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In keeping with tradition, the Hungarian Young Academy organised its Young Researchers’ Forum on 8 May 2024, for the eighth time, in conjunction with the 197th General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This year’s event focused on the ageing society. In the spirit of a holistic approach, representatives from several seemingly distant disciplines were invited to contribute to the event. In her welcome address, Professor Anna Erdei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, stressed the importance of the topic and praised the fact that the young research community is already addressing the issues of ageing. In the morning block, five presentations were given. Róbert Gál, Senior Research Fellow at the Human Demographic Research Institute of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), gave a talk peppered with humour on the problems arising from the ageing of society and presented thought-provoking data on the age composition of the Hungarian population. This was followed by presentations from three members of the Hungarian Young Academy. Karolina Pircs introduced the audience to the basics of cell programming with her talk “From skin cell to brain cell: basic cell programming”, including the latest results of her research group, namely how human skin cells can be directly reprogrammed into neurons. Csaba Kerepesi uses artificial intelligence to do research on ageing and rejuvenation, and he has developed software that is capable of giving a close estimate of people’s biological age based on their photos. This development stirred up the interest of his audience, and numerous curious questions were raised after Csaba’s lecture. Sára Hungler talked about the labour market effects and legal cases of age-based discrimination. The line of talks was rounded up by Judit Monostori, another senior research fellow of the Human Demographic Research Institute of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), who talked about the phenomenon of demographic ageing and the financial inequalities of the elderly. Following the presentations, Sára Hungler, Csaba Kerepesi, Judit Monostori and Karolina Pircs continued their discussion on a panel moderated by HYA Board Member Bálint Hartmann. In his introductory words, Bálint highlighted that in the course of the past 50 years, life expectancy at birth grew by approximately 10 years both among men and women. One fifth of those betwen the ages of 65–74 take part in voluntary activities, but those above 75 also continue to live an active life in growing numbers. At the same time, the number of those potentially in need of permanent care is expected to increase from 19.5 million in 2016 to 23.6 million by 2030, and to 30.5 million by 2050 (within the EU27). These social changes call for an active cooperation between the individual scientific disciplines. The panel began by enumerating best practices in Hungary, such as the HCEMM (Hungarian Centre of Excellence for Molecular Medicine) initiative, which brings together healthy old age related molecular biological research. The panellists suggested that while it is relatively easy to establish professional relations in the field of natural sciences and join initiatives of this kind, there are fewer of them in the domain of social sciences. The second half of the discussion elaborated on the fact that the various segments of society can access institutional networks and technologies supporting a healthy old age to a different extent, and this is also intertwined with demographic differences that can be observed in Hungary. The panellists agreed that as researchers, they must strive to ensure the accessibility of the results achieved, but several of them also stressed the role of the state in coordination and funding. Finally, to close the roundtable on a lighter note, participants were asked to share their plans for their silver-haired years. For more information on the talks of the Young Researchers’ Forum (in Hungarian), please visit the MTA website. (Photo: mta.hu / Tamás Szigeti)