Science Advice

In Fall 2022, group co-lead Laura Zimmermann became a member of the International Science Council (ISC)’s working group coordinating the review process of the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR). The GSDR provides evidence-based guidance on global sustainable development issues and progress towards the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and will be launched in 2023. The working group, consisting of 13 researchers from the natural and social sciences, was tasked with coordinating and synthesizing global feedback on the GSDR draft from over 100 expert reviewers for communication to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

In September 2022, co-lead Markus J. Prutsch as well as group member Felix Moronta together with alumnus Andre Xuereb gave a presentation on the topic of science diplomacy and science advice at the GYA online event “Young and Global – A perspective on today’s challenges in science”. This event was part of the Science Summit of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77). In their presentation, they explored how stronger relationships between nations help both advance the course of science, and science can help bring nations together. Early-career researchers (ECRs) are in a unique position to forge long-lasting connections between scientists, diplomats, and policymakers, and to use science diplomacy to help bridge societal and technological gaps. Read more about the session and watch the full presentation here.

In June 2022, group members organised a Science Advice for Policy-making Workshop as part of the GYA Annual General Meeting & Conference, in collaboration with the Young Academy of Japan. INGSA and INGSA-Asia provided mentors and more than 40 participants took part in the meeting.  You can watch the recording here. For further information, you can read the related news item here.

Furthermore, the Science Advice Resource Centre was launched. This platform is intended to be an initial entry point for early-career researchers into Scientific Advice matters.

In May 2022, the group, in collaboration with INGSA-Africa, organised a workshop intended to provide participants with an overview of the concept of “science advice”, with a focus on the use of science advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to traditional knowledge in Africa, and on examining existing platforms and structures of science advice in Africa, as well as in Europe and Latin America. The workshop was held online.

In April 2022, group co-lead Alma Cristal Hernández (Mexico), and group members Felix Moronta (Venezuela), Sandra López-Verges (Panama), Luciana Balboa (Argentina), Fernando Valiente (Chile), as well as GYA alumnus Alex Godoy (Chile) organised and participated in the Regional Conference on Science Advice in Latin America. The objective of the Conference was to provide students and young researchers with an introductory perspective on Science Advice, and on the participation of young Latin American scientists in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in their countries of residence, and on other countries’ global challenges facing the Latin-American region and the world in general.

In September, the group’s Science Advice Writing Contest closed and the winners were announced. The contest contributions were then included in the Science Advice Resource Centre that was under development.

Additionally, the group participated in the Tsukuba Conference for Future Shapers 2021 (online). Four foresight practitioners from the GYA shared their experience and examined innovative approaches anticipating the future of scientists in the Panel Session “Strategic Foresight for the “future normal” of young scientists ”. Furthermore, group members participated in the Special Plenary with Nobel Laureates during the conference. Read the group’s item for the GYA Blog here.

In July, the group collaborated with the Journal of Science Policy & Governance and co-organised the International Science Policy Memo Writing Workshop to equip students and early-career scholars to write effective and impactful policy memos.

In November 2020, the group teamed up with Policy Horizon Canada in order to provide an online training workshop on Strategic Foresight addressed to GYA members and alumni, as well as to National Young Academy members. For details see here.

Group co-lead Alison Flynn (University of Ottawa, Canada) participated in an INGSA Workhop on science advice and leadership in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, in October 2019. A workshop report can be found here.

Prior to the GYA Annual General Meeting and International Conference of Young Scientists 2019, a pre-conference workshop on science advice for early to mid-career researchers and scientists was held at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), in cooperation with this GYA working group and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA).

Working group co-lead Clarissa Rios (Peru) represented the GYA at the 2019 annual ‘Science meets Parliaments’ conference at the European Parliament in Brussels in February 2019. This event, organised by the European Parliament and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), gathered policy-makers, scientists and professionals working at the interface of science and policy. Read more here.

In November 2018, members of the group participated in the biennial conference of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) in Tokyo, Japan. For a brief report see here.

Furthermore, the group co-organised an Evidence and Policy Summer School together with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) in Laxenburg, Austria, in September 2018. The summer school’s theme was “The role of population and migration for sustainable development in the European neighbourhood”. It focused on the role of population and migration for sustainable development in the European Neighbourhood, and it was aimed at early- to mid-career scientists interested in how to achieve impact on policy-making, as well as at policymakers interested in how to commission and use research in their daily work.

One of the panel sessions, “Discussion with Scholars At Risk”, was moderated by GYA member and co-lead of the At-Risk Scholars Initiative, Karly Kehoe (Canada). It was a collaboration between the GYA and the Young Academy of Scotland (YAS) and offered at-risk professionals a platform for highlighting how their personal and professional lives have been affected by their forced displacement. The panelists were Pinar Aksu (YAS member), Mohammed Almahfali (GYA mentee), and Özge Yaka (GYA mentee). Session participants were instructed to treat the first half of the session as a listening exercise and to consider how the experiences of the speakers fit within the broader context of migration and demographic change in Europe.

Following this, the audience was then tasked with breaking up into groups and discussing a number of policy recommendations that emerged from the GYA’s Global Migration and Human Rights working group’s Global Individual Responsibility Symposium held in Munich, Germany, in April 2018. The purpose of this exercise was twofold: firstly, to encourage discussion about migrant integration between policy makers, migrants and researchers; secondly, to capture the advice and comments made by the policymakers to ensure that the recommendations being included in the GMHR working group’s forthcoming report, Global Individual Responsibility: The Role of the Citizen in Refugee Integration are as concrete as possible.

© FFAB | IIASA

GYA members Cristina Blanco Sío-López (UK) and Clarissa Ríos (Peru) facilitated a master class on “Human Mobility and European integration: From Qualitative Approaches to Citizens’ Engagement”.

• Participation in the JRC workshop on skills for evidence-informed policymaking (Patrizio Antici). a G20 policy brief: Consolidated G20 synthetic biology policies and their role in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Bart Kolodziejczyk and Alexander Kagansky)
• participation in the JRC workshop Policy Impact of Knowledge and Knowledge Organisations (Koen Vermeir)
• participation in the conference Governing better through evidence-informed policy making, hosted by the OECD (Patrizio Antici, Koen Vermeir)
• participation in UN-STI (Muhammad H Zaman)

2016

The foundations for this group were laid at the 2016 workshop Broadening the scope of science advice (GYA/INGSA/JRC) and the 2016 conference Science & Policy Making: Towards a New Dialogue (INGSA/EC) both held in Brussels. We then started out as a GYA Incubator and were officially established as a GYA Working Group in January 2018.

Report: Broadening the scope of science advice

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