Royal Society of Edinburgh takes over Celtic Academies role

The RSE has officially taken over the secretariat role of the Celtic Academies Alliance, marked at a symposium on languages in Wrexham today, Wednesday 29 April.

The Celtic Academies Alliance Languages Symposium is intended to unite researchers and policymakers from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by language-learning.

The Celtic Academies Alliance comprises the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Learned Society of Wales (LSW), and the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). Its role is to promote collaboration and strengthen cross-national understanding within the UK and the whole island of Ireland, using the collective expertise of the three national academies to inform public policy to address shared societal challenges, and advance research across a range of disciplines.

RSE President Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli PRSE will serve as the chair of the alliance, taking over from the previous chair, Professor Hywel Thomas FLSW, president of the Learned Society of Wales.

Under Professor Thomas’ leadership, the Celtic Academies Alliance established itself formally, and brought together leading experts from across the Celtic nations to advise government officials and funders on topics including research collaboration, and relations between the nations within the alliance.

RSE President Sir Anton Muscatelli said: “It is with great pleasure that I accept the role of chair of the Celtic Academies Alliance.

“It was only in January of this year that the Celtic Academies Alliance was formalised, building on what had already been many years of fruitful work.

“These kinds of partnerships and alliances are more important than ever to our research communities and our wider society, and I am looking forward to stewarding the Celtic Academies Alliance through its commitments over the next year.”