February 8, 2022
In January 2022, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences released the “Global Connections Emerging Science Partners,” a report from the Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships Initiative (CISP) to identify the benefits of international collaboration and recommend actions. The project was co-chaired by Dr. Arthur Bienenstock and Dr. Peter Michelson, who serve on the University Large-Scale Science (LSS) Working Group, which includes FABBS President Dr. Philip Rubin. Dr. Shirley Malcom, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Olufunmilayo Olopade, University of Chicago, served as cochairs for the Emerging Science Partners (ESP) Working Group.
As the warming planet and the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact every aspect of our lives, including health and economic well-being, authors argued that a coordinated, collaborative international science and technology (S&T) enterprise is essential to address the global challenges. The report takes a broad view of international scientific collaboration as extending across scientific disciplines and encompassing all regions of the world. The report identifies benefits of international scientific collaboration including strong domestic research and development (R&D) enterprise and strengthen U.S. economic security advancing state-of-the-art science.
The report identifies specific actions for various audiences including scientific societies and academies:
- Expand global science programs and promote ESP research agendas
- Establish partnership based on shared goals and initiatives
- When holding international conferences, U.S. scientific societies should recruit speakers, moderators, and leaders in ESPs.
- Scientific society journals should increase the participation of researchers from ESPs in the publication process by adopting changes to policies and training programs
The majority of our FABBS societies have international members and our disciplines benefit from international collaborators and collaborations. While research security has long been a concern for federal agencies and Members of Congress, events and in the past several years have increased tensions and legislative attention to research security, where concerns about unintended consequences to discourage international engagement.
The project has also released two other reports: America and the International Future of Science, on the importance of international scientific collaboration at all scales, and Bold Ambition: International Large-Scale Science, on best practices for building large-scale scientific collaborations in the future.
