On 12 March 2024, the First Meeting of the Iberoamerican Young Academies took place online with the main objective of seeking common points and building synergies.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Young Academies or young academy initiatives:
- Young Academy of Spain: Javier García Martínez (GYA Alumnus) and Javier Martínez Moguerza (GYA Alumnus)
- Colombian Young Academy: Arles Rodriguez Portela and Yuley Cardona Orozco
- Argentinian Young Academy: Luciana Balboa (GYA member)
- Mexican Young Academy: Alma Cristal Hernández Mondragón (GYA member) and Vicente Morales Salgado
- Young Academy Initiative Panama: Sandra López Verges (GYA Alumna)
- Global Young Academy: Felix Moronta (GYA Co-Chair)
- International Science Council: Carolina Santacruz Perez
The representatives of Haiti were unable to attend the meeting due to the serious situation their country is going through, and the representatives of the Brazilian Young Affiliates also excused their presence.
The meeting began with welcoming remarks by Javier Garcia Martinez, President of the Young Academy of Spain and Felix Moronta, Co-Chair of the Global Young Academy. Afterwards, the participants introduced themselves and their young academy gave a brief presentation on the situation of the participating Academies. They commented on their relationship with other Academies and the different ways in which they elect their members. Luciana Balboa, co-chair of the Young Academy of Argentina explained the difficult situation in her country, especially for CONICET workers. The different initiatives for the creation of Young Academies in other countries such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Honduras or Costa Rica were also discussed.
Subsequently, each of the representatives of the Iberoamerican Young Academies made a presentation on the main activities they were carrying out in their country. This part of the meeting was especially rich and fruitful as it allowed to identify initiatives of common interest and to agree on joint actions.
The next item on the agenda was precisely the identification of future common actions, including the support for the creation of new Young Academies in the region and the dissemination of best practices in the selection of new members, dissemination and impact.
The main conclusions from this meeting were:
- The existence of great differences between Academies, resulting from the idiosyncrasies of each country, and the variety of legal bodies that can shape a Young Academy.
- The different ways to carry out the selection of members of the young academies: 1) prioritizing scientific excellence; 2) prioritizing the social commitment of the candidates; or 3) a compromise between scientific excellence and social commitment.
- The importance of the support of the established science academies and the need to create profitable and dynamic relationships with them.
Some of the activities developed by the academies attending this meeting and that other countries could replicate are:
- Scientific advice.
- Organization of workshops aimed at fostering scientific vocations in children and adolescents.
- Courses on the tools needed throughout the research career.
- Workshops focused on means of financing.
- Mentoring programs for young researchers.
- Webinars on transfer, patents and spin-offs.
- Scientific leadership programs.
The main mission of this meeting of Young Academies has been to identify possible nascent initiatives in other countries and to offer them the support of the group for the creation of new Young Academies. The “ISC Early- and Mid-career Researchers (EMCR) Forum: Latin America and the Caribbean” to be held in April in Santiago de Chile will be used as an opportunity to establish face-to-face contacts and invite possible new academies or new initiatives to the next meeting, such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
The Colombian Young Academy will tentatively host the next online meeting of this group in June 2024.