In this interview during the opening ceremony of IYBSSD, Luc Bergé, President of the European Physical Society, pledged their organization’s commitment to unifying the world using science.
Science and unifying the world
So we are really committed to the role of science in order to unify the populations across Europe and beyond, across the world, through science and through physics in particular.
We have eight individuals and groups inside the European Physical Society taking charge of the different fields in physics, but also over we have some societal committees dedicated to the energy, dedicated to the role of the physics in the environment, dedicated to also physics for development. And so we are trying also to offer possibilities to people working in the developing countries to access research and also to contribute to the evolution of physics, and we help them to solve thèse. And it is also our role of the European Physical Society to join these kind of eforts.
What link do you make between your activities and sustainable dévelopment?
The European Physical Society was founded in 1968 as a response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Warsaw Pact. So we are really committed to the role of science in order to unify the populations across Europe and beyond, across the world, through science and through physics in particular. So in fact, these goals also of basic science, I mean, to promote a better world. And we are really involved in this in this process.
What is your biggest wish for this year to come?
We are already involved in concrete projects with the American physical society, with ICPT Trieste to help young researchers in Africa and to come and exchange with researchers in Europe and North America. We have different concrete projects. I mean, to help African physicists in Africa. I would like me to develop these projects along the year and in partnership with the International the Year and the Steering Committee of this International Year Science for Sustainable Development.
Interview by Laurent Orluc