In this guest post Yasmin Khan from the Science Museum, London, explores some of the emerging themes that were recently discussed amongst key players from across the globe gathered in London.

I was intrigued when I heard that the Royal Society was about to tackle an unusual theme in association with the AAAS via a two day discussion meeting entitled ‘New frontiers in science diplomacy’. I went along to gauge if the programme could really live up to its promise: to establish how science diplomacy could be used to solve many of today’s international challenges.

Amongst the Royal Society’s strategic priorities stated in their 350th anniversary goals includes a brand new Science Policy Centre that will investigate the role of national science policy in influencing innovation, emerging technologies and policy proposals relating to Climate Change, Energy, Environment, and International Security.

A particularly eye opening session examined ‘New Partnerships with the Islamic World’. Ehsan Masood, Chief Commissioning Editor for Nature Journal, pondered whether Science diplomacy could potentially play a critical role in maintaining world peace? A recent case in point was described by Naser Faruqui (Director of Innovation Policy and Science at the International Development Research Centre) who highlighted the successful Israel-Palestinian collaboration involved in a Mountain Aquifer Study his organisation had spearheaded. Faruqui considered the relationship between trust and power as part of diplomacy; to build and sustain mutual trust would require a movement away from a dependency where there was a state of power imbalance toward an interdependent relationship where both parties would be equal and thereby more trusting. The bottom line being that science diplomacy could be strategically utilised to positively influence foreign policy in addition to promoting international collaboration that helps to advance science.

A mammoth project that is attentively fostering international cooperation through regional collaboration was highlighted by Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, President of the Council of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and its Applications in the Middle East). SESAME is a major science facility under construction in Jordan under the auspices of UNESCO in collaboration with Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan and Turkey. SESAME will enable world class science and technology in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region in subjects ranging from biology and medical sciences through materials science and physics to archaeology. SESAME has been modelled on CERN (the European laboratory for Particle Physics) which played a key role on building bridges after the second world war and during the cold war. There was a comedy moment when an audience member probed the speakers on their reaction to the villainous portrayal of CERN in the recent Hollywood film, based on Dan Brown’s book ‘Angels and Demons’. In the film, antimatter was stolen from CERN to destroy the Vatican using an antimatter bomb. “What if anti-matter is able to be manufactured in the Middle East?” teased the same audience member provokingly. The rest of the audience chuckled at this prospect. Of course, an antimatter bomb is total fiction, whereas the fruitful prospects for cutting edge research and discovery that SESAME will deliver is now a reality so long as science diplomacy angels continue to flex their wings to exorcise the demons that get in the way.

The event was successful in bringing together top experts to examine the role of science as a source of soft power in foreign policy and provided a rare forum for reflection and mutual dialogue. However, one couldn’t help noticing that many speakers did not seem to register the importance of promoting an accompanying campaign to inform the lay public about existing science diplomacy initiatives. There will be more missed PR opportunities at grass roots level if equivalent effort isn’t made to communicate the burgeoning progress in international collaborative science endeavours. It may be rather self-limiting if those involved in science diplomacy activities are the only people who know about.

It sounds obvious – it is good to talk – but not just to the converted.

Yasmin Khan is the Curator Team Manager at the Science Museum, London.