Science diplomacy takes many forms: When
nations come together to negotiate cooperative agreements on fisheries
management or infectious disease monitoring, they need scientific expertise.
When scientists come together for complex multi-national projects in astronomy
or physics, their nations devise diplomatic agreements on management and
financing. And when political relations between two nations are strained or
broken, joint research efforts can give them a way to keep talking – and to
build trust.
Today, the need for science diplomacy is
growing. In collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS), TWAS
(The World Academy of Sciences) organised a 5-day in Trieste, Italy from
the 30 November to 4 December 2015 to discuss key contemporary
international policy issues relating to science diplomacy and sustainable water
management, including the use of shared rivers and underground aquifers, cross-border
pollution issues, safe drinking water and more. The programme highlighted
several key components, including how to translate scientific work into the policy
arena and the role of gender in effecting improved communication of scientific
works/outcomes to society.
I was inspired to discover that the
director of TWAS was Prof Murenzi from Rwanda and also that there was another
powerful organisation for gender advocacy called GENDERInSITE (http://www.genderinsite.net/ )
aside the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OSWD). In
general, I learnt that there was the need to learn diplomacy in writing winning
proposals, disseminating our research outcomes and finally to have a real-impact,
not only just with scientific publishing but putting a smile on communities
with our scientific work!
Dr Amos Kabo Bah is from the University
of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana and is in the final stages of completing
his CIRCLE Visiting Fellowship at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
