The AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy aims to build the educational structures, tools, and resources to support the next generation of science diplomacy leaders and ensure that scientists and diplomats have the training and resources needed to work at the intersection of science and international relations, and address global challenges.
Our Activities
AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy
AAAS has partnered with The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) since 2011 to organize a week-long summer course at TWAS headquarters in Trieste, Italy, to introduce science diplomacy to participants from the global south and explore key contemporary international policy issues relating to science, technology, environment and health. The course is geared towards early-career scientists as well as scientists or government officials with policy and diplomacy experience from developing countries. Since 2014, more than 200 alumni from more than 50 countries have participated. This course is financially supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Golden Family Foundation.
Participants of the 2017 AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy in Trieste, Italy | Credit: TWAS
Applications for the 2023 AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy are now closed. For more information, please visit this page: 2023 Course Call.
Insights on previous courses can be found using the links below.
2023 - TWAS Article: "The impact of science diplomacy training"
2022 - TWAS Article: "From simulations to the real world"
2021 - TWAS Article: "Course brings together science and diplomatic teams"
2021 - TWAS Article: "'Science diplomacy is more important than ever'"
2020 - TWAS Article: "Amid pandemic, science diplomacy goes virtual"
2019 - TWAS Article: "Planting the Seeds of Science Diplomacy"
2018 - Article: "Collaboration in Times of Tension"
2017 - TWAS Article: "The Vanishing Country" AAAS Article: "Iranian Physicist Says Science Can Build World Understanding"
2016 - Article: "Stepping into a Diplomat's Shoes"
2015 - Article: "Learning the Spirit of Science Diplomacy"
2014 - Article:"Building a Bridge Between Diplomacy and Science"
AAAS has expanded its course offerings in partnership with TWAS to include regionally-focused ones in the global South. In 2017, with TWAS, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and TWAS’s Regional Office for Sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA), the CSD co-organized a pilot science diplomacy course in Namibia for southern African countries. In May 2018, AAAS, TWAS, ASSAf, and TWAS-ROSSA held a week-long course for Sub-Saharan African participants outside of Pretoria, South Africa. In 2019, AAAS and TWAS partnered with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) in Alexandria, Egypt for a regional workshop designed for Arab scientists living and working in the Arab region.
In March 2021, AAAS, TWAS and Malaysia's national scientific academy, Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM) co-organized a science diplomacy workshop focused on the Asia-Pacific region. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course was held virtual.
AAAS Article: "Virtual Course on Science Diplomacy Emphasizes Collaboration"
Science Diplomacy and Leadership (SDL) Workshop in DC
This course was designed as an immersion experience in the science diplomacy ecosystem in the U.S. capital combining academic lectures, field visits, professional development workshops, networking opportunities and leadership training. Read more about the 2018 Science Diplomacy and Leadership (SDL) Workshop in Washington, D.C., as well as the first workshop, which was held in September 2017.
Participants of the first Science Diplomacy and Leadership Workshop with Roman Macaya (far left), former ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States | Credit: AAAS
Science Diplomacy Education Network (SciDipEd)
Launched in 2017 at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston, the Science Diplomacy Education Network (SciDipEd) is a platform bringing together educators and students in the United States and around the world interested in science diplomacy education. SciDipEd aims to advance the intellectual and practical foundations of educating about science diplomacy and support its expansion in formal and informal settings.
For more information, please visit the SciDipEd page.
Online Course on Science Diplomacy
This one-hour introductory course, released in August 2017, is the first online course fully dedicated to the concept of science diplomacy. It describes and utilizes a framework for understanding science diplomacy and traces the evolution of science diplomacy in modern history through a number of cases studies and interviews with top practitioners.