In Rabat, Morocco, ISSC’s African regional Member Organisation CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) gathered an estimated 400 participants at its General Assembly from 5-9 December, to discuss a wide range of the challenges facing Africa in the 21st century. A noteworthy feature of the assembly was the mix of Africa-based and diaspora-based scholars, bearing witness to the institutional challenges which social scientists face in many parts of the continent but also to the vitality of social science there.

Topics which are high on the global political and research agenda, including climate change, the economic crisis and demographic change, and their implications for Africa, were at the core of many discussions. Focus also fell on the turbulent course and causes of the “Arab spring” and the future it spells for Africa. Other key issues of particular regional consequence addressed included: the changing role of religion, gender relations, the issue of land grab, the relations between Africa and the emerging economies, especially China, but also India and Brazil, governance and academic freedom. See the full listing of themes and sub themes here.

Within this context, ISSC’s Francoise Caillods, senior managing editor of the World Social Science Report, presented the report’s findings on the state of the social sciences in general and in Africa, and highlighted the areas of work identified as being fundamental to genuine progress, such as capacity development and investment in higher education.

CODESRIA's new president Fatima Harrak

The General Assembly concluded by electing a new President, Fatima Harrak, research scholar at the University of Mohammed V Institute of African Studies in Morocco, and six new members of the scientific committee (see here).

December 2011

On 8-9 June 2011, the ISSC hosted the ISSC-Belmont Forum Social Science Agenda Setting Workshop on Global Environmental Change. The workshop gathered together a truly international and interdisciplinary group of 64 participants from 29 countries incorporating all regions, comprising social and human scientists, humanities scholars, and representatives of social science funding agencies, as well as policymakers. The aim of the workshop was to identify the most urgent, relevant and compelling social science research questions on global environmental change (GEC), particularly in relation to the Belmont Challenge, which is: to deliver knowledge needed for action to mitigate and adapt to detrimental environmental change and extreme hazardous events.

The challenge to the workshop participants was to bring critical social science perspectives to bear on unpacking and, if necessary, reframing the Belmont Challenge. The workshop also served to begin mapping existing centres of excellence and overall strengths and weaknesses in social science research on global environmental change in different parts of the world; and to consider ways of mobilising broader social science communities and better realising their integration with the natural sciences in this field of research.

A detailed workshop Synthesis Report and Resource Document has now been published. The workshop results will provide invaluable input for the ISSC’s Climate Change Design Project, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), as well for other international GEC research coordination initiatives in which the ISSC is involved.

Click here to download the full workshop report.

December 2011

Amidst the myriad activities at the COP17 conference, the ISSC presented the first findings of its SIDA-supported Climate Change Design Project, in a side-meeting co-hosted with UNESCO, the (South African) HSRC and CODESRIA.

A full house hears Dr Shisana open the climate change seminar

In a session chaired by ISSC President Olive Shisana, Executive Director Heide Hackmann outlined a framework for promoting the role of the global social science community in taking the lead towards an integrated, transformative climate science. The Draft Framework concludes with 6 “Transformative Cornerstones” of social science, mapping the shape of a crucial social science engagement with one of the most important and challenging problems of our current age.

Heide Hackmann presents the six cornerstones

Commenting after the event, Dr Hackmann noted: “This is a work-in-progress, but the draft is allowing us to start raising awareness and interest, also amongst natural scientists, one of whom remarked after the session that her eyes had been opened by what was presented. And social scientists – trained to be critical – are responding positively and enthusiastically.”

Entitled “The Social Sciences in a changing climate: Meaningful knowledge that works”, the seminar also featured contributions from Elizabeth Longworth, Deputy ADG for the Social Sciences and Humanities Sector of UNESCO, and the South African Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor. Economist Dr Peter Jacobs from the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa presented a paper on “Regenerative farming, indigenous knowledge and climate change”, highlighting the complexities involved in policymaking for a climate-friendly agriculture.

ISSC’s programmatic work at COP17 continued

In parallel, two other members of the ISSC team involved in the Climate Change Design Project, Eleanor Hadley Kershaw and Orla Martin, attended the COP conference in order to gather input for the project and introduce it to a wider scientific community. The team attended a range of side events hosted by organisations such as the Third World Network, the South Center, as well as many others; networked with a multitude of social and natural scientists, NGO representatives and others from around the world; and followed the negotiations. A total of 27 spot interviews with 15 social scientists, 9 natural scientists and 4 others (NGO representatives, humanities scholars and programme managers) from 16 countries in 6 regions were undertaken. Remote interviews will be conducted with a further 20 contacts made at the conference. These activities also serve to feed into the parallel mapping exercise being undertaken to support the project.

The team also attended two external events running parallel to the COP Conference: the Oxfam Hong Kong International Forum on Climate Change Communication and the International Institute for Environment and Development’s Development and Climate Day Conference. Both events served as an additional opportunity to gather interesting new information; network with scientists, researchers and NGO representatives; to further map the climate change research landscape; and to communicate the project to a wider network.

November 2011

The ISSC, represented by Francoise Caillods, senior managing editor of the 2010 World Social Science Report, took part in a parallel thematic session on the future of international science at the World Science Forum in Budapest. Francoise’s contribution, which focused on the state of the social sciences and their role in responding to global priority challenges, followed from presentations by John Marks, chair of the ICSU Taskforce on Foresight, and Nebojsa Nakicenovic, director of the Global Energy Assessment.

