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Welcome to the October edition of our newsletter, bringing you news and highlights from the last couple of months. Following our public launch in July we're proud to share our new video, which features keynote speakers from the launch day including Cédric Villani, Esther Duflo, Ismail Serageldin and Craig Calhoun. They’re joined by ISC President Daya Reddy and others from the international science community to share ideas on why the Council is needed now – and what it can and must do to be a strong voice for global science.
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News
The World Social Science Forum, which took place 25-28 September 2018, was opened by the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan. The topic of the Forum was security and equality for sustainable futures, one of the defining issues of our time. The Forum was launched with a forward-looking plenary on 'Existential risks' — watch the video here. The final plenary session — on the changing nature of global warfare — called for scientists to 'speak truth to power' on issues of corruption and misuse of science, saying that science organizations, academies and other networks must help ensure the norm of science for public good.
Twelve new international, interdisciplinary research projects on transformations to sustainability were formally launched in a session at the Forum. The projects focus on a wide range of sustainability challenge domains and settings: from human–wildlife interaction and water governance to artisanal gold mining, migration and intellectual property rights. The projects are jointly funded by the Belmont Forum, NORFACE and the ISC. A workshop prior to the Forum brought together researchers from the ISC-Transformations to Sustainability programme and the new Belmont Forum-NORFACE programme to share learnings.
A new cohort of LIRA2030 collaborative research projects on sustainable urban development in Africa will be funded in 2019, and we're now looking for scientists and other experts from outside academia to review project proposals. Guidelines for review will be provided, and remuneration is available — contact us by 12 November 2018.
A call for nominations for the Stein Rokkan prize for comparative social science research has been released. The US$5000 prize is awarded to a submission deemed to be a very substantial and original contribution in comparative social science research.
ISC President Daya Reddy joined international calls for the immediate release of graduate student Xiyue Wang, who was imprisoned in Iran whilst conducting research for his PhD.
IPBES has launched a call for nominations of experts for the forthcoming assessment of invasive alien species. Interested experts who would like to seek nomination by a Government are encouraged to contact their IPBES National Focal Point regarding any country-specific processes or deadlines and are requested to fill out their application form by 11 January 2019.
The International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) is seeking applications for professional development and research grants of €15,000 to support early-to-mid career researchers or policy practitioners in low- and middle-income countries. Successful applicants will become INGSA Research Associates for the period of the grant (February 2019–December 2019). Additional support will be made available for INGSA Research Associates to travel to an international INGSA meeting in late 2019. Applications close 15 November 2018.
The Knowledge Action Network on Emergent Risks and Extreme Events (Risk KAN) is seeking researchers to become members of its Development Team and/or working groups. Interested researchers and professionals are invited to apply online by 15 November 2018. The RISK KAN is a joint initiative of Future Earth, the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
Policy briefs published by the Urban Health and Wellbeing programme are now available for download. The twelve briefs take a systems approach to urban health and wellbeing, from looking at regional approaches to specific topics such as mapping antimicrobial resistance in Chinese cities.
The 2016 World Social Science Report on inequality, published by our predecessor organization the ISSC, has now been translated into Arabic. It's available for free download, and was launched by UNESCO in Beirut, Lebanon.
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New on our blog: Building resilience to the health risks of flooding in Abidjan
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Jobs at the Council and in the network
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News from our Regional Offices
Latin America & the Caribbean
El Salvador was host to the second in a series of meetings between all three ISC Regional Offices, which was held from 11-14 September and organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The meetings are intended as an opportunity for Regional Committee Chairs, Regional Directors and Science Officers of the Regional Offices to discuss the ISC regional strategy, including challenges and opportunities, successful programmes and priority areas for collaboration, and the added value of regional structures and cross-region collaboration.
The Salvadoran Model of Urban Health was presented at the expert meeting on implementing systems science for urban health and wellbeing under climate change, which was convened by the Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme on 19-20 September at the Academy of Science in Lisbon, Portugal.
More news from our Regional Office for Latin America & the Caribbean
Africa
The first meeting of the ISC Regional Committee for Africa was held in Maseru, Lesotho, 28-29 August 2018, with discussions focusing on the implementation of planned activities and budgets. The meeting was organized with partial support from the Department of Science and Technology of Lesotho. Before the meeting, ISC RCA members paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Communication, Science and Technology of Lesotho, Hon. Thesele John Maseribane and shared with him the mission and vision of the ISC as well as the activities of the Regional Office and ASSAf. Part of the meeting was aired on Lesotho national television.
A highlight was a one-day Research Symposium at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) on 30 August 2018. The Symposium served as a platform for members to interact with senior government officials, network and share knowledge/good practices with the local scientists on issues of priority to the host country, and to explore avenues for scientific collaboration.
More news from our Regional Office for Africa.
Asia & the Pacific
ISC-ROAP’s Steering Group on Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk (SGNHDR) met from 30 September-2 October at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Among the items discussed during the meeting was the office’s collaboration with other regional mechanisms in coordinating DRR activities in the region. The Group agreed that collaboration with other regional mechanisms such as UNISDR, UNESCAP and DBAR was essential in achieving the targets set out in the Sendai Framework, and that inputs from all the sciences were needed.
ROAP also organized a field visit to various sites in Ranau, a district in the west coast of Sabah that was badly affected by the 2015 earthquake. The group had the opportunity to talk to the Deputy District Officer for Ranau and representatives from the police, fire brigade and volunteer units that were on duty during the earthquake, discussing emergency procedures, monitoring and warning systems, and the experiences from the region in managing earthquakes. In addition, the Group organized a half-day workshop for final-year Geology students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah to share research experience on natural hazards and disasters in the region.
More news from our Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
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From our Members...
The UK could acheive net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a new report published by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering (UK). Doing so would require a rapid ramp-up of existing tools like forestation and soil sequestration, and investment in promising research. Download the report.
Discover all the ISC members on our website.
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Events
International Data Week 2018. Gaborone, Botswana. 5-8 November 2018.
3rd International Conference on Science Advice to Governments. Tokyo, Japan. 6-7 November 2018.
CLACSO 2018: 8th Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Social Sciences. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 17-18 November (CLACSO General Assembly); 19-23 November (Conference).
Workshop on increasing the value of weather-related warnings. Beijing, China. 20-22 November 2018.
15th International Conference on Urban Health. Kampala, Uganda. 26-30 November 2018.
15th General Assembly of CODESRIA: Africa and the Crisis of Globalization. Dakar, Senegal. 17-21 December 2018.
Setting their Table: Women and the Periodic Table of Elements. Murcia, Spain. 11-12 February 2019.
European Society for Ecological Economics Conference (ESEE2019). Turku, Finland. 18-21 June 2019.
Global Crises and Social Policy: Coping with Conflict, Migration and Climate Change. Mannheim, Germany. 28-30 August 2019.
Ocean Obs' 19. Honolulu, USA. 16-20 September, 2019
4th Symposium of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Herzliya, Israel. 4-8 November, 2019.
43rd Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Sydney, Australia. 15-23 August 2020.
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