New Executive Board members and speaker elected

16 July 2024

At the General Meeting on 21 June 2024 in Bern’s Generationenhaus, the Swiss Young Academy members who were present elected their new Executive Board for the 2024/25 term of office.  Sabrina H. Kessler was appointed as the new speaker of the Swiss Young Academy. Nawal Kinany will be taking on the role of vice-speaker.

The newly-elected Executive Board of the Swiss Young Academy will consist of the following four members for 2024/25:

• Sabrina Heike Kessler, Senior Researcher and Teaching Associate, Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich; speaker of the Swiss Young Academy 2024/25
• Nawal Kinany, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Medical Image Processing Laboratory, University of Geneva; vice-speaker of the Swiss Young Academy 2024/25
• Jovana Milić, Assistant Professor, Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg
• Eda Elif Tibet, Advanced Post-doctoral Researcher, Wyss Academy for Nature, University of Bern

The new speaker, Sabrina H. Kessler, emphasized that she would like to focus in particular on the challenges facing young scientists and scholars in Switzerland during her term of office. “We are already working and reflecting on these challenges in various projects and are relying on complex analyses, interdisciplinary cooperation, involving diverse stakeholder groups and developing sustainable solutions. In the project “Science vs Activism? Exploring the Boundary”, for example, we are exploring the boundary between science and activism, which requires in-depth theoretical reflection and interdisciplinary cooperation to overcome epistemological tensions. In addition, she stressed that “The topic of Science Diplomacy in particular, which was already important previously in the Swiss Young Academy, will be a special focal point and play a central role next year. The aim is to foster dialogue and cooperation between science and politics and to develop joint solutions for global challenges.” In June 2025, the Swiss Young Academy will be organizing the European Young Academies Meeting in Bern, to which all young academies from Europe will be invited, on the focus topic of Science Diplomacy.

Vice-speaker Nawal Kinany added: “I am honoured to be able to serve as vice-speaker of the Swiss Young Academy. Through its diverse, transdisciplinary projects, our Academy provides an excellent platform for addressing the challenges faced by young scientists and scholars and bringing science closer to society. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Executive Board to help shape the future of our Organization and to ensure that our work has a lasting impact on both the scientific community and society as a whole.

The Executive Board’s term of office begins each year with a constitutive meeting following the General Meeting and lasts for one year. The Executive Board’s tasks include the preparation of the business items for the General Meeting, in particular evaluation of the content of project proposals and the related submission of recommendations for the approval of these projects. In addition, the Executive Board elects the speaker of the Young Academy. The speaker represents the Young Academy internally and externally and chairs the Executive Board.

The members present at the General Meeting acknowledged the great commitment of the entire Executive Board, as well as of Sofie Behluli as speaker and Silvia Maier as vice-speaker for the 2023/24 term of office, in connection with the evaluation of the Swiss Young Academy.