Nordic-Baltic meeting of Young Academies 2024 in Copenhagen

The goal of the multilateral cooperation is to strengthen the scientific exchange within the region. Alison Gerber, a sociologist at Lund University, and Juan C. Rocha, an environmental and sustainability scientist at Stockholm University, represented the Young Academy of Sweden.

Two keynote speakers

Two keynote speakers were invited. Professor Katherine Richardson from the University of Copenhagen opened the first day with a discussion on planetary boundaries, focusing on their central role in the development of Earth system science. This relatively new scientific discipline emphasises the need for interdisciplinary approaches to quantify planetary boundaries and their implications for policy and societal actions. Katherine’s lecture included an engaging conversation with Dr. Siddharth Sareen from the University of Stavanger and the Young Academy in Norway, illustrating collaboration between scientific disciplines

On the second day of the meeting, Professor Andreas Roepstorff from Aarhus University and Vice President of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences discussed the concepts of collaborative resilience and intellectual collaboration, drawing on his research and the historical perspective of the Danish Royal Academy.

The meeting was designed to stimulate active participation and reflection. Participants engaged in structured writing tasks and small group discussions on responsibility, inequality, authority, attention, translation, digitalisation, and reforestation. The discussions aimed to deepen understanding and propose solutions to common challenges.

The Young Academies also took the opportunity to share their annual activities and explore successful projects in their respective contexts. A key discussion revolved around preserving institutional memory within the Nordic-Baltic network, given the periodic and relatively short-term engagement of its members in each young academy.

About the Nordic-Baltic Meeting

The Nordic-Baltic Meeting is held every other year through a cooperation including three young academies. One young academy hosts, and two additional young academies participate; the one that hosted the previous meeting and the one that will host the next.

The first Nordic-Baltic meeting was held in Stockholm in 2019 and was organised by the Swedish Young Academy. In 2022, the gathering was hosted by the Young Academy of Finland in Helsinki, and in 2023, the meeting took place in Oslo, organised by the Young Academy of Norway.

With support from NordForsk, the meeting aims to foster strong ties and collaborations within the Nordic and Baltic countries, and the plan is for the Young Academy of Estonia to host the conference in 2025.