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Anticipation and diplomacy (with)in science: activating the right to science for science diplomacy

2023; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13642987.2023.2269102

1744-053X

Helle Porsdam, Sebastian Porsdam Mann,

Science, Research, and Medicine

ABSTRACTHow can scientists assist society and contribute to international policymaking – and just as crucially, how can society engage with and shape science? What will it take to make modern science diplomacy for the Anthropocene successful so that the benefits of science are furthered and its risks and harms, as far as possible, prevented?In this article, we explore the relevance and usefulness of three areas of study to these questions: science diplomacy, the human right to science, and anticipation in the context of scientific and technological developments. We argue that a hitherto underappreciated aspect of science diplomacy – diplomacy (with)in science – has significant potential to complement anticipatory approaches such as the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator's (GESDA's) by furthering the same goals: ameliorating the negative impacts of scientific and technological developments and facilitating their benefits. We relate the concept of diplomacy (with)in science to the normative framework of the right to science under international human rights law and develop and motivate it further by illustrating two potential areas for its application.KEYWORDS: Science diplomacythe human right to scienceanticipation in the context of scientific and technological developmentsblockchaingeneral common good Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (London: Orbit, 2020).2 This is the opening line of the novel. Ibid, 1.3 Ibid, 16.4 Ibid, 91.5 Ibid, 251.6 'Rule of law is all we've got,' as one of the lawyers at the Ministry says early on (p. 36). 'Rule of law. What a weak reed to stand on!,' says another. 'Yes. What can we do about that? Just make it stick', 61.7 Vaughan C. Turekian, 'The Evolution of Science Diplomacy', Global Policy 9 (2018): 5.8 Pierre-Bruno Ruffini, 'Conceptualizing Science Diplomacy in the Practitioner-Driven Literature: A Critical Review', Humanities and Social Science Communications 7 (2020): 124.9 Tim Flink and Nicholas Rüffin, 'Chapter 6: The Current State of the Art of Science Diplomacy', in Handbook on Science and Public Policy, eds. Dagmar Simon, Stefan Kuhlmann, Julia Stamm and Weert Canzler (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019).10 Tim Flink, 'Taking the Pulse of Science Diplomacy and Developing Practices of Valuation', Science and Public Policy 49, no. 2, (2022): 191–200.11 Vaughan C. Turekian, Peter D. Gluckman, Teruo Kishi and Robin W. Grimes 'Science Diplomacy: A Pragmatic Perspective from the Inside', Science & Diplomacy 6, no. 4 (2017): 1–13.12 Ibid.13 Peter D. Gluckman, 'Scientists and Scientific Organizations Need to Play a Greater Role in Science Diplomacy', PLOS Biology 20, no. 11 (2022).14 Derek Massarella, 'Philip Henry Zollman, the Royal Society's First Assistant Secretary for Foreign Correspondence', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 46, no. 2 (1992): 219.15 See e.g. James Poskett, Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (Mariner Books, 2022).16 See e.g. Ruffini, 'Conceptualizing Science Diplomacy'17 Finn Aaserud, 'Niels Bohr's Diplomatic Mission During and After World War Two', Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 43, no. 4 (2020): 493–520.18 Niels Bohr, 'Open Letter to the United Nations', 1950: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Deterrence/BohrUN.shtml.19 German Federal Foreign Office, 'Science Diplomacy: A new strategy in research and academic relations policy', (2020) – retrieved from https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/blob/2436494/2b868e9f63a4f5ffe703faba680a61c0/201203-science-diplomacy-strategiepapier-data.pdf20 Ibid.21 Carlos Moedas, 'Science Diplomacy in the European Union', Science & Diplomacy 5, no. 1 (2016).22 European Commission, 'Horizon 2020 Funding Guide: Open Access & Data Management' https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/open-access-data-management/data-management_en.htm.23 United Nations, 'Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development', A/RES/70/1 (2015); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 'Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers' (2017); United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 