Yan Ning speaks during the 2019 Qiu Shi award ceremony held at Tsinghua University in Beijing. [PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]
From next year, apart from the ones she has already accepted, she will stop accepting any invitations from individuals or institutions to give academic lectures, unless they are from students, Yan Ning, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and founding president of the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation announced at her Sina Weibo account recently.
Yan, 47, is one of the star scientists in China and also one of the youngest members of the CAS academician.
Her Weibo has more than 1.27 million followers and the post has ignited public debate of whether star scientists have spent too much time in attending academic conferences and giving lectures, instead of doing academic research.
In a following post, Yan said people cannot keep outputting while learning and reflection is essential for creating new content. She feels a lack of self-confidence when constantly talking about the same topic, she said.
Star experts like Yan have been favored by many academic events due to their influence and their academic perceptive and exploration process can offer inspiration to others.
However, not all academic events are worth attending. Some scientists have been forced to attend such events for different reasons as endorsement.
Such events cannot provide a platform for in-depth academic discussion and is more for window-dressing purposes.
Many academicians of CAS and the Chinese Academy of Engineering have complained about attending such events for the show.
Academic research requires lots of time and energy and such events are a distraction to their research. In the long term, they will impact their academic output and the whole academic circle.
The public statement of Yan has been viewed as a "Nay" to such academic culture and the self-awareness of star scientists.
She makes people realize that scientists are not mascots for unnecessary academic events. They are entitled to their own time to do research and focus their attention on what's really important to their research.
