The Transformation Imperative: Expanded Evidence for Inclusive Policies in Diverse Contexts
The International Network for Government Science Advice conference (INGSA2024) from 1-2 May 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda, will bring 500 delegates together from across academia, policymaking, diplomacy, and the private sector to comprehensively examine the role and function of science-policy-society mechanisms at, and between, all levels of government. Delegates can expect a variety of enlightening and thought provoking sessions across science advice, science diplomacy and the role of inclusion and diversity.
Satellite events will take place 30 April and 3 May 2024.
The conference’s themes and aims are:
Transformation: There is no doubt that global communities are now compelled to address large-scale transformations in our socio-ecological and socio-technical systems if we are to curb the worst effects of climate change and inequalities. Thus, as the framing of issues and the remit of science advising moves beyond just technical diagnoses and solutions to discrete policy problems, and towards broader and more complex transformative approaches, how will this shift change the principles and practices of science advice?
Expanded Evidence: Science advice for transformation of socio-ecological and socio-technical systems must assist decision-makers to parse and manage the interconnected, multi-level, transboundary and often deeply polarising problems that societies face. To do so means transcending conventional definitions and boundaries to expand and apply broader evidence from across cultures, languages, demographies, geographies, ideologies, epistemic traditions, and geopolitical alliances, to name a few.
Inclusion: The world is experiencing a crisis of trust. Trust in the institutions of governance, the institutions of knowledge, and in the relationship between these has eroded in recent years for all sorts of reasons. Observers and experts have identified numerous drivers and conditions, but it is generally now agreed that diverse audiences must be included in the processes that affect them for their trust in institutions – and the social cohesion this brings – to be (re)built and maintained. In turn, the shared values and civic reason generated can underpin and perpetuate trust in institutions.
The key goal of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA) is to build capacity to give advice, but not provide advice itself. Therefore, the partnership between INGSA and the GYA is focused on INGSA’s training activities as they relate to the GYA’s early-career researchers. A highlight of this cooperation was the one-day science advice workshop prior to the opening of the GYA Annual General Meeting and International Conference of Young Scientists in April 2019.
At INGSA 2024, the GYA’s Scientific Excellence working group will co-organize a session on “Towards a global definition of excellence in research” at the conference together with CIE.
The INGSA Conference Programme and further details can be found here.