Die Junge Akademie has been elected to join ALLEA (All European Academies) as the first representative of the younger generation of academics. ALLEA is the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities. It was founded in 1994 and now has over 50 members in more than 40 countries among the members of the Council of Europe. It is an independent institution which advocates free, interdisciplinary and international research. With a network of outstanding researchers unique in Europe, it offers science-based advice to policy-makers and the general public across national borders.

As a member of ALLEA, Die Junge Akademie hopes to help strengthen science and research within Europe and create a freer, more independent and more united research system. “At Die Junge Akademie it’s important to us to cooperate with academics in other disciplines and also in other countries. We are very much looking forward to working with the other European academies and boosting public awareness of the importance of science and research as a central pillar of our shared European future,” says the speaker Philipp Kanske, a psychologist and neuroscientist at TU Dresden.

Membership of ALLEA also gives Die Junge Akademie an additional opportunity to enrich international dialogue in the field of scientific discourse and policy contributing the perspectives of the younger generation of academics. Antonio Loprieno, an Egyptologist and President of ALLEA, emphasises the significance of this step: “By welcoming Die Junge Akademie as a member of ALLEA, the European academies are showing that they are serious about modernising their mission. We don’t just want to support today’s academics – we also want to help shape the future of our academic community. Die Junge Akademie’s membership is therefore a major step for ALLEA and all of the European academies and sets an example for other Young Academies across Europe.”