‘Young Academy Leiden is an incredibly diverse group, and that’s what makes it strong’
It’s September, which means that Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will once again change its board and welcome new members. Outgoing chair Ahmed Mahfouz and incoming chair Anne Urai look back at past year's highlights and discuss YAL’s plans for the future.
Congratulations Anne, you’re the new chair of Young Academy Leiden. What made you want to take on this role?
Anne: ‘When I interviewed to become vice-chair, I said: hanging out with the YAL people is one of the most fun parts of my job. I think it's really special to be able to work on all sorts of topics that concern young academics with people from across the university who are all interested in learning from each other and doing projects together. So I was excited to facilitate the workings of that group for a few years.’
‘I think what unites our members is that they usually have something in mind that they want to change.’
How would you describe a typical YAL member?
Anne: ‘I think YAL is a very diverse group, but what unites our members is that they usually have something in mind that they want to change, either due to frustration, or because of a dream that they have. And they also bring the energy needed to actually work on it.’
Ahmed: ‘YAL is probably the most diverse group that I’ve ever interacted with within the university. And that’s actually what makes it very strong. It's rarely the case that a topic comes up that no one is interested in.’
What were your YAL highlights this past year?
Ahmed: ‘For me, it was not one specific event, but just in general how engaged the group was throughout the year, and how high the attendance at our meetings was. From day one, Anne and I tried to do things slightly different to how they were done before, like changing the first plenary meeting that we had with everyone, the way we communicated the aims of the meeting, and sending out an update afterwards. Small changes, but I think they really led to this entire year being a very nice one.’
Anne: ‘Because we had an overall theme of “slow science”, which was very much about the process, we really tried to work in a way that also allowed us to slow down a bit, and focus on getting to know each other. I think this helped to make us feel like a coherent group, while all being interested in many different things.’
Have you decided on a theme for the upcoming year?
Anne: ‘Yes, it’s “community”, which I think is very much an extension of slow science. After all, you can never uphold your own slow science practises without a supportive community around you. Interestingly enough though, this was also the YAL theme a few years ago. So maybe this is really YAL’s core topic that needs to come back every once in a while.’
Which challenges do you see for YAL for the upcoming year?
Ahmed: ‘I think that last year’s theme of slow science is not controversial in itself, but it does go against certain mainstream developments. Look at what’s happening with AI right now for example, and how we constantly have to do everything faster and better. And yet here we are, saying: no, actually we need to reflect. Maybe we don't need to be efficient all the time, but rather choose a slow, critical reaction to the things that happen around us. But making that choice can also be difficult. So these are constant challenges.’
‘Maybe we don't need to be efficient all the time, but rather choose a slow, critical reaction to what's happening around us.’
Anne: ‘This isn’t really a challenge, but more something I would like to work on this year: I would like to align all these diverse events that we come up with from within the YAL community a bit more to the cycle of policy change at the university. So perhaps be a bit more strategic in the topics that we pick.’
Anything else to add?
Ahmed: ‘Next year we will welcome new members through self-nomination. So to any early career researchers who are eligible, and interested in these sort of topics, I’d like to say: feel free to join us at some events this year and explore what YAL has to offer.’
Anne: ‘You can also register for our newsletter or connect on LinkedIn. We organise a lot of events for early career academics, so feel welcome to participate!’
Six new YAL members and a new project manager
YAL serves as a platform to bring together enthusiastic young academics, from postdocs to associate professors, who received their PhD less than ten years ago. The roles of chair and vice-chair rotate among YAL members, with the chair first gaining a year’s experience as vice-chair.
Next year, the YAL board will consist of chair Anne Urai, vice-chair Eduard Schmidt and project manager Marlieke Muilwijk – who will take over from outgoing project manager Suzanne Brinkman. The new YAL members are: Neeltje Blankenstein, Benjamin Fogarty-Valenzuela, Kathleen Gregory, Elena Raponi, Joeri Reinders and Naomi Truan.
Text: Evelien Flink
Photos: Franck Doho