We are pleased to share that applications for 2026 membership in the Global Young Academy (GYA) are now open. The GYA brings together young scientists committed to developing, connecting, mobilizing, and empowering early‑career researchers to drive international, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational dialogue. PLOS partners with the GYA to advance Open Science and support its principles in research practice.
The academy invites applications from young, independent scholars who combine research excellence with a clear commitment to impact. Apply for membership on the Global Young Academy website, and learn more about the GYA in our interview with former GYA co-chairs Yensi Flores Bueso and Sam Chan Siok Yee, and current co-chair Natisha Dukh below.
PLOS: Please introduce yourselves and your role at the GYA.
Yensi: I am Yensi Flores Bueso, a Honduran molecular and synthetic biologist. I trained through internationally competitive scholarships from a BSc in Honduras to a PhD at University College Cork, and I now design proteins using AI-based computational tools, most recently at the Institute for Protein Design in Seattle. Alongside my research, I work on research culture and science policy, and I engage on bodies such as serving on the inaugural Steering Board of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment and the UN’s Independent Group of Scientists for the 2027 Global Sustainable Development Report. I served as Co-Chair of the GYA until June 2026, together with Sam. Our current Co-Chairs are Francesco Maurelli and Natisha Dukhi, who are leading the academy through this membership call.
Natisha: I’m Natisha Dukhi, a Senior Research Specialist at South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council, working across public health, nutrition, adolescent health and science diplomacy. Within the GYA, I currently serve as the current Co-Chair, helping steer the Academy’s strategic direction, with a particular focus on making sure the perspectives and constraints of researchers from the Global South and Global North are genuinely reflected in how we operate.
Sam: I’m an academic at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), based in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, where I lead work in the Thoughts Formulation Lab. My research centers on the intersection of pharmaceutical innovation and sustainable, locally sourced materials. Within the Global Young Academy, I recently served as Immediate Past Co-Chair, having previously held the Co-Chair position. In this capacity, I’ve been closely involved in coordinating leadership and portfolio assignments across our team, supporting strategic direction, and representing GYA at international platforms. I’m active in GYA’s Women in Science efforts and broader science education and outreach initiatives, which connect naturally to my work back home running STEM outreach programs for children and underprivileged communities in Malaysia.
PLOS: What is the GYA, and what is it trying to achieve?
All: The Global Young Academy is an international, member-led academy consisting of approximately 200 outstanding early- to mid-career researchers and over 500 alumni spanning more than 100 countries and every global region. Its mission is to empower young researchers to lead international, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational dialogue by giving a strong voice to scientists from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that perspectives from both the Global North and Global South are genuinely reflected in global science policy and advice. A place of possibilities and hope, the GYA enables meaningful scientific, curiosity-driven, and cultural exchange to strengthen the global science ecosystem and promote science for society. In practice, this involves advocating for evidence-informed decision-making, building leadership capacity, improving research environments and culture, and pushing for a more inclusive global system where a researcher’s origin does not determine their influence. By working as a genuine bridge between regions and disciplines, the GYA strives for inclusivity and empowerment, aligning with a vision to build scientific capacity where it is most needed.
PLOS: What’s the relationship between the GYA and PLOS?
PLOS and the GYA signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2023 to advance open science together. The partnership grew from a shared conviction that science works better when it is open, and that early-career researchers can shape what open science looks like. Our Open Science working group provides input to PLOS, and we have collaborated on shared priorities such as research assessment reform and ending publication bias, including joint work published in PLOS Biology. This Q&A is itself a nice example of the partnership in action, with PLOS helping us reach researchers who may want to apply.
PLOS: What impact does the GYA have on its members’ professional development?
ALL: Membership in the GYA functions as a high-level, five-year leadership apprenticeship, offering early-to-mid career researchers opportunities that are rarely available at their home institutions. Members gain hands-on experience in governance, fundraising, and project management by running international working groups and organizing global meetings, often at a scale that accelerates professional development. This experience is complemented by access to a genuinely global peer network, which fosters cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations that frequently lead to long-term partnerships and friendships. Furthermore, the GYA significantly amplifies members’ professional visibility and impact, providing training in science leadership and opening doors to influential platforms like the UN, UNESCO, and the International Science Council. Whether through securing speaking engagements at major forums or facilitating science diplomacy, members develop critical skills and networks—such as consensus building and strategic communication—that prepare them for future leadership roles in national academies, science advisory boards, and beyond. Ultimately, the five-year membership structure encourages a sense of purposeful contribution, helping researchers transcend the boundaries of their own disciplines to become leaders who can shape global science policy and practice.
PLOS: How has being involved in the GYA impacted you?
Yensi: Profoundly, both as a scientist and as a leader. The GYA gave me the platform to co-lead the first global study of research assessment practices, coordinating a voluntary team of nearly thirty researchers across some twenty countries, with no dedicated research funding. That work is now informing reform discussions internationally. It also opened doors I could not have imagined, from the CoARA Steering Board to the UN. And as Co-Chair I learned what it takes to actually hold an organisation together. But the deepest impact is the community. As someone who began her career in Honduras, finding peers who understand both the realities of the Global South and the workings of global science policy, and who genuinely want to change things, has shaped who I am.
Natisha: Since joining in 2024, the GYA has genuinely reshaped how I see my own career. I came in as a working group member, and within a couple of years found myself leading initiatives, sitting on the Executive Committee, and now serving as Co-Chair – that trajectory alone tells you how quickly the Academy trusts you with responsibility if you show up and contribute. It’s pushed me well beyond my home discipline of public health nutrition and science diplomacy into science communication, and institutional leadership, and it’s given me a genuinely global vantage point on issues, like early-career researcher mobility and visa access, that I would never have engaged with through my HSRC role alone. Beyond professional growth, it’s connected me to a network of peers across the world who are wrestling with the same structural barriers I see in my own context, which has been both grounding and energizing. If I had to sum it up: the GYA didn’t just add lines to my CV, it changed the scale at which I think about my own work.
Sam: Being part of the Global Young Academy has fundamentally reshaped how I see my role as a scientist. Coming from a pharmaceutical formulation background, I could easily have stayed within the boundaries of the lab — but GYA opened my eyes to how research connects to policy, education, and community impact on a global scale. This all started with coleading a project about my formulation research to my STEM outreach work with children and underprivileged communities through funding support of GYA. Serving in leadership capacities, including as Co-Chair, taught me skills no amount of bench work could — coordinating across cultures, time zones, and disciplines; building consensus among diverse voices; and translating scientific expertise into strategic action. Managing portfolio assignments across a team of colleagues from different continents has sharpened my organizational and diplomatic instincts in ways that now inform how I run my own lab and mentor students. All in all, GYA gave me a global peer network who understands the specific pressures of early-career science while also pushing me to think beyond my own discipline and country.
PLOS: What would you say to someone thinking about applying to be a member of the GYA?
ALL: Apply, and don’t self-select out. The GYA is member-led, so what you take from it is proportional to what you bring, and you can bring more than you think. If you are an early- or mid-career researcher who wants your work to matter beyond your own field, this is your academy. I would especially encourage women, researchers from underrepresented regions and disciplines, and colleagues working outside traditional academia to apply. The call for the 2027 cohort is open until 15 September 2026.
