International Science Council (ISC) invited all ISC Members earlier this year to designate an observer for the UNESCO Open Science special intergovernmental committee meeting of technical and legal experts to open discussions on the final report of the UNESCO Secretariat, which would contain a draft of the Recommendation on Open Science. A dedicated ISC delegation including nine ISC Members attended the meeting and published a joint statement on how the recommendation and potential cascading interventions by UN Member States could develop along two divergent pathways.

https://council.science/current/news/open-science-and-the-unesco-initiative/.

1. Participate in regional COVID-19 online workshops

In the frame of our COVID-19 Outcomes Scenarios Project (https://council.science/covid-19-scenarios/) the ISC is inviting interested individuals to participate in one or more regional online workshops towards the end of July/beginning of August that will help us understand the likely outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic. At each of the online workshops, participants will explore the most critical vectors of uncertainty, i.e. policy decisions or exogenous events that will influence the evolution and longer-term consequences of the pandemic.

Register your interest to participate by 23 July 2021 via https://council.science/current/news/open-call-regional-covid-19-workshops/.

Please share this opportunity widely with your networks and invite relevant experts to participate.

2. Don’t miss our UN HLPF side events

The United Nations (UN) High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN’s main platform on sustainable development, starts tomorrow and the ISC will be making the case for science for global transformation throughout the summit, including through two online side events:

• 6 July, 11:30 – 13:00 UTC: Unleashing Science: Delivering Missions for Sustainability (simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Chinese will be available)
• 7 July, 11:30 – 12:45 UTC: Enhancing Policy-making During an Emergency: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Register to join events at https://council.science/hlpf/2021-2/

3. 2021 Global Risks Scientists’ Perceptions Survey

The 2021 Global Risks Scientists’ Perceptions Initiative was launched in May 2021 to better understand risk perceptions across different communities and to facilitate a more pluralistic dialogue among science, business, and policy on global risks. For methodological reasons, the 2021 Global Risks Scientists’ Perceptions Survey is conducted by invitation-only and the ISC invited the executive and scientific leadership of all ISC Members in mid-June to participate in the survey by 28 July.

We want to thank you all for your support with this initiative, particularly those who have already submitted their contributions, and extend a kind reminder to all who have not yet completed the survey. Should you have not received an invitation or have misplaced the survey link, please contact me.

4. Further opportunities for Open Science

The 2nd Open Science Conference (21 - 23 July 2021) is organized by the Department of Global Communications, Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Sustainable Development Goals, and will bring the global discussion on Open Science and climate action to the United Nations, highlighting national and IGO policies and Open Science initiatives from around the world. ISC Members and Affiliated Bodies such as CODATA, CONICET and CLACSO are engaged in the programme of this conference, and Geoffrey Boulton, member of the ISC Governing Board, will be making a keynote address:https://www.un.org/library/OS21.

5. Recent opportunities within the ISC community

• Apply for the IsDB-TWAS Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme for early-career female researchers (deadline: 19 July)
• Call for proposals to organizations based in Africa, Asia and Latin America to organize and host workshops (incl. small grants) in partnership with INASP (deadline: 19 July)
• Call for submissions from Women Innovators for female start-ups (deadline: 21 July)
• Call for applications from early career researchers across the humanities and social sciences to participate in a Knowledge Frontiers symposium on the theme of “Just Transitions” (deadline: 21 July)
• Funding call for early-career scientists for the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence Pilot Programme (deadline: 30 July)
• Apply for the TWAS-CSIR Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme for young scientists from developing countries (deadline: 31 July)
• Submit your idea for a sustainable chemistry project to the Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge and win €25,000 (deadline: 1 August)
• Apply for funding for a joint UK and Canadian research programme investigating changes to the marine environments in Inuit Nunangat (deadline: 4 August)
• Call for nominations for IPSA’s David Olson Prize celebrating the best paper on parliaments by a junior scholar (deadline: 15 August)

6. Upcoming events within the ISC community

• 5 – 7 July 2021: UN Food Systems Summit 2021 - https://sc-fss2021.org/events/sciencedays/side-events/
• 5 – 8 July 2021: ISEE-ESEE-DEGROWTH 2021 virtual conference “Building Alternative Livelihoods in Times of Ecological and Political Crisis” - https://council.science/events/isee-esee-degrowth-2021-conference/
• 9 July 2021: UN DESA HLPF side event “Member State Briefing and Stakeholder Engagement in the Global Sustainable Development Report 2023” - https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=20000&nr=7587&menu=2993
• 15 July 2021: How business can lead the transformations needed to realize the SDGs - https://council.science/events/business-lead-transformations-sdgs/
• 21 July 2021: Bridging climate science and green finance - https://council.science/events/bridging-climate-science-and-green-finance/

Statement from the International Science Council delegation to the UNESCO Special Committee meeting on Open Science, 6-12 May 2021