Building Bridges
Budapest '26
37th Annual Conference of Academia Europaea
15th Conference of the Young Academy of Europe
12-16 October 2026
Useful information
Meritxell Huch MAE
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
Professor Dr Meritxell Huch has been awarded the 2026 Brenner medal in recognition of her transformative contributions to the field cell biology, contributions that profoundly embody the pioneering spirit and scientific vision of Sydney Brenner.
Quentin Skinner MAE
Emeritus Professor of Humanities at Queen Mary University of London and a former Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge
Professor Quentin Skinner studied at the University of Cambridge, where he began teaching in 1965. After holding a position at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he returned to Cambridge in 1979, serving as Professor of Political Science and later Regius Professor of History. In 2008, he joined Queen Mary University of London, where he has been Emeritus Professor since 2022.
Stefan W. Hell, MAE
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014, director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg
Stefan W. Hell is a Director at the Max Planck Institutes in Göttingen and Heidelberg. A pioneer of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, he was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for overcoming the diffraction limit of light microscopy.
Mihály Pósfai, MAE
President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Mihály Pósfai is President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Professor of Environmental Mineralogy at the University of Pannonia. His research focuses on biomineralisation, environmental mineralogy and the application of transmission electron microscopy to the study of minerals in biological and atmospheric processes.
Stein Kuhnle, MAE
University of Bergen
Stein Kuhnle is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bergen and the Hertie School in Berlin. Appointed Professor of Comparative Politics in 1982, his main research field is the historical and comparative study of welfare-state development. He is a Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Academia Europaea.
Katalin Solymosi
Department of Plant Anatomy, Eötvös Loránd University
Katalin Solymosi is a plant biologist who earned her degree and PhD at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Anatomy. She teaches plant biology and pharmaceutical botany at ELTE and Semmelweis University and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Burgundy between 2006 and 2010.
Linda J. Colley, MAE
Department of History, Princeton University
Dame Linda Colley, the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, is an expert on British, imperial and global history since 1700. Born in Britain, she graduated from Bristol University with First Class Honors in history, and completed her Ph.D. in history at Cambridge University. The first female Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, she moved to Yale University in 1982.
Balázs Gulyás
President of HUN-REN, Professor Emeritus at Karolinska Institutet
Balázs Gulyás is President of HUN-REN, Professor Emeritus at Karolinska Institutet and former President’s Chair Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research spans neuroscience, neuroimaging and neurological and psychiatric disorders; he has published over 300 scientific papers and contributed to more than 20 patents.
Sierd Cloetingh, MAE
Utrecht University, Department of Earth Sciences
Sierd Cloetingh is Utrecht University Distinguished Professor. His research field is Earth Sciences. He published more than 391 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (Scopus: h-index 80; 22,624 citations) and has been promotor of close to 80 PhD students of 18 different nationalities.
Steve Evans, MAE
Industrial Sustainability at the University of Cambridge,
Prof. Steve Evans MAE, FIET, FRSA, FLSW, CEng is the Director of Research in Industrial Sustainability at the University of Cambridge, Professor of Supply Chain Sustainability at the Royal College of Art, and Professor at the Cranfield School of Management.
Genoveva Martí, MAE
UMAE, ICREA, University of Barcelona, Spain
Genoveva Martí obtained her BA at the University of Barcelona and her PhD at Stanford University in 1989. She has been Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle, Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside, and Reader at the London School of Economics.
Björn Wittrock, MAE
Director of the College of Excellence and Chair of Class A2
Björn Wittrock is Chair of Social Sciences and Vice-President ex-officio of Academia Europaea. He is Chair Professor emeritus, Uppsala University (and former Lars Hierta Professor of Government, Stockholm University). he was one of the founders of the SIAS-Group of leading IASs and has been its Chair trice.
John Pickett, MAE
Cardiff University UK
John A. Pickett is an internationally recognised biological chemist whose work has earned him numerous honours, including the Wolf Prize in Agriculture and a CBE. A Fellow of the Royal Society and international member of the US National Academy of Sciences, he was elected to Academia Europaea in 2026.
Paolo Papale, MAE
Director of Research at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology
Paolo Papale is Director of Research at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and a leading expert on volcanic hazards. A member of Academia Europaea, he co-founded the Krafla Magma Testbed, an initiative to establish the world’s first magma observatory.
Philip Ingham, MAE
Shanxi University, China; University of Exeter, UK
Philip Ingham is Chair Professor at Shanxi University and Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter. A leading developmental geneticist, he pioneered research into the Drosophila segmentation hierarchy and Hedgehog signalling pathway and is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.
Paul Schulze-Lefert
Director of the Department of Plant-Microbe Interactions at the Max Planck Institute
Paul Schulze-Lefert is a geneticist and biochemist whose pioneering research has advanced our understanding of plant innate immunity and the complex interactions between plants, pathogens and beneficial microorganisms. He is Emeritus Director at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and an elected member of EMBO, the US National Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Helena Bilandzic, MAE
Full Professor and Director of the Department of Media, Knowledge, and Communication at the University of Augsburg
Professor Dr Helena Bilandzic is Full Professor and Director of the Department of Media, Knowledge, and Communication at the University of Augsburg. Her research focuses on media effects in environmental, health and science communication, artificial intelligence, and social and moral issues, as well as narrative experience and persuasion.
Aditi Lahiri, MAE
Emerita & Research Professor of Linguistics, Director of the Lab, Senior Research Fellow of Somerville College
Professor Aditi Lahiri is Director of the Language and Brain Lab and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Oxford. Her research combines brain imaging, historical manuscript analysis and computational approaches to investigate the mental representation and historical development of speech sounds.
Eörs Szathmáry, MAE
Director, Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science, Parmenides Foundation, Pullach, Germany
Professor Szathmáry is best known for his pioneering work on the major evolutionary transitions. He has specifically dealt with the origin of life, the genetic code, eukaryotic origins, multicellularity and the emergence of natural language.
Ieva Plikusienė
Professor at Vilnius University’s Faculty of Chemistry and Geoscience
Professor Ieva Plikusienė develops innovative optical and acoustic biosensors for studying major diseases. She is a professor at Vilnius University and the first Lithuanian appointed to the Board of UNESCO’s International Basic Sciences Programme.
Eva Kondorosi, MAE
Chair of Class C (Life Sciences) and board member of Academia Europaea
Her research focuses on Rhizobium–legume symbiosis, nitrogen fixation and plant-derived peptides with potential applications in medicine and agriculture. A recipient of the Balzan Prize and Széchenyi Prize, she has held senior advisory roles with the UN, the EU and the European Research Council.
John E.J. asko
University of Beijng
Professor John Rasko AO is a physician–scientist and clinical haematologist internationally recognised for his leadership in gene and cell therapy and regenerative medicine.A member of Academia Europaea and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he co-authored Flesh Made New, which explores the promise and ethical complexities of regenerative medicine.