About the Amsterdam Young Academy
Amsterdam Young Academy (AYA) is an independent platform where talented young scientists from different disciplines meet to develop views on science, scientific policy and how to build bridges between science and society in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Young Academy is an initiative of the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit and was officially launched in 2018.
In appointing new members to the AYA, the selection committee considers nominees’ vision for key issues in a number of areas related to science and society, as well as how nominees plan to make use of AYA membership to achieve specific goals related to these topics.
Topics of interest include interdisciplinarity, recognition and rewards, open science, science policy, education, outreach activities, societal impact, and internationalization.
Supporting valorization efforts
For John Sheil, the nature of his research at ARCNL inspires him to support fellow academics in their valorization efforts. “A key role I play is to translate our fundamental science results to scientists and engineers working at ASML,” he says, “and I have seen first-hand the huge benefits of such valorization efforts.”
John’s vision is that this kind of collaboration between academia and industry should be more common: “Successfully interacting with societal stakeholders and industry partners should be encouraged, supported, and recognized as one of the key pillars of academia.”
As a member of the AYA, John plans to use his platform to find out what researchers already know about valorization. Using this, he aims to organize workshops to raise awareness of valorization activities, hoping to build connections between academia and industrial and societal stakeholders.
“My broad experience working in public-private partnership ARCNL with industrial leader ASML, together with the strong valorization activities in the VU Department of Physics, provides a unique perspective that I look forward to bringing to Amsterdam Young Academy.”
More information
For more information about this appointment, visit the Amsterdam Young Academy website.
