Support is growing to declare 2027 the International Year of Science Engagement.
Each year they pop up: a never-ending stream of ‘International Year of the …’. Endorsed by the United Nations, these titled years range from the vaguely optimistic – think the International Co-operation Year (1965) and the Year for Tolerance (1995) – to the highly specific, such as the International Year of Quinoa (2013) and the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (2019).
Now, instigated by the German non-profit Falling Walls Foundation, there’s a growing tide of international support to declare 2027 the International Year of Science Engagement (IYSE). It’s hoped a permanent delegation to UNESCO will present the case to the UN in 2023, and have it declared the following year.
You need a few things to create a recognised international year, says Whitney Buchanan, head of the IYSE at Falling Walls. “A lot of coffee,” she laughs. “That’s important.”
After the coffee is poured, the host organisation that generates the idea typically develops an action plan and impact strategy. It will also draft a UN resolution, which could be developed later with a Permanent Delegation to UNESCO. The team then starts amassing partners and advisors, such as Nobel Laureates, to collaborate on the aims and activities that would be undertaken in such a year.
“Essentially, it comes down to the support of partners,” Buchanan says. “Support from science academies, national institutions, grassroots organisations, universities, funding partners, and so forth, who strongly believe in your mission, your vision, your impact and outcomes.”
Inspiring change
Buchanan has worked with Science Engagement practitioners and government officials to assemble a panel of experts and international advisory board to provide guidance around the IYSE. “We’ve been extremely lucky to receive a generous amount of input from those involved with the International Year of Light [2015], the International Year of Astronomy [2009] and particularly the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, which is currently underway,” she told The Brilliant.
Falling Walls hopes the IYSE will empower people with the knowledge, platforms and resources needed to share their knowhow, skills and experiences in science engagement, regardless of where they are in the world or how advanced they are in their career.
“We desperately need to find solutions to the world’s largest challenges through a greater engagement with science,” says Buchanan. “Our International Year is meant to equip the international community with the tools needed to push harder and further for transformative change, such as in climate change or using science engagement as a tool for peace and reconciliation in post-conflict areas or war zones.”
“Due to distance, funding and other complex issues, it’s difficult enough for science-engagement practitioners to create a space to share ideas with each other, let alone with the general public, policy-makers or institutions. The IYSE is a great starting point to bring everyone together,” says Buchanan.
The Falling Walls Foundation is keen to make sure such a year would promote a diverse range of voices and themes, such as art in science, science diplomacy, political anthropology and political science.
Buchanan says it’s crucial that the leadership committees are inclusive. “We don’t want the IYSE to be an International Year where people aren’t truly being heard,” she says. “Since joining Falling Walls last September, I have strived to make the IYSE more inclusive and intersectional in all areas of our work. It’s important that the IYSE embraces views from the Global South, from people of colour – specifically women of colour and queer people of colour – to ensure these voices are heard and included.”
When Buchanan began working for Falling Walls in 2021, she was starting the second year of her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, specializing in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations. “A former colleague told me about this position opening up within the IYSE,” she says. “I applied with hopes that I could bring in a focus concerning women and girls in Muslim-majority countries and Islam. We’re hoping to work with a foundation in the United States to develop activities and outreach regarding Islam and science in Muslim-majority countries.”
Making an impact
The legacy of UN International Years might vary, but Buchanan says the benefits can continue for many years in unexpected places. The International Geophysical Year (1957–58), for example, is credited with triggering research in the Antarctic that led directly to the Antarctic Treaty now ratified by 54 parties.
Buchanan says frank discussion from the start is vital, and so, in the middle of 2022, an “intimate” assembly of 40 people met in Paris to discuss the IYSE. “Science Engagement practitioners, policy-makers, government and institutions from several countries were present,” she says. “There was a lot of trust there. We were able to speak very transparently about our concerns and critiques of an International Year of Science Engagement. Everything wasn’t just ‘sunshine and rainbows’ – participants were deep in dialogue, which is what I was aiming for.”
While Buchanan and the Falling Walls team work on finding a permanent delegation that will take the initiative to UNESCO, they are keen to hear from potential partners and sponsors from around the world who support the idea – particularly science academies. Early partners of the IYSE include McGill University in Canada, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the International Science Council, the Learning Planet Institute, and the PCST Network.
“Our international partners have been absolutely incredible with helping us, in terms of providing speakers, expertise, and critique,” says Buchanan. “It’s inspiring to see how their support has truly advanced the IYSE.”
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Story by Kylie Ahern
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