Academy of Europe: President's Page

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President's page#

Letter to AE and YAE members and guests from the President Sierd Cloetingh#

August 2019#

Dear AE member, member of the Young Academy and guest readers,#

I am pleased to report, that as of 21 October some 316 out of the 324 new members who were invited to accept membership have now accepted. So I am honoured to welcome them into our Academy. Please remember that when the establishment fee has been paid, your AE member profile will 'go live' on www.ae-info.org

, and our staff at the Wroclaw Knowledge Hub will arrange to post out your welcome pack, member certificate and member pin. Don’t forget to use your ‘MAE’ postnomial designations. You can search for any AE members using the online member database and search facility on the ae-info.org website.

Importantly, you will have been receiving from our Executive Secretary, personalised ‘e-letters’ (check your spam folders and adjust your filters if necessary) inviting you to come to Barcelona for our 31st annual conference – October 23rd – 25th. The four Classes are organising dedicated sessions on the morning of 23rd, where new members (from both 2019 and 2018) can introduce themselves to colleagues, and there will be a more formal plenary welcome convocation for new members and a reception in the afternoon with the presentation and lectures from our two 2019 Erasmus Medallists. These events will be followed by a President’s Dinner, especially to allow our new members to meet and talk. The main programme on the 24th, features top class speakers and there is an optional field trip on 25th.

So, please register on the conference website at: http://www.buildingbridges-acadeuro.org - the ‘early bird’ fee offer finishes soon, so get registering!#

I have two other very important announcements;

1. My term as President ends in 2020 and the call for nominations for candidates for the Presidency of the Academia Europaea is still open (closing date is 30 November). See CALL FOR NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION AS PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMIA EUROPAEA for full details.

2. The call for nominations for the 2020 ERASMUS Medal is still open [until 1st September]. Full information.

The Erasmus Medal (and lecture) is the premier award of the Academia and is made for lifetime achievements in scientific excellence.

A general AE 'e' newsletter will be e-mailed out in September, and it will contain some useful information for members including, on our peer reviewed journal - The European Review; Section committees, and the five Regional Knowledge Hubs and how to get involved with them. It will also describe our small funding schemes, events patronage and sponsorship opportunities for member events that we also run.

You should regularly check www.ae-info.org

for upcoming events and news. Or sign up for our twitter-feed.

I am honoured to report the recent publication of the SAPEA expert report on Making Sense of Science. This was the second major report that we (AE) have lead as a part of the SAPEA (Science for Policy) Horizon 2020 project. The topic was professionally managed by our team at the Cardiff Hub, with Louise Edwards and Ole Petersen as the key people. The expert group was chaired by Prof Ortwin Renn MAE who undertook the steering of this very complex topic with skill and expertise. Read the report.

The team at Cardiff will be pleased to advise anyone who may wish to be involved in future outreach events associated with this topic.

I am pleased to announce that I have been involved in assisting with the planning of a SAPEA event on 13th November, which will take place under the aegis of the Finnish presidency of the EU in Helsinki. The topic will be “The Future of Science Advice in Europe”. For more information: https://www.sapea.info/symposium

.

One specific AE event that members should be interested in, is the one-day conference on “The Future of Research: Assessing the Impact of Plan S”. The conference takes place in Leuven on 5-6th November. The conference is open to all interested scholars. See for full information. I am grateful to Theo D’Haen MAE (editor in chief of the European Review) and Ole Petersen and the Cardiff team for their organisation of this topical meeting.

Just a brief update on the Young Academy of Europe (YAE). I am pleased to pass on information from the YAE President Professor Mangala Srinivas, that the YAE have now completed their official registration as charity and they have successfully applied for financial support from the European Commission (a Horizon 2020 project - CALIPER: Linking research and innovation for gender equality) and they are engaging in a new COST association Cross-Cutting action - "How to address the increasing challenge of science communication in a diverse European (media) landscape".

Our Cardiff Hub have taken on the work of supporting the YAE with their communications efforts. So, from time to time you will receive dedicated e-newsletters from the YAE via our own E- newsletter system. Please do not unsubscribe from these, as to do this will automatically prevent you from receiving any AE mailings as well. Just delete what you do not wish to read. If you want to nominate excellent young (post doc level) researchers from your own institutions for YAE membership, go to the YAE website for information: http://yacadeuro.org

Finally, it is with a personal sense of sadness, that I report here of the recent unexpected death of our former Trustee, and long-time member of Council and Chair of the Chemical Sciences Section – Professor Michel Che MAE. He will be sadly missed but remembered fondly as a strong supporter of the AE and its mission, through good times and not so good times. As always, we are saddened by any announcement of the passing of our members and a more complete listing will be included into the general newsletter next month.

A few upcoming events:#

September – Tbilisi Neuroglia workshop, organised by Alex Verkhratsky

October – Barcelona 31st annual conference of the Academia Europaea.

November - Hangzhou, PRC – “The Ethico-Political Turn in Literary Studies: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives”.

November – Leuven, Plan S, one-day workshop

If you need help with your personal account, please contact Dana Kaiser (office@ae-info.org

] at the AE Graz Data Centre, and remember that all members may advertise events that they are organising on our website, and on request, have patronage of the AE for their event. If you have recently, or will in the near future, receive any significant awards or honours, please let us know so that we can announce these.

Sierd Cloetingh
Utrecht, June 2019