The anniversary General Assembly of ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, was held in Bern, Switzerland from 8 to 10 May 2019. The event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the organization. Host was the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. The traditional annual business meeting with representatives of more than 50 ALLEA academies was held within the framework of the event. Problems of ALLEA’s strategy, governance, and policies were discussed.
The participants in the assembly were welcomed by Christian Leumann, Rector of the University of Bern and by the Swiss Federal Councillor (Minister) Guy Parmelin.
The President of ALLEA and of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, Antonio Loprieno, read a special address on the role of academies in European societies. The main speech, dedicated to the 25th year of cooperation of European academies and the future of research in Europe, was presented by Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission.
The ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values for 2019 was awarded to Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in Economics of Innovation at University College London.
The topic of the scientific symposium held in the framework of the Assembly was ‘Science and Society in Present-Day Europe’. The Symposium gathered leading scientists, policymakers and representatives of civil society to discuss together the future of European science and the role of academies as bridges between generating and disseminating knowledge for the benefit of society.
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was represented at the General Assembly and the scientific symposium of ALLEA by corr.-member Kostadin Ganev, Vice-Chairman of BAS.
