The election was held throughout a 24-hour period between Monday and Tuesday evening during the 193rd General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in which academician and neurobiologist Tamás Freund came out victorious. Professor Freund will be replacing Professor László Lovász, who has served for the past 6 years at the helm of the institution founded by István Széchenyi in 1825. For the upcoming 3-year term Professor László Péter Kollár, a civil engineer, was elected as new Secretary-General, while the new Deputy Secretary-General will be the immunologist Professor Anna Erdei. The General Assembly have also elected the 3 new Vice Presidents. The leaders of the Academy may be re-elected once after their first term of office expires.

Balázs Hangya and his Momentum Research Group have achieved surprising results in relation to the function of neurons key in regulating attention, learning and alertness. The group works within the confines of the Institute of Experimental Medicine (KOKI) in Budapest. Their freshly published study could initiate new lines of research to help better our understanding regarding the treatment of various dementia related diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

The recommendation prepared by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences aims to call the attention of decision-makers to the major issues that need to be addressed urgently in order to manage the post-peak period of the pandemic with success. It was sent directly to the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for Human Capacities, the Minister for Technology and Innovation and the Chief Medical Officer as the leader of the National Public Health Center on 22 April.

Board Member of Academia Europaea, Éva Kondorosi, has been appointed to the European Group of Chief Scientific Advisors. Éva Kondorosi, a plant biologist from Hungary, is a Fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina and the French Academy of Agriculture. Professor Kondorosi was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2010 and is an active and valued member of the Academy, serving on its Board of Trustees.

In this unusual period of time, one of the most important responsibilities of European research communities are to collect scientific evidence on the impact of COVID19. In this latest newsletter, the Regional Studies Association (RSA) is collating resources and evidence on how regions, cities, and industry around the world are dealing with the impact of the COVID19.

Due to the epidemic and related government measures, the Presidium of MTA has acknowledged the President’s decision to postpone the 193rd General Assembly scheduled for 4-5 May. Through an electronic voting system, the Presidium has also decided to prolong the current leaders’ tenure until 30 September 2020 at the latest.

“Holding our General Assembly and electing the chief officials of the Academy without the actual physical participation of attendees is only possible if the law permits it and the members of the General Assembly agree to this unusual method,” said MTA President László Lovász to mta.hu. The Academy supports decision-makers in their fight against the coronavirus outbreak, while the president himself has begun carrying out mathematical research to find out more about the spread of the disease. In his opinion, tough measures are necessary, while we must also prepare for the time when these measures will inevitably need to be eased.

A series of free online talks by leading world experts in global health, science diplomacy, geopolitics and technology will be broadcast online. One initiative called SciDip Talks will consist of 5 sessions and will take place every Thursday at 6pm (CET/CEST) (March 26th, April 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd). Another will be organized by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. On this course, you can learn the latest of what we know about COVID-19, presented by international experts.

Imagine if art classes at school were like teaching children how to paint the walls of a house. That is what leading mathematician Professor Jaroslav Nešetřil believes the current state of maths teaching is like for millions children. If we want to open up the beauty of maths and the benefits it can give us we need to start thinking about maths teaching in an entirely different way, says Prof. Nešetřil, Director of the Center of Excellence - Institute of Theoretical Computer Science, at Prague’s Charles University.

The leaders of the MTA have decided that in order to limit the risks related to the recent coronavirus epidemic it will restrict all programmes to the bare minimum. Only unpostponable events will take place with the least possible number of participants.