASAS is Markus Prutsch, with Stella Tsani acting as the observer.
In addition to the GYA’s Markus, the current YASAS Board for 2023/2024 includes Helen Eenmaa (Estonia) as the President, and Sarah Verhulst (Belgium), Viktorija Vaštakaitė-Kairienė (Lithuania), and Maciej Sałaga (Poland) as board members.
For further information, contact GYA Senior Project Officer Anna-Maria Gramatté.