News

On 3 September 2020, the Hungarian Young Academy, a civic association operating in line with the aims of MTA, held its annual General Assembly. In accordance with the epidemiological measures in force, the meeting was held in the spacious Ceremonial Hall of the MTA Palace, and was attended by HYA members in person and via Zoom.

Invited speakers of the General Assembly included Prof. Anna Erdei, Deputy Secretary-General of MTA, who spoke about the main possible lines of cooperation between the two organisations. Prof. Erdei underlined that the new leadership of MTA considers it especially important to win over secondary schoolers for science, which they plan to carry out in the framework of the Alumni Programme (under preparation) with the cooperation of the Hungarian Young Academy. She spoke with appreciation about the survey prepared earlier by HYA members, the goals and initiatives of the organisation, as well as about the programmes already co-organised by HYA (e.g. talks at Festival of Hungarian Science and Young Researchers’ Forum, science communication workshop), for the implementation of which she offered further constructive collaboration and support on behalf of the MTA Secretariat and its Communications Department. The 12 new members and Executive Board elected in 2020 were also introduced to the participants of the General Assembly, and the report on last year’s activities was also approved.

During the closed session of the General Assembly, the HYA membership discussed the strategy of the organisation and the specifics of the cooperation with MTA, in preparation for the negotiations with MTA President Prof. Tamás Freund. The documents prepared included the scope of the tasks that could be undertaken by the Hungarian Young Academy in line with its mission, and the extent of support required from MTA. The documents were subsequently sent to Tamás Freund by the HYA Co-Chairs, Péter Török and Éva Dékány, and they had a personal discussion about their content on 9 September 2020.