On 22 February 2019, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved the creation of the Young Academy of Spain, an institution that will represent young scientists and promote new approaches to solve problems of national and international importance.
GYA alumni Javier Garcia Martinez, Javier Moguerza, Maite Aldaya, and Toni Gabaldon, as well as GYA members Jesús Martínez de la Fuente and Pedro Martínez-Santos have been working towards the establishment of a Spanish young academy for almost five years now. They are delighted that Spain will now also be represented in the steadily growing global network of national young academies. The Young Academy of Spain will have 50 members, who each will serve a 5-years membership term. To the founding members, the benefits of having a young academy are obvious: in a piece for El País already back in 2014, they had argued that a young academy would promote the enhancement of innovation and knowledge, and would support early career researchers in Spain by creating a benchmark that complements their current work environments. A young academy would act as a bridge for both academy members and many other young scientists to have the opportunity to interact with policymakers, funding agencies, the national media and the general public. The Young Academy of Spain will also look into issues of diversity and access of minority groups to knowledge and knowledge production.
The six founding members will be appointed members of the Academy within the next three months and they are planning to have an Inaugurational General Meeting of the Young Academy of Spain by the end of 2019.
Link to op-ed in El País (27 Jan 2014)
LINK to Spanish Government news site (22 February 2019)