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The next U.N. leader may need to be a science diplomat

Scientists and policy leaders argue the secretary-general's job is increasingly shaped by science and technology.

Incoming International Science Council President Robbert Dijkgraaf asks candidates how they might make the role of science in the U.N. ‘stronger, more structural, in particular more equitable,’ during a debate on June 9, 2026, in Geneva. (The Science Diplomat)

The next secretary-general of the United Nations will need many of the qualities traditionally associated with the world’s top diplomatic post: political judgment, the ability to build consensus and the credibility to navigate conflict among countries.

But those qualities may no longer be enough, according to Michael Møller, the former director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva, who has over 40 years of experience as an international civil servant in the United Nations.

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