International Relations
Leopoldina’s Network
Leopoldina is a member of several international boards and participates in international networks regularly issuing recommendations and statements for political institutions and the general public.
Academies of the G8 countries
Under the leadership of the Royal Society (UK) recommendations were written together with the academies of the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the USA) concerning important topics of modern society and issued prior to the G8 summit in Gleneagles (UK) in 2005. Also in the following years recommendations were issued prior to the respective G8 summits in St. Petersburg (Russia) in 2006, in Heiligendamm (Germany) in 2007, and in Toyako (Japan) in 2008. The Leopoldina represents Germany on these occasions.
In 2007 the Leopoldina chaired the academies’ conference in Halle. To that conference the Leopoldina invited the academy presidents of all G8 national academies plus those from Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa, and the chairman of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) to discuss the respective recommendations.
The statements issued at the G8+5 academies conferences can be found here.
European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC)
The Leopoldina represents the German academies in the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), an association of national academies from EU member states. EASAC views itself as a body in which evidence-based statements on topics from politics and science policy are drafted and adopted. EASAC receives from the EU Commission recommendations on scientific topics communicated by EU member states with the request to review them before they are put on the agenda of the working groups of the EU Commission. Increasingly, however, the EASAC addresses topics and submits recommendations independently. Leopoldina was involved in authoring several recommendations issued since 2003.
Federation of the European Academies of Medicine (FEAM)
For several years, the Leopoldina has been a member of the Federation of the European Academies of Medicine (FEAM), an association of medical academies from 14 European countries. Following the meetings, which take place at regular intervals, statements on medical topics of social relevance are published. On the initiative of the Leopoldina, the spring meeting on “Molecular Biology in Medicine: Basic and Clinical Relevance” took place in Halle (Saale) in May 2006.
All European Academies (ALLEA)
ALLEA is the European Federation of National Academies of Sciences and Humanities, with 53 member academies from 40 European countries. As a platform of its members, the aim of ALLEA is to support the exchange of information and experience among the academies and to offer European science and society the counsel of its members. The target in pursuing this aim is to maintain excellence in research and teaching, highest ethical standards and independence of political, commercial and ideological interests. The Leopoldina joined ALLEA as a member in March 2004.
InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP)
Many of the members of the Leopoldina represent medical disciplines. For this reason, the Leopoldina was requested by the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) to join as a member. The IAMP is a global network of academies of medicine, natural and engineering sciences. As an independent international forum, IAMP tries to advance health topics throughout the world, notably in the developing countries. To this end, IAMP advances cooperation among its members, publishes statements and makes scientific findings accessible to politics. The Leopoldina has been a member of IAMP since the general assembly in Beijing in April 2006.
InterAcademy Panel (IAP)
IAP (InterAcademy Panel) is a global network of the world's science academies, launched in 1993. Its primary goal is to help member academies work together and to advise citizens and public officials on the scientific aspects of critical global issues. IAP is particularly interested in assisting young and small academies achieve these goals and, through the communication links and networks created by IAP activities, all academies will be able to raise both their public profile among citizens and their influence among policy makers. The Leopoldina was nominated member of IAP in January 2008. The following statements issued by IAP were endorsed also by the Leopoldina:
IAP Statement On Tropical Forests And Climate Change (December 2009)
IAP Statement on Ocean Acidification (June 2009)
Human Rights Committee of the Leopoldina
In 2001, following a decision by the Presidium at the suggestion of several members, a “Human Rights” working group was established, which is generally referred to as Human Rights Committee (HRC). At present, the Committee consists of one member from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, respectively. In July 2003, the HRC was admitted to the „International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies“ (IHRN) of 65 academies from all parts of the world. The affairs of IHRN have been managed by internationally renowned scientists, such as Nobel Prize winners Max Perutz, Torsten Wiesel and, since 1 January 2005, Peter Agre (2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). The secretariat of the network is seated in Washington and is funded by the US National Academy of Sciences and several foundations. In 2004, the network, with the involvement of the Leopoldina’s HRC, dealt with 150 cases of violation of human rights in 20 countries. At the May 2005 session of the network in London, a document demanding unconditional respect of the fundamental human rights, also under the difficult conditions of fighting terrorism, was adopted. In April 2007 the IHRN conference took place in Mount Lavinia/Colombo, Sri Lanka; 23 academies participated including the Leopoldina. In the official document of the conference risk potentials to doctors and scientists in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Simbabwe, and Libya are listed.
Relations with academies in the EU accession countries
On the suggestion of the Leopoldina Presidium, the presidents of the national academies of the new EU member states – Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – were invited to Halle (Saale) in December 2004. The purpose of the meeting was an exchange of views on the opportunities of assistance and scientific cooperation available to the new EU member states within the European Union. The national academies of the East European countries stated their great interest in this meeting. Several of them have their own research institutes, in some cases with several thousand employees. Also participating in the full-day meeting were representatives of German sponsoring organizations: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung), the Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung), the Jacobs Foundation, the Robert Bosch Foundation (Robert-Bosch-Stiftung), the Founders’ Association for German Science (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft) and the Young Academy (Junge Akademie). It was agreed to work more closely with the East European academies in future and, most of all, collaborate with them in the organisation of international Leopoldina symposia.
Contact
Department of International Relations
Phone: +49 - 345 - 4 72 39 - 830
Fax: +49 - 345 - 4 72 39 - 19
hans-jochen.marquardt@leopoldina-halle.de
