Monthly Archives: October 2022

UNESCO Recommendation Report Published

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From late 2020 through mid-2021 I worked with a diverse group of experts on a report for UNESCO on science and scientific researchers in the United States. This work was facilitated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). As a bit of background, in 2017 UNESCO adopted a set of recommendations, “the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers,” which supersedes a similar recommendation going back to 1974. The new recommendation has 10 key areas; according to the summary,

  1. “underlines the responsibility of science towards the United Nations’ ideals of human dignity,
    progress, justice, peace, welfare of humankind and respect for the environment;
  2. emphasizes the need for science to meaningfully interact with society and vice versa;
  3. recognizes the role of science in national policy and decision-making, international
    cooperation and development;
  4. promotes science as a common good;
  5. calls for inclusive and non-discriminatory work conditions and access to education and
    employment in science;
  6. emphasizes that any scientific conduct is subject to universal human rights standards;
  7. balances the freedoms, rights and responsibilities of researchers;
  8. calls for scientific integrity and ethical codes of conduct for science and research and their
    technical applications;
  9. recognizes the vital importance of human capital for a sound and responsible science system;
    and
  10. stresses the role of Member States in creating an enabling environment for science and
    research.”

Now, as you may be aware, the United States stopped paying dues to UNESCO in 2011 under Obama, and withdrew completely in 2019 under Trump. So the US government did not produce the report required by the 2017 recommendation. Instead, AAAS took it upon itself to produce this sort of report. That report has now been published:

Wyndham, J., Weisenberg, N., McCarty, C., Goldman, G., Brown, M., and Borenstein, J. 2022.
UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers and the United States: An
Analysis of Key Themes. https://doi.org/10.1126/aaas.ade8203