Deadline:
January 23, 2025
Location(s)
Italy
Trieste
Overview
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Washington DC, USA, and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, are seeking candidates to participate in the annual summer course on science diplomacy to be held on 21-24 July 2025 in person in Trieste, Italy.
Details
The workshop
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Washington DC, USA, and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, are seeking candidates to participate in the annual summer course on science diplomacy to be held on 21-24 July 2025 in person in Trieste, Italy.
The workshop will take place as follows:
- 21 July (Monday): welcome dinner
- 22-24 July (Tuesday – Thursday): workshop
- 25 July: participants return to their home countries
The AAAS-TWAS Science Diplomacy training program was established in 2014 to expose scientists, decisionmakers, diplomats and other interested stakeholders and institutions to science diplomacy concepts, explore key contemporary international policy issues relating to science, technology, environment and health, and build a skillset to allow for careers at the intersection of science and diplomacy. Over the past years, we have trained over three hundred emerging leaders from more than 50 countries to address science diplomacy from global and regional perspectives.
Pairing format of the course
The aim of the pairing is to help develop long-term science policy connections. Therefore, early-career scientists applicants are encouraged to check with their supervisor and/or leadership of their home institute for suggestions on possible, suitable co-applicants from the policymaking arena.
The two participants in the participant pair must confirm the identity of their partner on their application and explain why this is a good partnership. Thus, participant pairs must have agreed in advance about their ‘twinned’ applications.
Important: Applications that do not identify a participant partner will not be considered. Therefore, it is necessary to find a partner co-applicant before applying.
In addition, commitment to attend all days of the course is expected from both members of the selected pairs. Therefore, if one member of the pair will not be able to commit to attend the whole workshop, this will automatically disqualify the participation of the other member of the pair.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
Participants
To strengthen the connection between scientists and governmental officials, decisionmakers and diplomats, applications to attend the course are being invited from ‘participant pairs’.
Both participants in the participant pair should ideally be living and/or working in the same country, but not be working at the same institution.
Priority will be given to participant pairs from developing countries (https://twas.org/developing-countries-south), and especially Science and Technology lagging countries (STLCs – https://twas.org/66-countries).
The applicants in the ‘participant pair’ should share some common interest in the areas of science, technology and innovation. However, it is not necessary that they work or have been working together in the past.
The ‘participant pair’ will include:
- Participant 1: a Early-Career Scientist (ECS) who should be preferably 40 years or below, must have earned a PhD degree and whose research and wider engagement has international policymaking implications or applications, and
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Participant 2: a Decisionmaker (DM) from the policymaking arena, working on science, technology, and innovation-related matters. There is no age limit for the co-applicant decisionmaker nor the requirement of a PhD degree. On the other hand, this person should belong to one of the following policy-related categories:
- A local or national government official;
- A policymaker;
- A diplomat;
- Civil servant;
- A representative of a research funding institution;
- Staff or expert working for an international (e.g. UN) organization.
Since 2021, 144 scientists and decisionmakers from 50 countries have attended the course as participant pairs. Alumni of the course will join a global network of young leaders and innovators reaching across borders to address societal challenges and become agents of change in their countries and sectors.
Dates
Deadline: January 23, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
- Travel, accommodation and visa expenses will be provided to the selected participants.
- Spaces are reserved for a number of young scientists from developing countries (up to the age of 40), as well as scientists and/or government officials, etc, also from developing countries, with more experience in the international policymaking arena (‘science diplomacy ambassadors’).
- A limited number of spaces for self-funded candidates from any country will also be available. Participants accepted in the course but not eligible for financial support will have to cover their flight and airport transfers, and will provide a registration fee of EUR 650 to cover tuition, board and lodging for up to 5 nights.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
