Some background before we go into this UNESCO recommendation.
UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers aims to inform science policy and ethics worldwide. Aimed at research institutes, individuals and scientific organizations that practice, regulate and promote science, it calls on member states and their governments to create the conditions that will enable science to flourish and advance, to be practiced ethically and fairly, and to be useful and relevant to society.
Adopted in 2017, the Recommendation replaces the 1974 Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers. The update ensures the Recommendation will continue to be relevant to research communities around the world in light of emerging ethical and regulatory challenges related to how science and the science-society relationship are governed.
A guide for national policies
Adopted by all UNESCO member states and endorsed by the international community, the Recommendation has political standing and serves as a reference for conducting science and research and shaping interactions between science and society. Periodic reporting are supposed to support the assessment of progress on national and international levels.
We will see that IYBSSD will provide an opportunity, if not for a complete overview, at least to reopen discussion, among researchers and policymakers, on several themes of this recommendation that are particularly important for basic sciences.
This post is based on a text published by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
