Editorial- Empowering Young Scientists

Letter- The Time of Young Scientists

Response—The Time of Young Scientists

    The Vancouver Olympics reveal stark differences between the worlds of sports and science. In both, young people from around the world try to surpass all previous accomplishments in pursuit of world records or scientific discoveries. Selected entirely on merit, athletes receive honor just for participating in the games, spurring the next generation of young people in each nation to excel. And as star athletes age, they often support their sport in other ways, serving as advocates, mentors, or coaches. In contrast, in too many nations, the selection and promotion processes in science involve considerations other than merit. Senior scientists receive most of the resources available for scientific research, and young scientists rarely receive societal recognition for their work. This situation is growing worse as life expectancies and retirement ages increase, along with the average age for attaining scientific independence.^* Perhaps as one consequence, science is typically not a top career choice. How many exceptional scientists around the world thereby go unrecognized, their talents allowed to wither away untapped? In an attempt to reverse such trends, a nascent "young national academies" movement has begun across the globe, and a new international group has recently been established to promote this cause.

A world that increasingly faces global challenges such as climate change, resource exploitation, and public health disparities must mobilize all of its talents, regardless of age, gender, or country of residence. In the interests of scientific and resource sustainability, such a world also should encourage the views and approaches of its best young scientists, who often tackle research problems in less conventional ways than do their older, more established peers.

More than 100 young scientists from 40 countries have now created an organization called the Global Young Academy (GYA) (www.globalyoungacademy.org), with the encouragement and support of senior scientists through the InterAcademy Panel for International Issues (IAP).^** The GYA will unite talented young scientists from around the world: those around the age of 35 who are nominated by senior scientists in their own nations as likely future leaders. Membership, capped at 200, will be highly competitive, involving international peer review of nominations from national academies and similar organizations. Membership is temporary (4 years), to prevent the organization from becoming an "old academy."

This effort is modeled on the formation of national young academies, only a few of which have been established so far. Die Junge Akademie was the first, founded in Germany 10 years ago by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Leopoldina. Similar academies have been established in the Netherlands by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and in Sudan by the Sudan Academy of Sciences. They encourage and empower their members to engage in interdisciplinary research, communicate science to society, and provide advice on national science policies, especially those affecting young scientists. The GYA will help establish national young academies and provide a forum for young scientists in countries without such organizations.

Support for the GYA concept by the IAP and the World Economic Forum began in 2008 and led to the first planning meeting in February 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The GYA emphasizes bringing together young scientists from developed and developing countries to expand research capacity and exchange best practices in science policy and education. This effort aspires to advance communications between science and society and to build on the global spirit of the Olympics through productive and friendly international interactions.

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Tilman Brück,¹ Catherine Beaudry,² Hans Hilgenkamp,³ Nitsara Karoonuthaisiri,⁴ Hiba Salah-Eldin Mohamed,⁵ Gregory A. Weiss⁶

¹ T. Brück is head of the Department of International Economics at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), professor of Development Economics at Humboldt-University of Berlin, and Chair of the Board of Die Junge Akademie.
² C. Beaudry is an associate professor of Innovation Economics at the École Polytechnique de Montréal in Canada, a member of the Center for Interuniversity Research on Science and Technology, and a researcher at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations.
³ H. Hilgenkamp is a professor in Physics at the University of Twente, Enschede, and at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a member of the Young Academy of the Netherlands.
⁴ N. Karoonuthaisiri is head of the Microarray Laboratory at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Thailand, and founding co-chair of the GYA.
⁵ H. Salah-Eldin Mohamed is an associate professor of Molecular Biology at the Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Sudan, and a member of the Sudanese Academy of Young Scientists.
⁶ G. A. Weiss is a professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine, and founding co-chair of the GYA.

 
   T. Brocks et al. ("Empowering Young Scientists," editorial, 2 April, p. 17) support the formation in various countries of young-scientist academies that younger scientists would be eligible to join, along the lines of the already-formed Global Young Academy. The latter will include an elite group of approximately 200 international young scientists around the age of 35. Although I am a proven advocate of young scientists (1), I found the Editorial to be off target.

The Editorial suggests that most internationally recognized scientists are senior and that "young scientists rarely receive societal recognition for their work." The reason for this discrepancy is not that young scientists are excluded; it is that most of them haven't yet produced high-impact work or that their recent discoveries need time to mature and make an impact. There are many examples of scientists less than 40 years old who have won Nobel Prizes or have been inducted into regular national academies. Consequently, there should be no reason or indications for discrimination for age, as speculated in the Editorial.

