The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) collaborated in the 1st European Science Diplomacy Workshop of the H2020-funded consortium named “Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges (S4D4C)”, which was celebrated on 21st-23rd October in Trieste (Italy) with the title “Science meets Diplomacy: a new European perspective”.
This first workshop aimed to train up to 24 professionals, who were selected out of a pool of over 400 applicants, in basic notions on diplomacy, internacional science, science diplomacy and a wide range of skills that are required to fulfill professional roles in the intersection between science and international relations. The selected participants were mostly scientists and researchers, but there were also science policy makers, diplomats and science attachés from embassies.
FECYT, as partner of the S4D4C consortium, collaborated in the design of the workshop and participated with an introductory seminar about what science diplomacy is, and a roundtable about professional careers in science diplomacy. Additionally, it fostered debate and interaction during the three workshop days among attendees.
After the networking conferences in Berlin and Madrid, this collaboration reinforces the activity already undertaken by FECYT, for several years, in support of an innovative science diplomacy participated by multiple stakeholders.
During the workshop, participants received different seminars about diplomacy, the international science system, science diplomacy in general and European science diplomacy in particular, which were delivered by different specialists in the field. They also participated in training sessions in transferable skills such as communication and negotiation.
Likewise, they received information about research case studies undertaken by the consortium on water management or joint research programming collaboration between different countries. They got involved in simulation games about these cases, but also they got to discuss the global implications of Solar radiation management. This experience helped them to put in practice all the concepts delivered during the workshop seminars and to make them aware of the challenges and complexity of science diplomacy scenarios.
Participants also had the opportunity to visit the Elettra synchrotron to find out the role that a large research infrastructure plays in science diplomacy.
The workshop ended with a roundtable about different professional careers in this field and two interactive sessions for participants to think about new collaborative projects to put in motion in their home institutions, and to test their acquired knowledges and skills.
In the next few weeks, the S4D4C consortium will celebrate its second workshop in Vienna, which participants will be mostly from the diplomatic sphere.
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About S4D4DCThe European consortium “Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges” (S4D4C) is to support current and future European science diplomacy for the benefit of European capacities, EU foreign policy goals and especially the development of solutions for global challenges. The consortium involves up to 10 European institutions among which FECYT is present. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 770342.
The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) participated, last 10th October in Berlin, in the 2nd International Conference of the H2020-funded consortium on science Diplomacy named “Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges (S4D4C)”, which title was “Towards a European Science Diplomacy Roadmap”.
The conference aimed to foster a joint discussion about the visions, achievements, challenges and principles of European science diplomacy, in order to produce a set of recommendations and actions for the European Commission for the next few years.
FECYT, as partner of the S4D4C consortium, was responsible of coordinating the programme and fostering debate and interaction among attendees. This action reinforces the activity already undertaken by the foundation, for several years, in support of an innovative science diplomacy participated by multiple stakeholders.
The conference started with a conversation between a scientist and a diplomat who have both performed science diplomacy actions during their careers. Next, there was a roundtable around the Mediterranean region and how different stakeholders—the European Union, international institutions, universities or large research infrastructures—all contribute to international scientific cooperation between such diverse countries around common challenges such as water scarcity.
The S4D4C consortium presented their preliminary results about their research case studies on infectious disease and zika virus, food security, the role of large research infrastructures such as the SESAME synchrotron, or about its training workshops to build up capacities, among others.
The day ended with a debate around different Member States’ science diplomacy national strategies and how the European Union could design a global or regional strategy to bring them together. Lastly, representatives from the European Commission and the European External Action Service introduced their current activities.
In the next months, the S4D4C consortium will publish the conclusions of this conference and will announce the save-the-date for the next one in Brussels in autumn 2020.
The first conference was organized by FECYT in December 2018 in Madrid under the title “EU science diplomacy beyond 2020”. Its conclusions were reported in the “Madrid Declaration on Science Diplomacy”, which establishes a new vision about the Science Diplomacy concept, its potential benefits and challenges for global actions, and has been supported by over 100 experts in the field.
More information about the 2nd International Conference “Towards an EU Science diplomacy roadmap”
About S4D4DCThe European consortium “Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges” (S4D4C) is to support current and future European science diplomacy for the benefit of European capacities, EU foreign policy goals and especially the development of solutions for global challenges. The consortium involves up to 10 European institutions among which FECYT is present. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 770342.
Fecyt published the first edition of the collection “Science in Spain” back in 2016. This collection compiled several booklets and publications with job opportunities for researchers at Spanish institutions.
The objective of this collection is to provide researchers with information on the different opportunities available in Spain and thus contribute to an open and transparent research area.
As a novelty, in 2018-edition, the section "Science in Spain" was been launched on the EURAXESS Spain website. While the content of the website has been regularly updated, FECYT publishes now the fourth edition of the more downloaded documents: the Researchers Career path in Spain and the catalogue of ongoing MSCA-COFUND programmes in Spain
This collection includes:
Researcher career path at a glance! 4th editionThis is a complete scheme of the different researcher career stages with public and private grants that can be requested in each period to work in the public sector or in industry. The document includes links to the programme calls where wider information can be found.
MSCA-Cofund Programme. Opening up new horizons for researchers. Ongoing COFUND programmes in Spain 2019-2020The Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions-COFUND (MSCA-COFUND) programmes are European Commission initiatives that offer additional funding for new or existing regional, national and international programmes to provide an international and intersectoral dimension to research training and career development. This document summerizes information about the 11 ongoing programmes in Spain that will launch recruitment processes for researchers in 2019 y 2020.
FECYT acknowledges the collaboration of all the institutions contributing to this collection.
The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) conducted, acting as partner of the European project “Using science for/in diplomacy for addressing global challenges (S4D4C)”, a role playing workshop about the role of science diplomacy and science advice in the management of a crisis in the summer school of 'Scitech Diplo Hub' of Barcelona.
The workshop was part of the one week program aiming at mid-career researchers, technology experts, diplomats and grad students of science, engineering, political sciences and international relations. The course aimed at training a cohort of science diplomacy experts with a special focus in Europe, the Mediterranean and the role of global cities in the matter.
The workshop was based on a role playing game that simulated an emergency situation affecting two countries due to a cyberattack to a key national infrastructure of one of both countries. The crisis obliged to create a management working group and to celebrate high level bilateral meetings with the neighboring countries. The students took different roles representing the many stakeholders involved in such a crisis and they tried to reach agreements and solve the different phases of the crisis along the game.
After the simulation, FECYT facilitated a debate with the more than 30 professionals from a number of countries participating in the school in which the role of science advice and science diplomacy in emergencies and crisis, and its interactions with the other dimensions of the crisis was discussed.
This Project has received funding from the research and innovation program of the European Union, Horizon2020 under grant agreement No 770342.
The programme REBECA is aimed at young researchers wanting to explore professional options beyond academia. REBECA will put them in contact with highly skilled professionals that will help them reflect about their competences, skills and career options.
On the one hand, REBECA was calling for professionals in the science, engineering, mathematics, social sciences or humanities area working in the private sector, the public administration or the third sector with an interest to participate as mentors in the programme. 115 expressions of interest were received.
The call was also searching for pre-doctoral researchers or young PhDs looking for support in the identification of their career options beyond academia. 255 applications were received. In the coming weeks, the REBECA selection committee will evaluate the applications, will choose 40 mentors and mentees and will pair them according to their interests. The applicants will be contacted with the results in early June.