Annual Report 2025 - Report - Page 38
Science Diplomacy
Collaboration in an Angry World
The rise of populism, economic challenges, major conflicts, and increasing social
fragmentation have all contributed to a pervasive sense of political turbulence across
the globe – and in the scientific community. Nevertheless, the closing day
of #LINO25 carried a hint of optimism as expressed by Moungi G. Bawendi.
The rise of populism, economic challenges, major conflicts, and increasing social fragmentation have all contributed to a pervasive sense of political turbulence
across the globe. Meanwhile, science’s role has grown in
the geopolitical context. It is now more central to diplomacy than ever before, with scientific advice informing
foreign policy and many other areas within the political
sphere, including defence, trade, law, and intelligence. At
the same time, diplomacy considerably impacts science
today, with cooperation between nations and joint funding critical to international scientific infrastructure programmes such as CERN, big science experiments such as
ITER and LIGO/Virgo, and the free movement of talented
scholars and young researchers.
Recently, however, a shift has been felt by scientists,
moving from conducting their work in a relatively calm
and friendly international political context, to an increasingly angry and polarized one. The atmosphere of confusion, distrust, and hostility that this multitude of factors
creates makes it hard to see a path forward, let alone find
a role for science in shaping a calmer and safer future.
The “Global Challenges, Global Solutions: The Role of
Science Diplomacy” panel showcased this importance
36 | Talking Chemistry That Matters
with a highly esteemed line-up. Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2003, has long built bridges between
science and policy, most recently with moderator Ona
Ambrozaite of the Johns Hopkins Science Diplomacy
Hub and Summit. Instead of focusing on his own achievements, though, Agre recalled how a shared background
in science at MIT between US Secretary of Energy
Ernest Moniz and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif was pivotal in leading to an Iranian nuclear
deal framework in 2015 that lasted until US withdrawal in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
With the Panel session taking place just days after the
US bombed Iranian nuclear sites, Agre’s story made the
audience ponder whether greater involvement of rational scientific minds in political decision-making might
benefit all governments.
Frances H. Arnold, who had been awarded the Nobel
Prize in 2018, shared an anecdote from her time as CoChair of President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology. In one of her first in-person
meetings with the President, he enjoyed talking about
science so much that the meeting overran and he had
to be practically dragged out of the room. “He looked
