Academia Europaea is a unique pan-European academy of sciences, humanities and letters, created as the means to express ideas and opinions of scientists and scholars from across Europe. The Foundation Meeting of Academia Europaea was held in Cambridge, chaired by its first President Sir Arnold Burgen, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1985-1989). The new Academy’s broad objectives were to cover all disciplines, facilitate interdisciplinary discourse, provide independent advice, facilitate the mobility of scholars and improve the public understanding of science. From its first plenary meeting of 627 members, today’s Academy has grown into a thriving organisation of over 5,000 members.

The Academy’s journal, European Review, was launched in 1993, to reflect the Academy’s mission to foster discourse and cooperation between the disciplines. Initially published by Wiley, European Review is now published by Cambridge University Press. In his first editorial, Sir Arnold, as founding Editor-in-Chief, set out his vision for the journal as the means to publish articles of wide interest to readers from a variety of backgrounds. With a focus on interdisciplinarity, the first volume published articles on topics related to science advice, migration, materials science, the future of museums, nation states and human rights.

The period since 1988 has been one of remarkable changes to the political, economic, scientific and cultural landscape of the continent of Europe. Our symposium sets out to reflect and debate some of these changes, as we mark the 30th anniversary of the European Review and 35 years since the founding of Academia Europaea.

Programme#

9.30 Coffee

Welcome addresses #

10.00-10.15

• Lord Rees of Ludlow OM FRS MAE, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
• Opening remarks – Alban Kellerbauer MAE, Editor-in-Chief of the European Review, Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe
• Greetings from Academia Europaea – Donald Dingwell OC FRS ML MAE, Vice-President of Academia Europaea, Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology, LMU, Munich

Part 1: A changing Europe (Chair: Theo D’haen MAE, Belgium) #

10.15-11.00 Introductory talk

A changing Europe: politics, economy, culture, science; how Europe has changed over the past 35 years, and ongoing challenges.

• Alison Rose, Principal of Newnham College, University of Cambridge; former UK diplomat and British Ambassador to Belgium 2014-2019

11.00-11.30 Coffee

Part 2: The future of scholarly publishing (Chair: Alban Kellerbauer MAE, Germany) #

11.30-12.30 Panel discussion (with audience interaction)

How has scholarly communication advanced over the past 30 years? What remains to be done to serve the academic community better?’

• Lara Speicher, Head of Publishing, UCL Press
• Joanna Ball, Managing Director, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• Richard Fisher, Former Managing Director of Academic Publishing at Cambridge University Press, Vice-Chair of Yale University Press and non-executive director of Edinburgh University Press
• Katalin Solymosi FYAE, Assistant Professor, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

12.30-13.30 Lunch

Part 3 : Interdisciplinarity and the publishing landscape (Chair: Steve Evans MAE) #

13.30-14.15 Panel session (with audience discussion)

‘In 1993, the core aim of European Review was to encourage dialogue between the disciplines. 30 years on, is interdisciplinarity a reality, and what might it take to go further?’

• Alan Blackwell, Professor of Interdisciplinary Design, University of Cambridge
• Sir Leszek Borysiewicz FMedSci FRS MAE, Honorary Fellow Wolfson College; Honorary Fellow Homerton College; former Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge
• Usha Goswami CBE FBA FRS, Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience, University of Cambridge

Part 4: Science advice and the impact on publishing (Chair: Ole Petersen MAE) #

14.15-15.00 Panel session (with audience discussion)

‘Science advice has risen to prominence in recent years but is still not fully embedded in mainstream academic work. Does this need to change, and does publishing have a role to play?’

• Professor Susan E Owens OBE FAcSS FBA, Emeritus Professor of Environment and Policy, University of Cambridge
• Pearl Dykstra MAE, Professor of Empirical Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and former member of the European Group of Chief Scientific Advisers
• Ole Petersen CBE FRS FMedSci ML MAE, Academic Director of the Academia Europaea Cardiff Knowledge Hub, Professor of Biosciences, Cardiff University

15.00-15.15 Coffee

Part 5: Closing session – Debate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Chair: Toby Wardman)#

15.15-16.00 Debate followed by vote

‘This house believes that AI will have a serious negative impact on academia and academic publishing’

• Yogesh Dwivedi, Professor of Digital Marketing and Innovation, Swansea University
• Erol Gelenbe Chev.LH Comm.ONM FNATF FRAScB MAE, Professor, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Kiera McNeice, Research Data Manager, Cambridge University Press
• Mark Carrigan, Lecturer in Education, University of Manchester

16.00 Wrap-up and close

16:15 Reception in the garden to mark 35 years of AE (1988-2023) and 30 years of the European Review (1993-2023)

17.30 End

Registration#

Register to attend the event in person.

Register to attend online.

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