Science Diplomacy in the Mediterranean: Building Trust Through Science and Knowledge

26 January 2023. From 18:30 | Conference | English | IEMed

Head laboratory technician checks on production of Remdesivir, a drug used in the treatment of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Eva Pharma facility in Cairo, Egypt June 1, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Regional multi-stakeholder cooperation across the Mediterranean through science and innovation is fundamental to achieve long-term sustainability, prosperity, and peace. The historic mobilization of international scientific collaborations, evidence-informed decision making, and innovative public policy instruments during COVID-19 present a unique opportunity window to pave the way for more sustained engagement between the scientific and policy spheres to tackle current and future challenges. Preventing and responding to the next global crisis – of any nature – will require changing mindsets, overcoming silos, and building new partnerships and creative coalitions among a broader range of actors, and ultimately placing science, health, climate, and the environment at the heart of the multilateral system.

In order to achieve it, science diplomacy is instrumental and must be prioritized in every sustainable development agenda, especially in those with an international perspective.

Alícia Pérez-Porro is a marine biologist and scientific coordinator of the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF). She was president of the Association of Spanish Scientists in the United States (ECUSA) and the Network of Scientific Researchers Abroad (RAICEX). Her research fields connect the environment, gender equality and environmental diplomacy for a fairer and more sustainable future. In 2018 she was selected to participate in the largest Antarctic expedition made up of women to date, through the Homeward Bound (HB) project, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Spanish Red Cross and Red Crescent for her efforts in the field of gender equality as a key element in climate action. Pérez-Porro was selected Aspen Idees Festival Scholar 2019 and Women inPower Fellow 2018. Recently, she has written “Biodiversidad: ¿actuamos?” (Idees, 2021) with Lluís Brotons Alabau, Carles Castell and Joan Pino. She coauthored the book for kids La vida secreta de los virus (Zahorí Books, Barcelona, 2020).

Conference moderated by Javier Albarracín, Professor of the Master’s, Blanquerna –URL. Co-organised by the IEMed as part of the Aula Mediterrània 2022-23 programme in collaboration with the Master’s in Advanced Studies in International Affairs, Blanquerna – URL.

This conference takes place at the IEMed conference room, Girona, 20 – Barcelona and it can also be followed on IEMed Youtube Channel.

Read also her AulaMed article on the issue.