GESDA unveils new "anticipatory science diplomacy" framework

GENEVA (AN) — The Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Foundation released a new report that outlines a framework calling for proactive science governance.

GESDA suggests in it 36-page report released on Monday that current diplomatic systems need overhauling because they are reactive and struggle to keep up with fast scientific advances. It proposes integrating scientific foresight into international relations with the goal of shaping future outcomes.

"Over the past 15 years, science diplomacy has emerged as a key tool in addressing global challenges, grounded in the idealistic promise of science as a universal language capable of transcending political and ideological divides," lead author Marga Gual Soler, an international expert in science diplomacy and molecular biologist who is GESDA's head of science diplomacy capacity building, and 15 contributors wrote in the report.

"Science diplomacy comes in several forms, including the use of scientific advice to inform negotiations and shape agreements; the creation of international scientific collaborations to forge cooperation outside the constraints of conventional politics; and the joint enterprise of many individual nations to solve supranational challenges," they wrote. "Science diplomacy has proven its value repeatedly in past decades, but if it is to remain relevant in today’s fragmented context, the way it is practiced will have to evolve."

The report, "Anticipatory Science Diplomacy: A New Global Framework for Action," was released at an event in London co-hosted with the Wellcome Trust, a key financial backer of GESDA's global curriculum initiative.

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Though the term science diplomacy – the use of scientific collaborations and knowledge exchange to build bridges between nations – is relatively new, the report traces its practice back for centuries to the "scholars and scientists who traveled along the ancient Silk Road trade routes between courts, sharing advances in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine, thereby dispersing scientific knowledge across Asia, the Middle East and ultimately Europe."

"Chinese innovations like papermaking and compass technology migrated West, while Greek and Arabic astronomical and mathematical knowledge found its way to other empires. Such transfers and exchanges helped to foster engagement between disparate civilizations through the common language of science," it notes. "Scientific knowledge occasionally influenced diplomacy and treaty-making even in pre-20th century history."

But in the 20th century, science diplomacy expanded and institutionalized "as science itself assumed critical strategic importance both in waging war and keeping peace. While scientific breakthroughs were exploited for national advantage during times of global conflict and geopolitical rivalry, scientific collaborations were used to promote cooperation and rebuild trust at other times and in other contexts," it says.

The League of Nations, U.N. Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S. program "Atoms for Peace" and the International Atomic Energy Agency all put scienced diplomacy into practice, along with UNESCO, the World Health Organization and the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN. The International Geophysical Yearof 1957-1958, the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and the space exploration by the U.S. and former Soviet Union despite the Cold War provide more examples.

"Much of what we now call science diplomacy has deep roots in International Geneva, dating from long before the term was coined," the report says. "Science has historically played a central role in Swiss diplomacy, particularly in Geneva, a global hub of multilateral governance."

GESDA Board Member Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister, wrote in a foreward to the report that it "offers a compelling vision for how we can anticipate the future of science and shape the global governance needed to ensure it benefits humanity as a whole."

The approach aims to move beyond reacting to scientific changes and to anticipate their ethical, social, economic and political impacts. This foresight would span five, 10 and 25 years based on GESDA's trademarked "Science Breakthrough Radar," its foundational tool. The framework rests on four pillars:

• Science anticipation: Identifying emerging trends and their implications.
• Honest brokering: Facilitating impartial dialogue among diverse groups. These include scientists, diplomats and industry.
• Global action: Developing early multilateral solutions. Implementing these widely can be hard in a fractured world.
• Capacity building: Training new leaders in science and diplomacy. This requires a systemic shift in education.

GESDA highlights its role in establishing the Open Quantum Institute at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. The OQI facilitates early discussions on quantum computing's humanitarian potential. This "learning by doing" approach aims to build trust and prototype solutions for the multilateral system.

The report stresses the urgent need for this approach and cites global challenges like climate change and AI ethics. Geopolitical rivalries add to the complexity, however, the framework offers an ambitious blueprint that depends on overcoming diplomatic inertia and the inherent limits of foresight and global complexities.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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