Fostering the consolidation of European science diplomacy

Expected Outcome

Building on the recommendations of the EU Science Diplomacy Working Groups[1], the project should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• EU and national policymakers as well as researchers obtain a taxonomy of European science diplomacy which maps the relevant players, including from academia, policymaking, diplomacy, civil society, and business, and have an overview of the science diplomacy ecosystems in the EU and the existing capacities, infrastructures, networks (including diaspora and alumni networks), training activities, strategies, and publications at EU and national level. This should also include a mapping of science diplomacy strategies of third countries to inform EU responses.
• Design and launch a European Science Diplomacy Platform as a community of research and practice providing an impartial space for interaction and resources for institutional capacity building, knowledge sharing and scaling up of best practices, involving the key players in European science diplomacy, from both the EU and national levels, liaising also with European scientists in the diaspora and alumni of European mobility schemes, and creating links with existing platforms.
• Building on the activities of existing mechanisms such as the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), ERC, COST, EURAXESS, the European Universities initiative, the European Diplomatic Academy, and relevant programmes at national level, schemes, competence frameworks and curricula for training, capacity-building, and mutual learning in European science diplomacy, are developed, paying particular attention to the needs of science counsellors and other diplomats dealing with matters that rely heavily on scientific expertise.

Scope

Not least thanks to the Horizon 2020 cluster on science diplomacy, which funded three projects in 2016-2022[2], a vibrant community of European science diplomacy scholars and practitioners has emerged, leading to the development of the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance[3]. Further input was delivered by the former Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC)[4], which suggested the development of an EU Science Diplomacy Platform and Roadmap. In addition, a growing number of Member States have adopted national science diplomacy strategies or agendas, or are currently exploring their development, and have strengthened scientific-technological capacities in their Ministries of Foreign Affairs (e.g., establishment of an informal Network of Science Advisors and Science Diplomacy Coordinators in EU Ministries of Foreign Affairs). An increasing number of recent EU policy documents have made explicit or implicit reference to science diplomacy and the need for foreign policy to be based on the best possible evidence. Against the background of a rapidly changing geopolitical and scientific-technological environment, with global competitors using science diplomacy in a much more strategic manner, there is a need to consolidate European science diplomacy efforts and explore synergies to tackle existing vulnerabilities.

Science diplomacy forms an integral part of the Global Approach to Research and Innovation[5], the EU’s strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, which prominently advocates that a stronger focus on science and technology in the EU’s foreign and security policies in terms of science diplomacy would help the EU to project soft power and pursue our economic interests and fundamental values more effectively. In its Conclusions on the Global Approach[6], the Council called on the Commission and the European External Action Service to develop a European Science Diplomacy Agenda. At the informal Competitiveness Council meeting in July 2023, EU Research Ministers underlined the importance of European science diplomacy action. Consequently, the European Commission organised together with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU the first European Science Diplomacy Conference in Madrid in December 2023 and the launch of EU Science Diplomacy Working Groups to develop recommendations for a potential future European framework for science diplomacy.

Against this background, the Coordination and Support Action will contribute to consolidating the European science diplomacy landscape both in research and in practice. In particular, it should provide, once operational, a mapping of all relevant players, which is still lacking at this point, and establish a European Science Diplomacy Platform[7]. The added value of such a platform is that it can serve as a “do tank”, bringing together scientists (including from SSH disciplines) and diplomats alike and delivering concrete support for policy needs, such as:

• advising on the use of science diplomacy to help achieving the EU’s foreign and security policy goals (e.g., in the context of Global Gateway[8]),
• identifying research needs and providing expert knowledge to policymakers and diplomatic services through science advice and science communication, thereby strengthening multilateralism and democratic governance,
• designing methods for assessing the impact of relevant actions,
• exploring synergies with other fields of diplomacy, most notably tech / innovation / digital diplomacy, as well as public diplomacy and culture diplomacy, including the use of arts to communicate science related to global challenges,
• assisting policy dialogues with audiences and stakeholders in third countries as well as international organizations and other multilateral settings, and
• supporting the EU’s science diplomacy outreach to partners world-wide, including to relevant international organizations, such as UNESCO.

In addition, this Coordination and Support Action should explore and develop mechanisms for training, capacity-building, and mutual learning in science diplomacy in a consistent manner, including by exploring the feasibility of science diplomacy fellowship schemes in European and Member State/Associated Countries’ institutions at home and in diplomatic representations abroad.

Engagement with partners outside the EU is particularly encouraged for this project.

Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable).

[1] https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4b319f3d-e9ff-11ef-b5e9-01aa75ed71a1

[2] Using Science for/in Diplomacy for Addressing Global Challenges (S4D4C), Inventing a Shared Science Diplomacy for Europe (InsSciDE), European Leadership in Cultural, Science and Innovation Diplomacy (EL-CSID)

[3] https://www.science-diplomacy.eu

[4] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-2020-2024/europe-world/international-cooperation/science-diplomacy/sfic_en

[5] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-05/ec_rtd_com2021-252.pdf

[6] https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-12301-2021-INIT/en/pdf

[7] Creating links with existing platforms such as the EU’s Cultural Relations Platform and the EU Alumni Platform.

[8] Global Gateway - European Commission (europa.eu)