27 November 2019
IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria

Second BRIDGES meeting takes place at IIASA

The second Big Research Infrastructures for Diplomacy and Global Engagement through Science network meeting took place at IIASA, back-to-back with the FMSTAN/SPIDER global science diplomacy meeting.

© Shariqkhan | Dreamstime

© Shariqkhan | Dreamstime

On 27 November IIASA hosted the second meeting of the Big Research Infrastructures for Diplomacy and Global Engagement through Science (BRIDGES) network.

BRIDGES is an informal network of people who deal with science diplomacy and international relations in international research organizations.

The network includes representatives from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Space Agency (ESA), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), European XFEL GmbH, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organization, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and the Square Kilometre Array Organisation (SKAO).

Following the network's inaugural meeting on 11 July 2019 at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), this meeting took place after the global meeting of the Foreign Ministries Science and Technology Advisors Network (FMSTAN) and the Science Policy in Diplomacy and External Relations (SPIDER), which was co-organized by IIASA, the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, the Vienna School of International Studies (Diplomatische Akademie Wien), and the Natural History Museum Vienna.

Participants at the second BRIDGES meeting welcomed its newest member, Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME). Professor Walid Zidan, SESAME Administrative Director, briefed audience on the work of SESAME, whose scientists were recently selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to receive its 2019 Award for Science Diplomacy.

Discussion focused on recent science diplomacy related developments at BRIDGES member organizations. A roundtable on the science diplomacy mapping of BRIDGES member organizations and a brainstorm on future activities of BRIDGES also took place.

Paul Arthur Berkman, an internationally-renowned scientist, explorer, educator, author and the Director of the Science Diplomacy Center at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, delivered a lecture to participants of the meeting and IIASA staff members on “SCIENCE DIPLOMACY: Triangulating Research, Education and Leadership with Informed Decisionmaking for the Benefit of all on Earth Across Generations”.

IIASA Senior Guest Research Scholar at the Transitions to New Technologies Program, Executive Director of The World in 2050 (TWI2050), and former IIASA Deputy Director General and Deputy CEO Nebojsa Nakicenovic delivered a study presentation on “Transformations towards a Sustainable Future for All”.


Participants of the Second BRIDGES meeting | © IIASA


Lecture by Prof. Dr. Paul Arthur Berkman | © IIASA



Case study presentation by Prof. Dr. Nebojsa Nakicenovic | © IIASA




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Last edited: 20 December 2019

CONTACT DETAILS

Sergey Sizov

Science Diplomacy Officer Communications and External Relations Department

FMSTAN/SPIDER Meeting 2019

IIASA co-hosts global science diplomacy forum

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International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313