FESTIVE PLENARY DAYS 2026
The Festive Plenary Days started on 6 March with a Round Table „Challenges of the European Academy for the Future of Europe“ organized and moderated by EASA President Klaus Mainzer. EASA Vice-Presidents Ioannis Liritzis and Verica Trstenjak presented their concepts for their work in the Presidium, and the deans of the seven classes, Bostjan Marko Turk (Class I), Dusan Suput (Class II), Violeta Dinescu (Class III), Monica Riva (Class IV), Alberto De Franceschi (Class V), Athanasios Vasilakos (Class VI) and Paul Van Geest (Class VII) presented their concepts and visions for future cooperation with their classes, Martin Stieger (Private Foundation/Alma Mater) gave a talk on ‘The Future of Financial Planning’ with numerous members in attendance. We thank the donator of this Round Table, Ulrich Kubinger, from VTA Austria.
At the subsequent evening reception, members and new members were able to exchange ideas and network in a cosy atmosphere at this evening event:
Please download here the IMAGES of the EVENING RECEPTION ©wildbild
On Saturday, 7 March 2026, the ceremonial plenary session with the inauguration of the new members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA) took place in Salzburg, in the Great Hall of the University of Salzburg. This year's ceremonial plenary session was dedicated to the founder of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA) and Honorary President (EASA) Felix Unger on his 80th birthday, which he celebrated on 2 March 2026. Honorary President Felix Unger was honoured in a ceremony with two commemorative publications: Firstly, a classic anthology published by the President of EASA, Klaus Mainzer, edited by Gerhard Fasching and published by EASA Press – ISBN 978-3-903611-01-6) This contemporary document honours his life and work in cardiac surgery and his life's work, the EASA. The highlights are his thoughts on a European federation as a real utopia for the further development of Europe on the basis of values.
Further the commemorative publication by Anna Vanadis Faix (Alma Mater Europea-ECH):‘The Heart of Europe’: Science, Humanity and Responsibility, published by Scientia Press, Herrenberg (ISBN 978-3-9828282-0-6). This commemorative publication honours his life's work and his idea of a Europe held together by dialogue, science and values. It brings together contributions from companions, colleagues and leading representatives from the fields of medicine, philosophy, natural sciences, politics, economics and culture. The laudatory speech for Honorary President Felix Unger was given by Brigitte Tag, former Vice-President of EASA, Director of the Competence Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law Helvetia (MERH), University of Zurich.
IMAGES 80th BIRTHDAY PROF UNGER ©wildbild
A highlight of the academic year was once again the ceremonial inauguration of the new members , accompanied by classical music of the Mozarteum University/Lenz Defregger (Violoncello), Fabian Mittermayer (Violin) and Tabea Ockert (Violin). We welcomed our new elected Deans on stage for the handover of the certificate of admission. We thank our member Björn Brücher who presided over the inauguration ceremony and read out the certificates in Latin.
Ferenc Krausz, Class IV, Nobel Prize winner for Physics 2023, Director of the Max-Planck-Institue for Quantum Optics in Garching near Munich and Professor at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (LMU) received the Paul Crutzen Medal. Martin Stieger gave a laudatory speech to Ferenc Krausz.
EASA welcomed around 250 members from Austria and abroad to Salzburg.
IMAGES FESTIVE PLENARY ©wildbild
