Gergely Toldi is a researcher in immunology at the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a neonatologist in patient care. In his clinical work, Gergely Toldi has developed evidence-based regional and international guidelines that have transformed clinical practice in many aspects of neonatal intensive care, and led quality improvement projects. He was also instrumental in communicating key information on the COVID-19 pandemic and the benefits of immunisation to the public, and was involved in the science communication activities of the World Science Forum in Budapest in 2019.
The young researcher’s successes in immunology have been recognized with numerous awards, scholarships and research grants, including the Junior Prima Award in 2015, and International Medis Award (paediatrics) in 2016. Now an alumnus, Gergely Toldi was the first Hungarian member of the Global Young Academy.
He facilitated the founding of the Hungarian Young Academy from the very start, and was also active as a board member. His activities also contributed to the establishment of the Young Academy of the United Kingdom. Currently, he is a board member of the New Zealand Royal Society Te Apārangi Young Researchers’ Forum. He coordinated extensive surveys in Hungarian and in the UK examining the situation of early-career researchers. These studies have already resulted in the introduction of numerous positive changes to improve the situation of young researchers, and have set new directions for science policy.
Gergely is the co-chair of the European widening thematic mission of the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub. In the framework of this mission, he has been working on how to boost the competitivity of young researchers based in the EU13 states, and how to improve their representation on the European level. He is a delegate of the Young Academies Science Advice Structure (YASAS). The aim of this new initiative is provide a formal framework for European young academies to connect with European science advice through SAPEA.
YAE awards this prize in recognition of Gergely Toldi’s internationally outstanding scientific research, organisational activities and policy commitment. This is the sixth time that YAE has awarded the annual prize in memory of its founding President André Mischke, and the award ceremony will take place at the joint Academia Europaea/YAE annual meeting in Barcelona in October 2022.
The “Young Academy of Europe Prize” is awarded annually to early- or mid-career researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to the key objectives of the Young Academy of Europe through their scientific and science policy activities and achievements.) The YAE Prize was renamed in 2019 to commemorate the late founding chair of YAE, André Mischke: it is currently called “André Mischke YAE Prize for Science and Policy”. By awarding this prize, YAE wishes to support science, evidence-based policy activities, science communication, and the next generations of European researchers.