The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), and the National Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation (SENACYT) are organizing the course on Science Diplomacy, which will be held in Panama City, days before the CILAC Forum and during Science Week in the Central American country.
“Thanks to its strategic position and geopolitical connectivity, it is a great opportunity for Panama to invest in science diplomacy and take full advantage of hosting such an important regional event as the CILAC Forum, which seeks to strategically influence the design of science policies and decision-making processes in the region by promoting dialogue between science, politics, and citizens. Science diplomacy is an appropriate tool to achieve this,” says Marga Gual Soler, Director of the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy.
The course will last three days, October 17, 18, and 19, and aims to foster theoretical and experiential exchange among scientific researchers, managers, and other experts and leaders in the region on topics related to global changes in areas such as health, energy, climate change, and more.
The event is part of Science Week, a time when Panama City will be the region's scientific and technological capital. The CILAC Forum will be held, where the topic will also be addressed with a high-level session on science diplomacy in Ibero-America. Regarding this, Marga Gual states: "More and more countries in Latin America are recognizing the connection between national and global challenges and the various levels of intervention of science diplomacy to influence the development of public policies. Climate change and sea level rise, water availability and distribution, biodiversity destruction, energy sustainability, infectious diseases... are just a few issues that science diplomacy can help address."
The workshop will emphasize the connection between national and global challenges, the boundaries between different areas of knowledge, the levels of intervention of science diplomacy, and its contributions to the interface between science and science policy. To this end, participants will have access to diplomacy experts who will help them understand the role of science, technology, and innovation in sustainable development and in the face of global change. Another objective of this workshop is to establish cooperation networks among participants from Panama and Latin America, so that they can plan national and regional science diplomacy collaboration activities.
“Several Latin American countries have already shown interest in using science diplomacy to better align their science and foreign policy: Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Chile… thanks in large part to the drive of multilateral organizations such as UNESCO and the IAI, with whom AAAS has been working for many years. Now that there is critical mass, it is a good time to create a regional science diplomacy network to join forces and share experiences. In the case of Panama, the country has enormous potential to become a global scientific, technological, and economic center and a hub for facilitating partnerships that strengthen national, regional, and global prosperity, as well as sustainable development in Latin America,” says the Director.