07.05.2025
Koi Tū Centre for Informed Futures invites you to a webinar to hear from two global leaders in science diplomacy – Sir Peter Gluckman (President of the International Science Council) and Dr Salvatore Arico (Chief Executive of the International Science Council).
They will discuss the current challenges facing science and international science cooperation at a time when science is more critical than ever, if we are to effectively address issues of the global commons.
Date: Friday 16 May, 2025
Time: 3pm – 4pm
Register here
This webinar will be recorded and will be available on our website.
In recent times the world of science and its ability to contribute to global challenges has been severely disrupted. The social contract between science and society appears to have weakened in the face of growing populism, nationalism, and short-term interests. This is undermining the trust, openness, and cooperation needed to tackle the global challenges. At the same time economic stasis, geostrategic tensions and nationalistic and populist decision making are undermining the very infrastructure of international scientific cooperation. Yet the world needs evidence-based solutions to many issues; social, economic, and environmental. A disrupted global science system creates real challenges not just for the science community but for virtually every component of social, environmental and economic development.
The International Science Council (ISC), based in Paris, is the primary interface between the active scientific community and the multilateral system. Its members comprise the bulk of the world’s national scientific academics, young academies, and international scientific disciplinary bodies, and other globally and regional scientific organisations and embraces all natural and social science disciplines. It has regional offices in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa and hosts or co-sponsors with UN agencies many of the international scientific committees and programmes including the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, The World Climate Research Program, and the International Network for Government Science Advice.
The panellists will discuss how they see the path ahead in confronting the issues facing global science.
Sir Peter Gluckman ONZ KNZM FRS is the former chief science advisor to Prime Ministers of New Zealand and former science envoy for MFAT. He has been president of the ISC since 2021, and was previously President of the International Network for Government Science Advice. In 2016 he was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Science Diplomacy. He is Director of Koi Tū Centre for Informed Futures, a think tank based in Auckland.
Dr Salvatore Arico has been CEO of the International Science Council since 2023. He is a biologist, ecologist, oceanographer and marine policy expert by training. For nearly thirty years, he has worked at the science-policy interface – contributing to initiatives such as the Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the creation of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the Global Environment and Biodiversity Outlooks. He has also played an active role in shaping key international agreements, including the UN Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the implementing agreement on Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. He has served as Secretary to the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board, Head of Marine Biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity, Head of Science at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and Senior Science Advisor at UNESCO.
Moderator: Hema Sridhar is the former Chief Science Advisor at New Zealand’s Ministry of Defence and is now Director of programmes and Government Relations at Koi Tū Centre for Informed Futures. She is a global expert on the relationship between technology, society and geostrategic issues and foresight.
