ELIGIBILITY:

To strengthen the connection between scientists and governmental officials, policymakers and diplomats, applications to attend the course are being invited from ‘participant pairs’. Both participants in the participant pair should ideally be living and/or working in the same country, but not be working at the same institution. Priority will be given to participant pairs from developing countries, and especially Science and Technology lagging countries (STLCs – https://twas.org/66-countries).

The applicants in the ‘participant pair’ should share some common interest in the areas of science, technology and innovation. However, it is not necessary that they work or have been working together in the past.

The ‘participant pair’ will include:

Participant 1: a Early-Career Scientist (preferably 40 years or below) whose research and wider engagement has international policymaking implications or applications, and

Participant 2: a Policymaker from the policymaking arena, working on science, technology, and innovation-related matters. This person should belong to one of the following categories:

A local or national government official.

A policymaker.

A diplomat.

Staff at an academy of sciences at supervisory level.

Civil servant.

A representative of a research funding institution.

Staff or expert working for and/or with an international (e.g. UN) organization.

Applicants from any nationality are welcome but priority is given to developing countries.

Applicants from the 66 Science & Technology Lagging Countries (STLCs) https://twas.org/66-countriesand – within this group – the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) https://twas.org/least-developed-countries-ldcs are especially encouraged to apply and will be given priority.

Women are especially encouraged to apply, as are refugee or displaced scientists.

BENEFIT:

Organizers will cover the expenses of pairs selected, including transportation, lodging, visa expenses, meals and incidentals.