Since June 2022, Jane Yau has become an official member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) and has participated in a number of ongoing activities in the direction of collaborative contribution towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In May, Jane undertook a 2-day online Science Leadership programme. In June, Jane attended the 4-day online Annual Conference with highlights and recordings available on the GYA website. In particular, Jane participated in the Science Advice for Policy-Making Workshop, and gave a lightning talk and panel discussion on the Global Educational Problem, where millions of children and adolescents worldwide don’t have access to (quality) education.

In October, Jane was selected as one of the reviewers for the UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2023 as well as joined the launch event of the new GYA report “Back to basics: researchers’ perception on the global state of funding for fundamental research” and co-moderated the breakout session on UNESCO’s initiatives for the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022.

Jane is a co-lead for the GYA Science Education for Youth working group and has obtained internal funding of €4500 for science research and outreach activities – more information to follow. Additionally, Jane is a member of the Women in Science working group, where the group is currently working to launch a pitch video as well as workshops relating to strategies and recommendations for overcoming and reducing work-life imbalance and challenges.

The next GYA Annual Conference will be held in-person in Rwanda in June 2023. For more information about GYA’s ongoing and upcoming activities, please visit the website.