Open Data, Research Highlights, New Appointments, Vacancies & Dates for your Diary.
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Welcome to the January 2016 ISSC Newsletter

We'd like to wish all our readers a peaceful and productive New Year.

We're calling for a global accord on open data

As part of a group of four major international science organisations, the ISSC is calling for global endorsement of an accord to help assure open access to volumes of “big data” that increasingly are the basis of research and policy-making.

Together with The International Council of Science (ICSU); the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP); and The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS), we've developed an accord that includes a set of guiding principles on open access to big data, necessary to protect the scientific process and ensure that developing countries can participate more fully in the global research enterprise.

Why we're making the case for open data as a prerequisite in maintaining the rigour of scientific enquiry and maximising public benefit from the data revolution in both developed and developing countries.

Dr Mathieu Denis has been appointed Executive Director of the ISSC, taking over leadership of the ISSC’s international Secretariat.

The ISSC at COP21: catch up on our activities and blogs from the Transformations to Sustainability community.

19 World Social Science Fellows met in Xiamen, China, to explore the impact of big data in an urban context.

Save the date

The 31st General Assembly of the ISSC will be held in Oslo, Norway, between the 23rd and 26th October 2016.

There will be a two-day General Assembly followed by a one-day scientific event on issues raised by the recent migration and refugee crises. This is a global phenomenon, affecting all continents – analyzing and addressing these challenges requires the combined efforts of all the social sciences.

Vacancy

The ISSC is currently looking for an Administrative Assistant to provide support to the ISSC Secretariat with its programmes and activities. Applications must be received by Monday, 18 January 2016.

Research highlights from the World Social Science Fellows programme

Untamed Urbanisms, published by Routledge in 2015, is an edited volume resulting from the ISSC World Social Science Fellows’ seminar Sustainable Urbanisation I, which took place from 25-30 March 2013 in Quito, Ecuador.

Untamed Urbanisms aims to re-politicise the relationship between urban development, sustainability and justice, and to explore the tensions emerging, as well as their potential for transformative change. The volume is edited by the convenors of the seminar, and is available for free download.

Dialogues of Sustainable Urbanisation is a book of blogs emerging from the ISSC World Social Science Fellows’ seminar that took place in Taiwan in November 2014.

With this book of blogs, the editors aim to facilitate new dialogues and collaborations, and to give urban social researchers a way to share their research with a wider audience.

Download or read online.

Dates for your diary

UNISDR Science and Technology Conference on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 - 2030
Starts: January 27, 2016
Location: G eneva, Switzerland

Data to Decisions: Valuing the Societal Benefit of Geospatial Information
Starts: March 10, 2016
Location: Paris, France

Fourth CODESRIA Conference on Electronic Publishing
Starts: March 28, 2016
Location: Dakar, Senegal

Child Poverty and Social Protection in Western and Central Africa: an international workshop
Paper proposals welcome - submit by January 31st
Starts: May 23, 2016
Location: Abuja, Nigeria

Third ISA Forum of Sociology
Starts: July 10, 2016
Location: Vienna, Austria

IPSA World Congress of Political Science
Starts: July 23, 2016
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

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