Founded in 2018 by Amsterdam-based members of De Jonge Akademie, AYA is committed to interdisciplinary research, social dialogue and science policy. In total, AYA welcomed 10 new members this year, who were inaugurated under the watchful eye of Jeroen Geurts (rector magnificus VU) and Peter-Paul Verbeek (rector magnificus UvA).

meLê yamomo is a theatre maker and associate professor of theatre studies and performance studies. He leads the Veni project Sonic Entanglements and is one of the principal investigators of the project DeCoSEAS (Decolonising Southeast Asian Sound Archives), which investigates making colonial sound archives accessible. In 2020, he received a KNAW Early Career Award. 

Other AYA members of the UvA Faculty of Humanities are Marjolein Lanzing, Boris Noordenbos, Bram Mellink, Hanneke Stuit, Leonie Schmidt, Maartje Stols-Witlox and Tommy Tse.