On 26 May 2020, at the end of the 2016-2020 mandate, the General Assembly of the Academy of Romanian Scientists took place. Given the pandemic alert status, the event took place online via videoconference. The agenda included: presentation of the Scientific Report of the AOSR for 2019, the Financial Report for 2019, presentation by the candidate for President of the Management Plan, discussion, secret ballot for the election of the AOSR Presidium and new full, honorary and corresponding members.
The scientific activity of the AOSR in 2019 included scientific research projects, the National Scientific Spring Conference 2019, the National Scientific Autumn Conference 2019, the AOSR Debates, the monthly conference series “The Values of Femininity”, the awarding of the Academy of Romanian Scientists’ Prizes for 2017, studies, research and scientific communications carried out by AOSR members and presented either at the institution’s events or at other national and international events. The AOSR’s research and development programme in 2019 consisted of 23 research projects carried out by the sections, which resulted in more than 40 articles listed on ISI or indexed in other international scientific databases.
The recognition of this scientific activity is confirmed by the prestigious international ranking SCIMAGO- Elsevier, which evaluates universities and research institutions worldwide and ranks AOSR 8th among research institutions in Romania. It should be noted that in this international ranking, in the first 800 positions in world, from the academic structures, only the Romanian Academy (676th place) and the AOSR (794th place) appear, although the AOSR has only received between 2-3% of the total funds allocated from the state budget to finance the academies established by law each year, and this year it has no budgetary funding at all. The full report can be found here: http://www.aosr.ro/wp-content/uploads/RAPORT%20AOSR%202020%20SITE%20(1)_compressed.pdf
At the General Assembly, the candidate for the position of President of the AOSR, Prof. Dr. Eng. Adrian Badea – President for the 2016-2020 term – presented his Management Plan for the period 2020-2024. The new Plan is structured around nine priority lines of action: Scientific life; Dissemination of knowledge; Human resources; Supporting and attracting young people to science; Scientific expertise; Partnerships/collaborators; Internationalisation; Material base; Management. The plan provides for the development of scientific activity, essential for an institution such as the AOSR, through its own scientific conferences, national and international conferences, scientific debates, research plans at section level, the development and diversification of the activity of the Constantin Angelescu Institute for Advanced, Interdisciplinary Research (ICAI), by promoting partnerships between it and other research units (universities, research institutes, economic agents, local and central government structures), increasing the scientific visibility of all members of the Academy by increasing the number of scientific publications, especially in prestigious journals.
An important point of the Management Plan is the relationship with young people and the concern to ensure quality education for them. This calls for a reform of science teaching from the earliest years of school, in high school and then in universities. The following lines of action for the AOSR are outlined: Involvement and taking a public stance in the drafting of the school curriculum by the MEC for pre-university education, but also in the improvement of teaching technology; continuation and development of the “Creativity” circle for students by extending it to branches in the country, especially where there is a recognized tradition (Iasi, Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj); organising meetings/conferences in schools and universities to popularise scientific fields in which AOSR has real expertise; setting up a “Creativity Prize” for young people (pupils or students), to be awarded annually together with the Scientica Foundation; developing on-line teaching resources for pupils and students, in collaboration with other partner universities. The AOSR wishes to address as a priority students in rural areas, where the quality of science teaching leaves much to be desired in many cases, and the chances of university training of this school population, which has been an essential source of scientists in the modern history of Romania, have decreased alarmingly. Another issue of concern for the AOSR in this chapter is the exodus of young people, the brain drain, which the institution intends to address in the coming period in a series of events.
The management priorities include the development of partnerships with universities, institutes and prestigious research centres. In the same framework, the internationalisation of the AOSR’s work is essential to increase the institution’s prestige and visibility. Some of the measures set out in this section: Strengthening links with AOSR honorary members abroad (about 100 members); building on the partnership signed with the Shanghai Academy of Sciences; increasing the number of bilateral partnerships by contacting other Academies of Sciences in the world; transforming the AOSR New York branch into the AOSR US branch, setting up branches in other countries; strengthening links with the AOSR Chisinau branch, which has members of real scientific value; initiating steps for AOSR participation in international science networks. The Management Plan for 2020-2024 can be found here: http://www.aosr.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Plan-Managerial-ACADEMIA-OAMENILOR-DE-STIINTA-DIN-ROMANIA-2020-mai.pdf
At the General Assembly, the new AOSR leadership for the 2020-2024 term was voted in and new members were welcomed. The vote was cast online on a specially designed, high-security, technologically advanced platform. The electronic voting system built ensured the confidentiality and anonymity of the vote, with each member having their own token transmitted online by the system to access the voting system. AOSR is the first Academy in Romania to implement this modern voting system. Following the vote, was re-elected as President of the AOSR Prof. Dr. Eng. Adrian Badea. The new Scientific Presidium of the AOSR is composed of Prof. Dr. Ing. Adrian Badea – President of AOSR, prof. univ. dr. eng. Doina Banciu – Vice-President, c.s. I Doru-Sabin Delion – Vice-President, prof. univ. dr. eng. Petru Andea – scientific secretary. New members have been welcomed to the AOSR in several categories: honorary members, full members, corresponding members. As full members, the institution was joined by personalities of Romanian academic education and science: Vasile Drăgan, Adrian Olimpiu Petrușel, Ioana Demetrescu, Gheorghe Onișoru, Anton Hadăr, Sorin Rugină, Grigore Tinică.
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