The parallel between science and sports is also off target. In sports, such as the 100-meter dash or tennis, the winner is unequivocal. The referees are only there to keep the score and/or make sure that the contestants follow rules of the game. In science, the question of "who is better" cannot be unequivocally answered because the criteria are subjective and the diversity of the scientific disciplines is enormous. It seems likely that the selection of the so-called 200 young international academicians will be based less on actual merit and more on the strength of the nominations by highly influential scientists who, predictably, will push and lobby for their own protégés.

The notion that young academicians will play major roles in national science policies is also not convincing. These highly promising young scientists would benefit more at this stage of their career from being shielded from such activities and encouraged to devote all of their time, energy, creativity, and focus on making important discoveries. There will be plenty of opportunities for them in the future to play roles in policy and management issues.

I conclude that academies for young scientists are not only unnecessary, but may damage the careers of highly promising young scientists. Necessarily, these promising future stars will need to divert at least part of their activity to conferences, policy, and management issues, which will distract them from creativity and innovation. Such activities could be easily fulfilled by more experienced senior scientists. Let us also not forget that the vast majority of senior scientists have a genuine interest in promoting the careers of younger scientists and not, as hinted in the Editorial, in grabbing their resources or stealing their societal recognition. After all, we are their natural mentors, and the importance of good mentorship has been emphasized repeatedly in this and other journals.

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Eleftherios P. Diamandis

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON M5T 3L9, Canada.

    Diamandis has raised a number of important concerns about the role of young scientists in the science-policy dialogue. However, we strongly believe that his message—focus on science—runs contrary to the interests of young scientists and the broader scientific community.

In many countries, particularly less-developed countries, the value of science and scientists is underestimated. Young scientists are particularly vulnerable. The societal recognition we alluded to in our Editorial does not immediately concern the Nobel Prizes or membership in National Academies referred to by Diamandis, which are quite naturally connected with seniority. Of greater concern are more mundane forms of recognition, such as societal leaders understanding and emphasizing the importance of young scientists for the well-being of the country, as well as academic freedom, independence, job security, and decent pay for talented young researchers. The formation of Young Academies is one important step to address and improve these issues.

Judging by the success of the Young Academies of Germany and the Netherlands (1), it appears that connecting the brightest across fields (including not only the natural sciences but the social sciences and humanities as well) yields novel modes of communication with society, authentic advice on science policy, and innovation in interdisciplinary fields. The last aspect directly strengthens the core business of the young scientist, which is and remains doing excellent research. The Young Academies movement represents a model of scientific creativity and achievement quite different from that advocated by Diamandis, which more closely resembles top-down learning and rituals of initiation.

We believe that all generations can contribute to science policy and management, and involving young scientists early in their career will help improve science's impact on society. For example, in Canada, young scientists have been major drivers behind a number of important recent initiatives at the science-policy interface, including the creation of a new prestigious postdoctoral fellowship program and a national forum on science policy (Canadian Science Policy Centre; http://sciencepolicy.ca).

The selection process for membership in the Global Young Academy involves rigorous peer review by both senior and young scientists. Although we share the author's concern that senior scientists may try to pack the ranks with their protégés, we will allow self-nominations to help alleviate this potential problem. The final decision on election depends on broadly accepted standards of excellence, and remains that of the Global Young Academy, not the nominators.

Our success to date owes no small debt to visionary support by senior scientists like Diamandis. We appreciate his well-documented interest in mentoring and advancing the careers of young scientists, and we hope he'll join us in recognizing and inviting to the table young academician^s.

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Tilman Brück,¹ Catherine Beaudry,² Hans Hilgenkamp,³ Rees Kassen,⁴ Nitsara Karoonuthaisiri,⁵ Hiba Salah el Din Mohamed,⁶ Gregory A. Weiss^7,

¹ Department of International Economics, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Humboldt-University of Berlin, Mohrenstraβe 58, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
² Département de Mathématiques et de Génie Industriel, École Polytechnique de Montréal, succ. Centreville, Montréal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada.
³ University of Twente and Leiden University, Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, 30 Marie-Curie, Ottawa, ON K1S 3B5, Canada.
⁵ National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Microarray Laboratory, 113 Paholyothin Road Thailand Science Park, Pathumatani 12120, Thailand.
⁶ Department of Molecular Biology, The Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Medical Campus, Qasser Street, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.