Professor Charles Weiss looks at the intersection of science and international affairs, and how these subjects can help to solve some of the many challenges our globe faces today, from pandemics to nuclear war.

In 2012, Najmedin Meshkati emphasized the role of engineering diplomacy. Today, with challenges that transcend borders and involve complex systems, including the plight of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, he is even more convinced of its necessity.

The former U.S. Representative emphasizes the areas where science diplomacy has allowed Congress to create positive change and pushes for its continued use to address the many challenges the U.S. and the world are facing today.

As the global community faces new challenges, civil space-based Earth observations offer the United States unique opportunities to employ science diplomacy in cooperation and competition. 

How should we make decisions weighing the risks of rapid change outside of our consensus opinion of the future or outside of our ability to make a consensus decision as a society?

As the world confronts daunting crises, the U.S. must reimagine and rebuild the web of expertise, respect, and action that will define its commitment to science and diplomacy.

Authors propose a multidisciplinary training program in climate medicine, aiming to create physicians proficient and credible in climate and health science to assume leadership, disseminate knowledge, and influence policy.

The context, inception, and delivery of COAST – the Caribbean Ocean and Aquaculture Sustainability faciliTy – as well as lessons learned for science-in-diplomacy, including reflections on pandemic insurance inspired by COVID-19, are summarized here.

In 2015, the IAP selected food and nutrition security & agriculture for a project to establish a new model for science diplomacy that draws upon its resources and those of its member academies.

In 2014, the Office for Science and Technology of the French embassy in the United States— together with the French embassy in Canada— launched the French Ameri-Can Climate TalkS (FACTS), a successful science diplomacy initiative. 

Why has it become so hard in the United States to maintain constructive action for dealing with human-caused climate change? Science diplomacy and science advice have otherwise helped the world deal with this challenge in critical ways.

The current G7 proposal for a global ocean observing initiative is a valuable test case for the role of science in shaping diplomatic relations in the management of international spaces beyond national jurisdiction.