The RSE Young Academy of Scotland (YAS) has announced the appointment of 60 new members. The group represents some of the nation’s most innovative young professionals from across the arts, business and industry, government, the public sector, research, and academia, the third sector and beyond. They will join YAS’s existing members in realising its mission to achieve transformative societal change through citizenship, innovation, collaboration, evidence, and leadership.
Among the new members are six individuals who have been appointed through YAS’s At-Risk Academic/Refugee (ARAR) membership initiative. This initiative encourages outstanding individuals with a refugee or asylum-seeking background to apply to YAS and provides them with support to complete their applications. In joining YAS, ARAR members regain some of the social and professional capital they lost during their displacement, and YAS benefits from ARAR members’ talents, experience, and unique perspectives.
YAS encourages membership applications from individuals in all sectors of society. This year, YAS is pleased to welcome members joining from business, the non-profit sector, and the arts, who include:
- Lewis Hou, Founder and Director of the Science Ceilidh, an award-winning organisation connecting creativity, culture, STEM, research and health and wellbeing with and by community groups, libraries, youth clubs and schools across Scotland.
- Paria Moazemi Goodarzi, a Visual Artist and Public Art Practitioner who co-founded ‘Distanced Assemblage’ a community-based art initiative to make a positive impact on the wellbeing and visibility of people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds by providing opportunities to engage in art making.
- Lindsay Paterson, Head of Global Engagement of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, a policy, public affairs, and communications professional working to improve health and social care, mental health, health inequalities, and equity of access to services in Scotland.
The new cohort also includes a diverse group of researchers with specialisms ranging from engineering to the history of science. In addition to academic achievements, the selection committees placed significant emphasis on public outreach and interdisciplinary collaboration. Among the new academic members are:
- Alejandra Aranceta-Garza, a Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Dundee, whose research focuses on the development of rehabilitative medical devices to assist people in improving their quality of life, whilst also extending our knowledge of how the body moves.
- Michael Barany, a Senior Lecturer in the History of Science at the University of Edinburgh who researches and teaches the history and culture of modern science and mathematics.
- Amelia Penny, a Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews’s School of Biology who is investigating changes in biodiversity and how organisms act as ecosystem engineers, particularly in reef ecosystems.
Dr Margaret Cunningham, Co-Chair of YAS said ‘The Young Academy of Scotland is delighted to welcome this outstanding group of new members, whose talents and experiences will bring so much to our work. Our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), which was diligently applied during our election process, led to diverse representation of new members from across many different sectors. We are hugely excited to see these new members bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and creativity to YAS to collaborate on new interdisciplinary projects that will achieve transformative change in Scotland and beyond.
Professor Sir John Ball, President of the RSE said ‘I am delighted to see these accomplished young professionals join the RSE Young Academy of Scotland. I am particularly delighted that YAS is continuing in its commitment to bring at-risk academic and refugee professionals into its membership. In bringing such diverse and innovative young leaders together, YAS has great potential to produce creative, fresh solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing our society.’
