On  19 April in Vienna, the Learned Society of Wales was formally admitted into full membership of ALLEA, the federation of European National Academies. The event took place during the ALLEA AGM at the Austrian Academies of Sciences in Vienna where the Society was represented by the Chief Executive Professor Peter Halligan.

ALLEA currently brings together 60 Academies from more than 40 countries in the Council of Europe region. Member Academies include learned societies, from across all fields of the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities.

In April 2015, the Society was invited to apply to become the fourth (and final member representing national academies in the UK) member of ALLEA; the other UK members are the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

ALLEA is one of 5 European networks including EASAC (European Academies Science Advisory Council), FEAM (Federation of European Academies of Medicine), Euro-CASE (European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering) and Academia Europaea (AE) that have agreed to work together to co-ordinate science-based advice as part of the EU Commission’s new Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM).

The Society is already well represented in Academia Europaea (AE) by the Learned Society of Wales Vice President, Prof Ole Peterson who is also VP of the AE Life Sciences Class and will be formally launching the new AE Life and Medical Sciences Knowledge Hub in Cardiff this June as part of the 2016 AE Annual Meeting in Cardiff, (26 – 29 June).