Support from the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues

To whom it may concern,

Attached to this document, please find a blueprint for the establishment of National Young Academies (NYAs), which was developed by the Global Young Academy: Voice of Young Scientists around the World (the GYA).  The blueprint includes justifications for forming a NYA, along with suggested activities, outcomes, measures of success, model principles and statutes for a hypothetical NYA. We hope such documents will be informative about this important global development, and encourage your support for establishing a NYA in your own country.

The IAP: the Global Network of Science Academies supports the recent trend to create NYAs and the GYA, which are dedicated to advancing issues critical to young scientists.  The GYA, for example, currently includes young scientists from >50 countries who work together in the spirit of friendly, international cooperation on early scientific career issues.  Membership selection has been, and will remain, highly competitive involving international peer review of largely nominations by national academies and similar organizations.  The GYA will help catalyze international research collaborations amongst young scientists world-wide. One of its main effects will be to build bridges between young scientists from developed and developing countries to promote the expansion of research capacity and the dual directional exchange of best practices in science policy and education.  The GYA also has a working group dedicated to assisting with the formation of NYAs, and, for example, can provide peer-to-peer help for young scientists leading such efforts.

Just as the IAP: the Global Network of Science Academies depends on the activities of senior Academies in member countries, the GYA will best maximize its impact through links with NYAs from around the world. Such academies have already been established with great success in Germany, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Sudan. Many more countries are currently in the process of establishing such Young Academies. Therefore, the GYA and IAP: the Global Network of Science Academies wish to encourage national science academies to support the creation of NYAs in their own countries.

If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact directly the Co-Chairs of the GYA, Prof. Gregory A. Weiss (gweiss@uci.edu, University of California, Irvine, USA) or Prof. Bernard Slippers (Bernard.Slippers@fabi.up.ac.za, University of Pretoria, South Africa).

Yours sincerely,