Guest Post: International Academies—Promoting Science Diplomacy

[This post is from Daniel Limonta, MD, PhD, from Havana, Cuba. Thanks, Daniel, and congratulations on your election as a TWAS Young Affiliate! —Barbara] 

The main purposes of international scientific academies are to support and promote excellence in research. Academy members should appropriately communicate their research to the global scientific community to help address world problems.

Two well-regarded internationally academies have membership opportunities for young scientists. One is the Global Young Academy (GYA). The other is the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

GYA, which was founded in 2010, has 200 young scientists. TWAS, which was founded in 1983, has some 1,150 elected fellows, of whom 15 are Nobel laureates. Currently, 125 scientists younger than 40 are elected TWAS Young Affiliates for a 5-year tenure.

As the first TWAS Young Affiliate elected from Cuba, I recently attended the 25th TWAS General Meeting in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman. Besides presenting my dengue virus research, I strikingly realized the significance of diplomacy in science.

Science diplomacy is one of the more fascinating aims of TWAS. In total, 350 TWAS Fellows from 56 countries (mainly developing nations) gathered to discuss scientific and engineering topics, from research policies to implications of innovations for society.

Meetings of international academies are a unique chance for scientists from all over the world to discuss and debate points of view. Beyond networking, these meetings provide an invaluable opportunity to attempt to solve global problems.

If you are a young researcher, you may be surprised to be part of the international diplomatic community, but you really are. When you are discussing global implications of your research at international conferences or working on research projects with collaborators overseas, you are involved in science diplomacy. Let´s join international academies and advance scientific achievements that contribute to humankind.

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