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Science Diplomacy

Science diplomacy bridges scientific practices and foreign policy. The Royal Society of the UK and the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) report (2010) classified science diplomacy into three categories:

  1. Science for diplomacy, whereby scientific collaboration paves the way for greater diplomatic engagement;
  2. Diplomacy for science, whereby diplomatic partnership paves the way for greater scientific awareness;
  3. Science in diplomacy refers to scientific knowledge, such as climate data, informing the diplomatic process.
Science diplomacy has traditionally been applied at the level of national governance, with the classical nation-state being its prime actor. Academia has come today to the diplomacy forefront. The acknowledgement that universities are prime science diplomacy actors is recent, but it has been accelerating at a rapid pace.

The EU Science Diplomacy Alliance, with the VUB as a founding member, stresses the importance of science diplomacy and opens the path to this new role of academia.

Follow EUTOPIA's series of seminars on Science Diplomacy, consult the previous one,"Thinking, Debating, and Shaping Science Diplomacy", and follow the next one,"Designing a Science Diplomacy Pathway for EUTOPIA", which is taking place online on 29 June 2023.