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The Hurford Science Diplomacy Initiative

Sponsored by The Hurford Foundation, the Hurford Science Diplomacy Initiative aims to help early career scientists understand the global context for their work and thus enable them to work more effectively at international levels.

Course Title

Science Diplomacy: The Context for Thinking Globally about the Biological and Medical Fields

Instructors

Mandë Holford, Jesse Ausubel, and Rodney Nichols

Synopsis

The shorthand term Science Diplomacy (SD) spans wide-ranging activities connecting science and technology with international affairs. With particular attention to global health and medicine, the six-week course of seminars samples the current landscape of SD issues, programs, and organizations. The goals of the course are to help early career biomedical scientists: (a) think more systematically about the global potential of their work, including ethical, political, and economic implications; and (b) become acquainted with the people, networks, and resources available for scientific cooperation, including those nations with whom cooperation may be especially difficult.

Science Diplomacy spans both how science and technology can advance the goals of diplomacy and how international diplomacy can advance scientific progress.  Science and technology are central for many national and international negotiations and policies, and SD activities include international collaboration to mitigate transnational threats such as infectious diseases or biological weapons. For example, scientists have played important roles in recent efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus. Open channels of communication among working scientists and physicians, and among science advisers to governments, especially across the borders of nations in conflict, offer valuable means for informal diplomacy, as has been the case of the normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The Internet and other technological innovations have sharply increased capacity and appetite for global scientific collaborations, often based on open access and transparency, and these in turn, like Wikileaks, affect the practice of both diplomacy and science. SD can matter for how we address issues as wide ranging as the weaponization of genetic editing (CRISPR technology), security of cyber spaces, and equitable diffusion of personalized medicine.

Challenges for SD include: developing a classification of activities and a common language about practices, especially those that work best; identifying tangible initiatives to address changing needs and goals; and convincing governmental agencies that SD should be an explicit part of their long-term roadmaps for action and funding. The increasing interest in SD makes this an opportune time for scientists early in their careers to learn and evaluate its possibilities.

A special theme for 2017 is the international migration of people, often spurred by technologies for transport and communication that achieve higher levels of connectedness, and the consequences of migrations.

About ten of the most engaged course participants (limited to those with RU affiliation) will be invited to join a field trip 30-31 March to Washington, DC to meet with prominent SD practitioners and tour relevant institutions.

About ten of the most engaged students will be invited to join a field trip 24-25 March to Washington, DC to meet with prominent SD practitioners and tour relevant institutions.

This course is a sequel to the ones previously offered, and participants from prior years are welcome to attend again.  Several sessions will use clickers, or classroom response systems, to collect and analyze views of the course participants.

The course is part of the University’s Hurford Initiative on Science & Diplomacy, sponsored by the Hurford Foundation. The Initiative aims to help early career scientists understand the global context for their work and thus enable them to work more effectively at international levels.

Course Outline

Week 1
Thursday
Feb 9, 2017

Topic: Introduction to Science Diplomacy, Nuclear Weapons in the Age of Globalization

Guest Speaker: William Perry, Former Secretary of Defense
Session Leader: Rod Nichols
Reading:
Why It’s Safe to Scrap America’s ICBMs
My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, by William J. Perry
New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy: Navigating the Changing Balance of Power. A Royal Society Policy Document 2010, ISBN: 978-0-85403-811-4
Websites to Browse:
http://www.wjperryproject.org/
https://www.aaas.org/program/center-science-diplomacy

Week 2
Thursday
Feb 16, 2017

Topic: Introduction to International Human Migration, Biodiversity, Conservation and Capacity Building in Cuba and Beyond

Guest Speakers: Ana Luz Porzecanski, Director, Center for Biodiversity at The American Museum of Natural History
Jesse Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment, The Rockefeller University
Session Leader: Mandë Holford
Reading:
http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2012/biodiversity-without-borders
http://www.wsj.com/articles/american-museum-of-natural-history-and-cuba-agree-to-deepen-collaboration-1468334674
Websites to Browse:
AMNH Center for Biodiversity and Conservation
http://cmsny.org/about/
http://cis.org/
https://www.ice.gov/removal-statistics

