The GYA has signed an agreement to support the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022 (IYBSSD), organised under the aegis of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The purpose of IYBSSD 2022 is to strengthen the role of basic sciences towards the achievement of Agenda 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
As part of its support of the initiative, the GYA will participate in the IYBSSD 2022 International Advisory Committee, and strive to help raise awareness of the need to meet the UN SDGs.
GYA Co-Chair Roula Inglesi-Lotz (University of Pretoria, South Africa) notes that “GYA members are very enthusiastically part of the IYBSSD 2022 initiative, as we support the notion of basic sciences playing a major role towards the achievement of the UN SDGs. Scientists around the world will be encouraged during IYBSSD 2022 to engage in discussions on the complementarity of basic and applied research, and to explore approaches to be more intentional and conscious in their research related to SDGs. We are very excited and ready to contribute to these efforts.”
In addition to IYBSSD 2022, the GYA has shown its support of the UN SDGs through the 2017 Joint Statement on “The role of Young Academies in achieving the UN SDGs”, as well as its broad array of GYA working groups that support no less than 12 of the UN SDGs.
More information on IYBSSD 2022 and its work is available at International Year of Basic Sciences for Development – Scientists for the Planet.