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Boldizsár Szentgáli-Tóth, a member and former co-chair of the Hungarian Young Academy, attended a busy programme of international events in Warsaw from 26 to 29 May 2026, hosted by the Polish Academy of Sciences. As part of the four-day programme, a COARA workshop addressed issues related to research evaluation. This was followed by the ALLEA conference, the ENYA Annual General Assembly, a consultation on scientific diversity, and the YASAS General Assembly. Previously, due to the different dates and venues of these events, active participation in various international organizations entailed numerous logistical difficulties and additional costs for young academies; the coordination of these events can therefore certainly be cited as a best practice. A similar multi-day series of events is planned to be held in Edinburgh next year.

One of the most important topics of the events was the discussion of prospects for closer cooperation among European young academies and the possibility of creating a permanent platform for this purpose. At the ENYA General Assembly, there was agreement that such a European network could be beneficial for all stakeholders, though the details still need to be worked out—ENYA will establish a separate working group to develop more concrete plans.

Over the course of just over three days, Boldizsár had a chance to conduct bilateral meetings with Scott Bremer, the outgoing president of the Young Academy of Europe, as well as with young researchers from Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Latvia, Scotland, Sweden, and Slovakia. He familiarized himself with the operational models of various young academies and actively promoted the activities of HYA — with particular emphasis on programmes related to MTA200 and the LEGO MTA Palace project. Boldizsár also offered HYA’s assistance in organizing additional young academies, primarily for countries in the Central and Eastern European region where such learned societies have not yet been established.

(Cover graphics courtesy of ALLEA)