During her presentation, Francoise observed that to address global challenges such as climate and environmental change, the social sciences are crucial. They help us to understand how humans behave and interact, with each other and with the environment. More specifically, they help us to understand the role of culture, values and beliefs in shaping the way groups adapt to changes and the strategies they develop; and the role of interests and power in developing an institutional and political response.

To reach the social sciences’ full potential and utility, Francoise nevertheless stressed that it is necessary to overcome the knowledge divides – the tremendous inequalities in research capacities and knowledge fragmentation – which currently characterise them. She also presented some of the current trends in social science research that are likely to develop in the future: addressing global issues as much as local ones; getting more involved in interdisciplinary research; and responding to the growing pressure to be relevant and to inform decision making. All of these require new methodologies and new approaches.

For more information on the World Science Forum, visit www.sciforum.hu.
For more information on social science knowledge divides, see the World Social Science Report 2010, available here.

November 2011

ISSC’s Executive Director, Heide Hackmann, attended the first inaugural conference of the ISSC co-sponsored Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme. The event, which took place in Beijing, China from 31 October to 2 November, was dedicated to fostering new approaches to disaster research that investigate the root causes of disasters and incorporate input from across sectors, regions and disciplines.

Dr Hackmann addressed delegates at the conference on two occasions, delivering a speech during the opening ceremony and a key note address on the topic of integrated research. She stressed that to address the increasing rate, scale and magnitude of environmental problems and disasters, news ways of producing and using knowledge are needed. Integrated research, which is inter- and cross-disciplinary, transdisciplinary and global, is essential yet confronted by multiple challenges. The IRDR programme is uniquely placed to address these and open up new avenues for dialogue and collaboration between scientists, practitioners, users and policy makers.

For more information on the IRDR conference, click here.

November 2011

In the context of the increasing collaboration between the ISSC and the International Council for Science (ICSU), ISSC representatives, including its President Olive Shisana, Executive Director Heide Hackmann and Senior Executive Officer Mike Murphy, attended the 30^th ICSU General Assembly, held between 27-30 September in Rome, Italy.

ISSC President Olive Shisana

President Shisana gave a speech for the occasion, available here. She also met with ICSU’s president, Prof. Yuan Tseh Lee, to take further the ongoing discussion on the need for greater cooperation between the social and natural sciences, especially in the field of global environmental change.

DFG President Matthias Kleiner

The ICSU GA also included a keynote address by Prof. Matthias Kleiner, president of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the country’s largest research funding body. Prof. Kleiner announced two new collaborative activities on Integrated Science:

• A workshop on Integrated Global Change Research: Co-designing knowledge across scientific field, national borders and user groups, co-organized by the German National Committee on Global Change Research, ICSU, ISSC and ESSP, which will take place in early 2012 in Berlin. The workshop will discuss best practice to achieve the integration of knowledge on this topic, as well as the best ways to make it available to decision makers and society.
• A series of three annual DFG-ICSU-ISSC Young Scientist International Networking Conferences on Integrated Science, to begin in 2012. The conferences will bring together young researchers and leading scientists working in the field of global sustainability from around the world. They will aim to foster their exchange and future collaboration, as well as to stimulate new innovative and integrated research on this topic.

Prof. Kleiner’s keynote address is available here.

More information on the ICSU’s General Assembly is available at www.icsu.org/general-assembly.

October 2011

Younger social scientists engage in the ISSC-Belmont Forum Agenda-Setting Workshop, June 2011

The ISSC has been awarded a grant of 1,2 million euros from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, for a new World Social Science Fellows Programme.

This capacity development programme was developed over a period of nearly 3 years by the ISSC’s CoDATE team, under the chairmanship of Adebayo Olukoshi, and will be launched in September 2011.

The Programme will have a duration of 4 years, targeting the next generation of social science leaders from South and North, who are working in a cross-disciplinary way on key global development issues.

At its core there will be convened a series of fortnight-long Fellows Workshops, where younger social scientists receive training from more senior colleagues (including select world science leaders in their fields) to inspire and upgrade their academic and teaching work. The Programme aims to benefit personally around 60 young scholars per year, and their “home” scientific institutions thereafter.

A feature of the programme will be the active promotion of and ongoing support for networking amongst the Fellows participants before and after the Workshops. Participant Fellows will also be integrated systematically into ISSC Flagship Programmes such as the World Social Science Forum and the World Social Science Report.

Further information will be available here in the coming months.

July 2011

James W. McGuire, winner of the Stein Rokkan Prize 2011

The ISSC is delighted to announce that the winner of the XVIth Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research (2011) is James W. McGuire, for his work Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

The Stein Rokkan Prize Committee met on May 27 and May 28, 2011 in Florence to select the winner from amongst 26 submissions. The Committee was impressed by McGuire’s monograph not only because of its sophisticated methodology, the broad data base, the intimate knowledge of cases and the innovative and significant findings. This outstanding work also speaks to four literatures at the same time: demography, social policy, democratization studies and development studies.

Click here to read the full Laudation.

June 2011

Dr Sàlvano Briceño has been appointed as the new Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme. Dr Briceño will succeed Prof. Gordon McBean, whose term will come to an end on 1 November 2011.

The IRDR programme is co-sponsored by the ISSC, the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

June 2011

The newly elected ISSC Executive Committee met on 16 and 17 May for the 113th Session of the Committee, kindly hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(Left to right) ISSC Executive Director, Heide Hackmann; ISSC President, Olive Shisana; Former ISSC President, Gudmund Hernes

Professor Li Yang, Vice-President of CASS; Dr Olive Shisana, ISSC President

ISSC Executive Committee and Executive Board Members of CASS, Beijing, May 2011

May 2011