InterAcademy Partnership advances

The Joint Session of the IAP and IAMP Executive Committees and the IAC Board took place on 28- 29 September 2015 in New Delhi, India, hosted By the India National Science Academy (INSA). 

After a series of preliminary discussions by the executive committees of IAP, the global network of science academies, and the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP), plus the board of the InterAcademy Council (IAC), an agreement has been reached to create a single umbrella organization. IAPartnership. Under the proposed name of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), these three ‘inter-academy networks’ will be able to speak with one voice and thus have a greater impact on global issues of common interest, presenting a united front to governments and policy-makers.

The move also foresees the three organizations being renamed:

a) IAP for Science (currently IAP, the global network of science academies);

b) IAP for Health (currently the InterAcademy Medical Panel, IAMP); and

c) IAP for Research (currently the InterAcademy Council, IAC).

Within the InterAcademy Partnership, member academies are represented by a 10-person Board, composed the co-chairs of IAP, IAMP and IAC (who form a 6-person Steering Committee) along with representatives from the four IAP regional networks: the presidents of the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA), the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC ) and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), as well as one co-chair of the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Sciences (IANAS).

Two Presidents have been elected from amongst the member of the Steering Committee: Robbert Dijkgraaf (the Netherlands) and Mohamed Hassan (Sudan).

The meeting in New Delhi marked the third occasion that the IAP and IAMP Executive Committees and the IAC Board have met – the first being held in Washington, D.C., USA, hosted by US NAS in March 2011, the second in Rome, Italy, in May 2014, hosted by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.