The fourth World Science Forum on 5-7 November 2009 will not only mark the 10th anniversary of the World Conference on Science organized by UNESCO and the International Council for Science but will also be looking forward. It will be examining how to promote the need for science and scientific advice in political and economic decision-making, and how to communicate science and its values better to societies at large.

On 4 November, there will be a ministerial roundtable divided into three sessions. The first of these sessions will examine the Structure and Funding of Scientific Research, the second Capacity-building in Science and Technology. The third session, on Science Policy Advice, will be launching the Consortium on Science, Technology and Innovation for the South (COSTIS), in accordance with the mandate of the Second South Summit (Doha, Qatar,12-16 June 2005) and the decision by the Meeting of the Ministers of Science and Technology of the Member States of the Group of 77 ( Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 3 September 2006). For details of the ministerial roundtable, see below the annotated agenda and the working document.

One of the novelties of the Fourth World Science Forum is that it will offer a special plenary session devoted to science communication to be attended by Bruce Alberts and Philip Campbell, editors-in-chief of Science and Nature respectively.

Another novel theme is that of foresight in science and technology, suggested by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Other thematic sessions will explore career options for women researchers and/or young scientists, research funding in the context of the global recession, and the role that national parliaments and science diplomacy can play in forming regional and global science policies.

Documents

Programme and abstracts
Ministerial roundtable: tentative annotated agenda (Eng, Fre)
Ministerial roundtable: working document (Eng)
List of Provisional Contributors (Eng)

Relevant websites

Hungarian website of the World Science Forum (English and Hungarian)
History of the World Science Forum

Co-ordinator