Young Academy Leiden (YAL) will change its board this month and welcome six new members. Outgoing chair Rachel Plak and incoming chair Ahmed Mahfouz talk about what the platform has achieved for young academics over the past year and what the plans are for the future.
Hi Ahmed, what made you want to become chair of Young Academy Leiden?
Ahmed: 'I joined YAL three years ago and immediately really liked it. And if you like something, you're willing to put a lot of energy into it. Although I never actually thought that I would apply to be part of the leadership team, since I always saw these colleagues as role models. But I realized that it would be a good way to implement more of my thoughts and ideas, and be more engaged with the whole YAL community.'
Can you share some of YAL's achievements of the past year?
Rachel: 'Because of all the turmoil around the budget cuts, I think that this was quite a challenging year, for the academy as a whole, and maybe even more so for our community of early career researchers. And yet we managed to bring people together. We hosted events where people could speak openly about social safety, we were able to bring together different views on how the cuts affected people, and we shared concerns from our community with higher up leadership, like the executive board. For me, all this really showed the strength of YAL as a community.'
Ahmed: 'When it comes to those different views, I think the fact that not everyone within our community always agrees about everything is also a strength. To me, that's one of the best things about YAL: it's a place where you can have difficult discussions in a fun and easy way.'
'YAL members are not hesitant or conservative, they buy into new ideas immediately'
Were there any other highlights?
Ahmed: 'This past year's theme for YAL was "sculpting the future", so at the beginning of the academic year, Rachel and I organized a brainstorm day about restructuring the way we work within YAL. Initially, I was a bit worried about how people would react to our plans. But they were really enthusiastic and gave a lot of input, shaping the way that we structured YAL even further. I left that brainstorm with a lot of energy. It showed me that YAL members are not hesitant or conservative, but rather that they buy into new ideas immediately.'
Rachel: 'I'm proud that we were able to put this theme into practice. Internally, it meant that we started to work in a more project-based way, combining expertise across the groups. We felt that this made us more flexible and better able to respond to the challenges that we face. Externally, it meant that we could focus more on what is important for young academics, like this past year's budget cuts for example, and work pressure.'
Have you decided on a theme for the upcoming year?
Ahmed: 'Yes, our new theme is "slow science". It's about how you can remain creative within academic life, and slow down while the demands of your job are only getting higher. The academic world is very fast moving: more competition for grants, more teaching obligations, there's just always more to be done. So how do you slow down in the middle of all this in order to stay sane and focus on the things that really matter?'
'I think YAL can play a very important role as a sounding board'
What challenges do you see for YAL?
Rachel: 'Academia has always been quite a demanding work environment, and this has only been amplified by all the turmoil and unrest around the budget cuts. Since it's uncertain what the future holds, I think connecting people will remain very important. We need to make sure that young academics are heard and that they have a place to go for information, as well as a way to interpret this information: how does it impact you? How can you be active and contribute to positive change? I think YAL can definitely play a very important role there as a sounding board.'