'General Comment No. 25 on Science and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Art. 15.1.b, 15.2, 15.3 and 15.4', E/C.12/GC/25 (2020).24 Jennifer Doudna, 'Jennifer Doudna on how Covid-19 is spurring science to accelerate', The Economist, June 5th 2020: https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2020/06/05/jennifer-doudna-on-how-covid-19-is-spurring-science-to-accelerate.25 Royal Society, 'New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy' (2010). https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2010/new-frontiers-science-diplomacy/.26 Jean-Claude Burgelman and Luk Van Langenhove, 'Viewpoint: Science Diplomacy Needs a Refresh to Meet Contemporary European Needs', ScienceBusiness (2021). https://sciencebusiness.net/viewpoint/viewpoint-science-diplomacy-needs-refresh-meet-contemporary-european-needs.27 Peter D. Gluckman, 'Covid-19 and the Future of Global Cooperation and Science Diplomacy', Keynote, Special Session at US-Korea Conference 2020 – available at https://informedfutures.org/ukc2020/ (accessed August 3, 2022).28 UNESCO Recommendation on Science, Article 14(d)(iv).29 Monya Baker, '1,500 Scientists Lift the Lid on Reproducibility', 533 Nature (2016): 452–4.30 https://opensource.com/resources/open-science31 UNESCO, Recommendation on Science, Articles 5(c), 6, 7, and 14(c).32 Jessica M. Wyndham, Margaret W. Vitullo, Rebecca Everly, Teresa M. Stoepler, and Nathaniel Weisenberg, 'The Right to Science: From Principle to Practice and the Role of National Science Academies', in The Right to Science: Then and Now, eds. Helle Porsdam and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (Cambridge University Press, 2021), 211–30.33 UN CESCR, General Comment No. 25, para 2.34 See Critical Voices – UNESCO's Instruments in Defence of Freedom of Expression of Artists, Journalists and Scientific Researchers, produced by the Permanent Delegation of Denmark to UNESCO – available at https://unesco.um.dk/.35 See Stjepan Oreskovic and Sebastian Porsdam Mann, 'Science in the Times of SARS-CoV-22', in The Right to Science: Then and Now, eds. Helle Porsdam and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (Cambridge University Press, 2021), 166–94; Sebastian Porsdam Mann and Maximilian Martin Schmid, 'Health Research Priority Setting: State Obligations and the Human Right to Science', The American Journal of Bioethics 18, no. 11 (2018): 33–5.36 Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, 260–1.37 David Kaye, 'Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression', A/75/261 (2020): Summary.38 This argument is made by Helle Porsdam in Science as a Cultural Human Right (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022).39 UN CESCR, 'General Comment no. 3 on The Nature of States Parties Obligations Art. 2, para. 1', E/1991/23, para. 52. See also General Comment No. 25 on Science, Section III.40 Yvonne Donders, 'Balancing Interests: Limitations to the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and Its Applications', European Journal of Human Rights 4 (2015): 492.41 UN CESCR, General Comment No. 25, para 41.42 Farida Shaheed, 'Report on the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications', A/HRC/20/26 (2012).43 The importance of science communication and other aspects of the obligations imposed by Article 15(2) ICESCR, including their sometime tension with IP and author's rights, are discussed at greater length in Porsdam, Science as a Cultural Human Right supra n. 38; Helle Porsdam, The Transforming Power of Cultural Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2019); and Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Helle Porsdam, Max Schmid, and Peter Treit, Scientific Freedom: The Heart of the Right to Science, in press (Rowman and Littlefield).44 Roberto Andorno, 'The Right to Science and the Evolution of Scientific Integrity', in The Right to Science: Then and Now, eds Helle Porsdam and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 91–103.45 Christian Starck, 'Freedom of Scientific Research and its Restrictions in German Constitutional Law', Israel Law Review 39, no. 2 (2006): 110–26.46 Catherine Rhodes and John Sulston, 'Scientific Responsibility and Development', European Journal of Development Research 22, no. 1 (2010): 3–9.47 See Andorno, 'The Right to Science and the Evolution of Scientific Integrity'.48 See e.g. Paul Berg, 'Asilomar 1975: DNA Modification Secured', 455 