During the week of 11 October, the four classes - Humanities (Chair Poul Holm); Social and Societal Sciences (Chair Björn Wittrock); Exact Sciences (Chair Don Dingwell) and Life sciences (Chair Alex Verkhratsky) will organise [with their Section committees] and run four separate Class meetings online. The focus, will be on new members elected in 2020. But of course the Class sessions will be open for any member to “attend”. These Class sessions will include a welcome and short presentations by new members and also an outstanding keynote speaker(s)/ discussion session.

The virtual plenary conference sessions will take place on 20th and 21st of October. The event will be open to all AE and YAE members.

There will be a programme of outstanding AE speakers:

Roger Penrose (2020 Erasmus Medal winner and recent Nobel Laureate - Mathematics and Physics) will deliver the delayed 2020 Erasmus Lecture, Ole Petersen (AE Hon. Vice president, Cardiff Hub Director and AE Gold medallist - Physiology) will present the Gold medal Lecture.

Other keynote lectures will be given by Quentin Skinner (Balzan Prize winner - Social and European History), Mara Dierssen (Cognition, behaviour and health), Don Dingwell (Munich Hub Director, Hon. Vice president and trustee -Volcanology), and Susan Trumbore (Balzan prize winner – Carbon cycling in plants and soils).

There will also be a Young Academy Panel debate and the presentation of the YAE Andre Mischke Prize for 2021 to Grant Hill-Cawthorne, Director of the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST).

So, please put the dates in your diary.

All members are welcome to register and participate. Full details will be published in May/June.

Members elected this year (2021) will be invited to come to Barcelona in 2022 for a normal physical conference.

Draft programme#

Wednesday, 20 October (PRBB Auditorium)#

Start	End	Activity	Participants	Title / Observations
10:30	11:15	Plenary sessions (45 min. approx.)
10:30	10:40	Welcome to the AE/YAE Plenary virtual conference 2021	Sierd Cloetingh
10:45	11:15	Recap of Class meetings, including highlights of Section meetings and welcome of new MAEs (6-7 min. each Chair)	Poul Holm Björn Wittrock Don Dingwell Alexej Verkhratsky
11:15	11:45	Half-hour (coffee) break
11:45	13:15	Plenary sessions (90 min. approx.)
11:45	12:25	Erasmus Medal and Lecture Introduction (5 min.) Laudation (10 min.) Medal lecture (25 min.)	Sierd Cloetingh Martyn Rees Roger Penrose	Upside-Down: Revolutions in Physics, Old and New (If possible, in person; if not, virtual/real-time)
12:30	13:15	AE 2020 Gold Medal Laudation (10 min.) Medal lecture (25 min.) Q&A (10 min.)	Sierd Cloetingh Ole Petersen	“Science, Scientific Publishing and Scientific Advice for Policy: 50 years of personal experiences”
13:15	15:00	Lunch break
15:00	16:30	Plenary sessions (90 min. approx.)
15:00	15:30	Balzan Prize Lecture I Lecture (20 min.) Q&A (10 min.)	Sierd Cloetingh Susan Trumbore	“The Amazon and Global Change”
15:45	16:15	Barcelona 2021 speaker -1 Lecture (20 min.) Q&A (10 min.)	Chair: Sierd Cloetingh Don Dingwell	“Volcanism: from wonder and fear to experiment and intervention”
16:30	End day 1

Thursday, 21 October (PRBB Auditorium)#

9:30	11:00	Annual Business Meeting (hybrid)		To be confirmed
11:00	11:30	(Half-hour coffee break)
11:30	13:00	Plenary sessions (90 min. approx.)
11:30	11:40	Welcome and introduction from the new AE President	Marja Makarow
11:45	12:15	Balzan Prize Lecture II Lecture (20 min.)	Bjorn Wittrock Quentin Skinner	“How should we think about freedom?” (Virtual, real-time lecture)
12:15	13:00	YAE Andre Mischke Prize Laudation (5 min.) Prize lecture (25 min.) Q&A (10 min.)	Intro: Gemma Modinos Laudatio: Marcel Swart or Alban Kellerbauer Speaker TBA	Title TBA
13:00	14:30	Lunch break
14:30	16:00	Plenary sessions (120 min. approx.)
14:30	15:30	YAE Panel Chair introduction (10 min.) Panelists intro (5 min. each x 4) Q&A (30 min.)	Chair: Gemma Modinos Panelists: Michael Murphy, Konstantinos Glinos, Rebecca Lawrence, Moniek Tromp	“Redefining Rewards & Recognitions for European Scholars”
15:45	16:15	Barcelona 2021 speaker -2 Lecture (20 min.) Q&A (10 min.)	Chair: Eva Kondorosi Mara Dierssen	“The mysteries of memory: how it is stored (the engram) and how it is retrieved (the ecphory). How to erase, manipulate or cure memory loss”
16:20	16:30	Close and farewell toast from outgoing President Sierd Cloetingh	Sierd Cloetingh
16:30		End day 2

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Download the preliminary programme (last updated 19 May 2021).