WASHINGTON – Nov 13, 2018 – The United Nations has designated November 10 as “World Science Day for Peace and Development”. Proclaimed in 2001 by the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the set-aside day is meant to highlight the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It is observed worldwide annually with a different theme pertinent to its conceptual roots. It encompasses all the activities within the scopes of showing the general public the relevance of science in their lives and to engage them in discussions concerning the challenges faced by the science, developments and the societies.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay has expressed in the statement for 2018’s WDSPD that UNESCO calls on governments, businesses, civil society and scientists to fully embrace the values of responsible and ethical science, by fully implementing the UNESCO recommendation on science and scientific researchers.
Princess Sumaya launched the 2018 WSDPD at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
In her opening remarks, Her Highness reiterated the importance of fulfilling and enabling the human right to science, as outlined in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights of 1948.
In the declaration’s 70th anniversary year, she said it was time to “refocus our efforts on enabling science within all societies” and on “ensuring that all people around the world may share the benefits of scientific engagement and knowledge”.
Dr. Spencer Onu, the Director, Centre for Satellite Technology Development (CSTD) said that science and technology were the keys to developing any nation.
The Association of Science–Technology Centers co-hosted with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) a worldwide conversation about “Science, a Human Right.”
A panel of experts gathered at the AAAS headquarters in Washington, DC and in four science centers around the world: Parque Explora, Medellin (Colombia); We the Curious, Bristol (UK); Continium, Kerkrade (The Netherlands) and Cosmocaixa, Barcelona (Spain).
The conversation proceeded in two parts; the first part, moderated by Jessica Wyndham, Director of the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program, feature Margaret Weigers Vitullo, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the American Sociological Association, who unpacked what the right to science means based on empirical work involving the scientific and engineering communities, and Shirley Malcom, Ph.D., head of the AAAS Education and Human Resources Programs placed the right to science in the context of the sustainable development goals.
The second part, moderated by Cristin Dorgelo, the President and CEO of ASTC, tackled the role of science centers in communication and implementation of the right to science.
In the Asian and Oceanic regions, the conjoint postdoctoral observance of the WSDP was marked by Asia-Oceania Post-Doctoral Academia (AOPDA) and SAIRI Postdoc Multiversity for the United Nation SDGs studies, under the patronage of Justice (R) Dr. S.S. Paru, Chancellor Emeritus of SAARC-ASEAN Postdoc Academia.
High profiled academicians from diverse disciplines incorporated their vision to address the key challenges faced by the today’s human life on earth in order to safeguard a safe, secure and prosperous human life in the ever-worsening existing scenarios.
Hazardous toxification occurrences of under-ground water reserves due to the prevailing sewage-drainage practice were declared as the grimmest threat to the human life upon earth, biosafety and the ecological sustainability as well. A Pakistani female Hydro-toxicologist and water conservation expert, Professor Dr. Khalida Khan was titled as the ‘Postdoc Strategic Researcher of the Year’ 2018-2019 by a resolution adopted during the annual proceedings of National Postdoctoral Appreciation Week (NPAW-2018).
The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS) and partners celebrated the UN’s WSDPD-2018 by awarding seven inaugural early career African researchers with an AESA-RISE postdoctoral fellowship having a 3 years postdoctoral funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY).
The seven researchers were drawn from Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda with some fellows based in institutions outside their home countries, such as the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of eSwatini.
An essay competition on “Science for Peace” was jointly organized by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) and Majalahsains.com. The essay competition awarded cash prizes totaling RM13,000 for winners. PGPF is heading the call to make everyone realize about the ethnic cleansings which have led to more than 18 million casualties in Rwanda, Iraq, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen… running into hundreds of thousands more and still counting.
For entirety of the source-materials please visit:
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldscienceday#statements
https://www.unwsdpd.org/2018/11/11/observance/
https://aopda.org/category/news
https://www.nationalpostdoc.org/page/2018NPAW#AO
https://www.aaas.org/events/world-science-day-peace-and-development
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