Week 3
Thursday
Feb 23, 2017

Topic: Science Diplomacy + You @ the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
(field trip to CFR Headquarters at 68^th Street and Park Avenue)

Guest Speaker:
CFR Resident Fellows in Global Health and in International Security
Session Leader: Mandë Holford/Jesse Ausubel 
Reading:
A tale of two states. Holford, M, Nichols, R
CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, The Emerging Global Health Crisis: Noncommunicable Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Website to Browse:
http://www.cfr.org/
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/

Week 4
Thursday
Mar 2, 2017

Topic: Global Scientific Exchange at Subzero Temperatures

Guest Speaker: Melody Brown Burkins, Associate Director, Programs & Research, John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding | Chair, US National Committee to the International Union of Geological Sciences | Member, Board on International Scientific Organizations, National Academies
Session Leaders: Mandë Holford
Reading:
Engaging next generation leaders in Arctic science diplomacy: Model Arctic Council
Fulbright Arctic Initiative: An Innovative Model for Policy Relevant Research and Public Outreach
UArctic Shared Voices 2016: a diversity of science diplomacy issues across Arctic nations
Websites to Browse:
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/biso/index.htm
http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/

Week 5
Thursday
Mar 9, 2017

Topic: Changing the Global Face of Medicine 

Guest Speakers: Margaret Hamburg, Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Medicine; Former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
Session Leader: Rodney Nichols
Reading: Former FDA chief Margaret Hamburg speaks out about Califf, Cruz, and Congress
The need for global regulatory harmonization: A public health imperative
Websites to Browse:
http://www.fda.gov/
https://nam.edu/

Week 6
Thursday, Mar 16, 2017

Topic: International Migration of People, Ideas, and Technology

Guest Speaker: Torsten Wiesel, President Emeritus of The Rockefeller University
Asi Burak, CEO Power Play, Chairman of Games for Change 
Session Leader: Jesse Ausubel
Reading:
Turning brain drain into brain circulation, Nature 2014 JUN 12; 510(7504):213-214
Balancing biomedicine's postdoc exchange rate, Science 2000 AUG 11; 289(5481):867-867
Using ethics to fight bioterrorism, Science 2005 AUG 12; 309(5737):1013-1014
Games for social good, five years after PeaceMaker
Understanding Unauthorized Migration
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/illegal-immigration-illogic
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/calls-mount-everywhere-deportation-illegal-immigrants
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/unwanted-immigrants-americas-deportation-dilemma
Websites to Browse:
A video about the games for impact movement by the US State Department
Sandra Day O’Connor’s post-court legacy: Civic games
https://www.insightonconflict.org/conflicts/israel-palestine/peacebuilding-organisations/ipso/
https://www.oist.jp/
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/humanrights/
http://www.gamesforchange.org/

Week 7
Thursday-Friday
Mar 30-31, 2017

Topic: Field trip to Washington, D.C.

Planned Visits (tentative): Department of State; National Academy of Sciences; Congress
Reading: TBD
Websites to Browse: TBD
Chaperones: Jesse Ausubel and Mandë Holford

Course Schedule

Date: Thursdays, February 9-March 17, 2017
Time: 3-5pm
Location: CRC306

Previous Sessions

2016, 2015, 2014

Additional Reading List

The items listed are essential background reading. Two or three additional articles will be distributed each week pertaining to the weekly topics.

1. CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, The Emerging Global Health Crisis: Nonco mmunicable Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
   www.cfr.org/NCDs_Task_Force
   Accompanying web interactive
2. The Science of Science Policy: A Handbook (Innovation and Technology in the World E), by Julia Lane, Kaye Fealing, John Marburger III and Stephanie Shipp (Mar 18, 2011)
3. Scientific Cooperation, State Conflict: The Role of Scientists in Mitigating International Discord, A. L. de Cerreno and A. Keynan, eds, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (866), 1998.
4. New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy: Navigating the Changing Balance of Power.A Royal Society Policy Document 2010, ISBN: 978-0-85403-811-4
5. Science and Two-Armed Diplomats, Rodney Nichols, 1984, Science 226, p123.
6. The Elusive Transformation, Science, Technology and the Evolution of International Politics, Eugene B. Skolnikoff, 1994, Princeton University Press
7. Science and Technology in US International Affairs, Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government, reprinted 1993.
8. Arab Development Report, UN, 2002-2003..
9. World Health Statistics – 2012
10. Science and Two-Armed Diplomats, Rodney Nichols, 1984, Science 226, p.123.
11. Chronic Diseases- The Urgent Need For Action, Henry Greenberg, et al, Routledge Handbook in Public Health. Editors Richard Parker and Marni Sommer
12. National Security Strategy that includes health issues:
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/national_security_strategy.pdf
13. National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats:
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/National_Strategy_for_Countering_BioThreats.pdf
14. International Health Regulations:
    http://www.who.int/ihr/en
15. Reinventing Phage Therapy, Vincent Fischetti, et al, 2006, Nature 12, P1508
16. Bacteriophage endolysins: A novel anti-infective to control Gram-positive pathogens, Vincent Fischetti, 2010, International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 300 p. 357
17. Sample proposals: Myanmar (microbiology mainly) and North Korea (tuberculosis)
18. Development Science and Science Diplomacy. By Alex Dehgan, E. William Colglazier
19. Arab Development Report, UN, 2002-2003. http://www.arab-hdr.org
20. Sample proposals: Argentina/Bolivia DNA barcoding project; Synchrotron project in Jordan
21. Scientific Cooperation, State Conflict: The Role of Scientists in Mitigating International Discord, A. L. de Cerreno and A. Keynan, eds, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (866), 1998. (Available in the RU Dean’s office)
22. Science and Technology in US International Affairs, Carnegie Commission on Science, technology, and Government, reprinted 1993
    http://www.ccstg.org/pdfs/InternationalAffairs0192.pdf
23. Sample proposals: Dead Sea Net; US NAS cooperation with Iran
24. The Elusive Transformation, Science, Technology and the Evolution of International Politics, Eugene B. Skolnikoff, 1994, Princeton University Press (Available in the Dean’s office)
25. Building a National Science Diplomacy System, Vaughan C. Turekian, Science & Diplomacy, Vol. 1, No. 4 (December 2012)
26. Beyond Reproduction: Women’s health in today’s developing world, Susan Raymond, et al, 2005, International Journal of Epidemiology 34, p.1144
27. Sample proposals: Israel-Palestine Science Organization; Iran-Afghan-Mississippi Delta; Barcoding project on endangered species
28. Science Diplomacy Short Course project proposal form
29. The Science of Science Policy: A Handbook (Innovation and Technology in the World E) by Julia Lane, Kaye Fealing, John Marburger III and Stephanie Shipp (Mar 18, 2011)
30. Science must be seen to bridge the political divide, Daniel Sarewitz, 2013, Nature 493, p.7.
31. Lifting the burden, The Economist, December, 2012
32. Obesity and cardiovascular disease in developing countries: a growing problem and an economic threat, Susan U. Raymond ,et al, 2006, Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care
33. Foreign Assistance in an Aging World, Susan Raymond, 2003, Foreign Affairs p.91
34. Sigma Xi 2012 Assembly of Delegates address by Glenn Schweitzer and William Colglazier on Science Diplomacy: http://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings/annual/index.shtml
35. American Association for the Advancement of Science Science & Technology Policy Fellowship: http://fellowships.aaas.org/