Welcome

Welcome to the Center for Science Diplomacy’s website. The Center is guided by the over-arching goal of using science and scientific cooperation to promote international understanding and prosperity. It approaches this goal by providing a forum for scientists, policy analysts, and policy-makers through which they can share information and explore collaborative opportunities. We are particularly interested in identifying opportunities for science diplomacy to serve as a catalyst between societies where official relations might be limited, and to strengthen civil society interactions through partnerships in science and technology.

The Center is grateful for the financial support of the Golden Family Foundation and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.

Events

Center Events

First Look: Pyongyang University of Science and Technology
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) is scheduled to enroll its first students in the Spring. This unique institution, built entirely with funds donated from outside the DPRK, with approval from the DPRK government is the fulfillment of the dream of one remarkable Korean American, Dr. James Kim. He is in Washington to tell the PUST story and discuss the plans for the future. It is modeled on a similar institution that Dr. Kim built in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous District of China. With plans for some 2000 students and instruction in English with foreign instructors, its existence is completely unprecedented and provides an interesting new perspective on the DPRK.

For information on how to RSVP please see the event announcement

East Africa, Regional Integration, and Scientific Cooperation
On December 9, 2009 high-ranking science policy leaders from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, in a public discussion at AAAS, detailed work by their governments and the government of Burundi to use science diplomacy and regional cooperation to address a range of challenges.
For further details regarding the event please see the following news article

Outside the Center

Science Diplomacy and the Prevention of Conflict Conference
February 4-5, 2010
Venue: USC Davidson Conference Center; Board Room
The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is pleased to host a conference in collaboration with USIP's Center of Innovation for Science Technology and Peacebuilding to further academic understanding of science diplomacy as a valuable element in the wider field of public diplomacy. Please join them for the opening dinner and keynote address, being given by Dr. Vaughan Turekian, Director of the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy on February 4, 2010, and the all day event on February 5, 2010, discussing Science Diplomacy and the Prevention of Conflict.
Please click here for the full day event announcement and here for the opening dinner and keynote address

News

Center News

NEW POLICY STATEMENT AFFIRMS SCIENCE DIPLOMACY AS A CRUCIAL PIECE OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA), in conjunction with the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (U.S. CRDF) and AAAS will officially release a statement discussing that science diplomacy is a crucial piece of U.S. foreign policy. The statement is signed by twenty plus Democrat and Republicans within the science and technology community
For more information please visit the PSA website.

JOINT COLLABORATIVE REPORT FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND AAAS RELEASED
The UK's Foreign Secretary, David Miliband launched the joint Royal Society/AAAS science diplomacy report on January 11, 2010. The report entitled "New frontiers in science diplomacy, Navigating the changing balance of power "discusses the role of science diplomacy today, including barriers, widening the use of science diplomacy, and case studies.

To read the report please click here

Please also follow this link to read Miliband's speech entitled 'A call for convergence: Science and Diplomacy in the modern age'.

Center For Science Diplomacy Releases It's First Year In Review

The Center for Science Diplomacy has released its first Year in Review. The Year in Review includes summaries of the many events held and publications written over the past year by the Center's staff. It also includes the testimony given by AAAS Chief Executive Officer Alan Leshner, on 15 July 2008 to U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Research and Science Education, during which he announced the beginning of AAAS's Center for Science Diplomacy.

Outside the Center

AAAS President Peter Agre Leads Delegation to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for Talks on Academic Science Collaboration
Nobel laureate Peter C. Agre led a delegation of four U.S. organizations to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for five days of talks on academic science cooperation. The Center for Science Diplomacy’s Director Vaughan Turekian was also a part of the delegation. For more information please click here

U.S. Delegation on Science Policy Travels to Cuba
AAAS President Peter C. Agre, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, is among the members of a non-governmental U.S. delegation that visited Cuba for discussions on science policy from 10-13 November. The visit included meetings with leading Cuban scientists and policy officials. It is meant to explore research issues and multilateral science venues that might be conducive to U.S.-Cuba scientific cooperation. The trip comes at a time when scientists in the United States and in Cuba have been urging expanded scientific cooperation between the two nations.
For more information please click here


[Last updated: 2/2/2010]