Nature (2008): 290–1.49 We thank Prof. Dr. Peter Murray at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany for suggesting this.50 UN CESCR, 'General Comment on Science', para 61.51 Ibid., para 22.52 Robinson, The Ministry for the Future, 177.53 Ibid, 455.54 Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, 'How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document', Journal of Cryptology 3 (1991): 99–111.55 Satoshi Nakamoto 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System', (2008).56 Compute and its associated electricity costs (Proof of Work).57 That is, fraudulent activity results in forfeiture of assets (Proof of Stake).58 For example blockchains, e.g. bloxberg, operated by a fixed list of trusted universities, where trust is presumed to be pre-established (Proof of Authority).59 Joris Van Rossum, 'Blockchain for Research: Perspectives on a New Paradigm for Scholarly Communication', Digital Science Report (2017): 8.60 Jens Ducrée, Martin Codyre, Ray Walshe and Sönke Bartling, 'DeSci – Decentralized Science', Preprints (2022).61 Ibid.62 Christian Delgado-von-Eitzen, Luis Anido-Rifón and Manuel Fernández-Iglesias, 'Blockchain Applications in Education: A Systematic Literature Review', 11 Applied Science (2021): 11811.63 Jens Ducrée, Martin Etzrodt, Sönke Bartling, Ray Walshe, Tomás Harrington, Neslihan Wittek, Sebastian Posth, Kevin Wittek, Andrei Ionita, Wolfgang Prinz, Dimitrios Kogias, Tiago Paixão, Iosif Peterfi and James Lawton, 'Unchaining Collective Intelligence for Science, Research and Technology Development by Blockchain-Boosted Community Participation', Frontiers in Blockchain 4 (2021): 631648.64 Mehdi Benchoufi and Philippe Ravaud, 'Blockchain Technology for Improving Clinical Research Quality', 18 Trials (2017): 335; Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Julian Savulescu, Philippe Ravaud and Mehdi Benchoufi, 'Blockchain, Consent and Prosent for Medical Research', Journal of Medical Ethics 47 (2021): 244–50.65 Ducree et al., 'Unchaining Collective Intelligence'.66 Amrei Müller, 'Limitations to and Derogations from Economic, Social and Cultural Rights', Human Rights Law Review 9, no. 4 (2009): 559.67 Philip Alston and Gerard Quinn, 'The Nature and Scope of States Parties' Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights', Human Rights Quarterly 9, no. 2 (1987): 156–229.68 Ibid, 202.69 Ibid.70 Rumiana Yotova, 'Regulating Genome Editing Under International Human Rights Law', International and Comparative Law Quarterly 69, no. 3 (2020): 666.71 UN News, 'UN General Assembly Declares Access to Clean and Healthy Environment a Universal Human Right' 22 July 2022. (accessed August 5, 2022).72 See discussion on this point in: Andrew Mazibrada, Monika Plozza and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (2023) Innovating in uncharted terrain: on interpretation and normative legitimacy in the CESCR's General Comment No. 25 on the right to science, The International Journal of Human Rights, DOI: 10.1080/13642987.2023.223429873 'At its core, Article 15 requires that science be used as an instrument for human benefit, and that the process of doing scientific research and the development of applications from that science be consistent with fundamental human rights principles such as non-discrimination and equal treatment, participation and transparency in decision-making, and free and informed consent to participation in research.' AAAS, 'Right to Science: FAQs' – available at https://www.aaas.org/programs/scientific-responsibility-human-rights-law/resources/faqs. (accessed August 15, 2021).74 Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Yvonne Donders, Christine Mitchell, Valerie J. Bradley, Michael F. Chou, Matthias Mann, George Church and Helle Porsdam, 'Opinion: Advocating for Science Progress as a Human Right', Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of Aamerica 115, no. 43 (2018):10820–3.75 Tara Smith argues, for example that, 'the right to science has become so indelibly attached to the right to culture in both the UDHR and the ICESCR is unfortunate. … Permanently subsuming the right to science under the banner of cultural rights, both ideologically and textually in these two key human rights instruments, may have blunted the effect and the perception of the right over time.' See Tara Smith, 'Understanding the Nature and Scope of the Right to Science through the Travaux Préparatoires of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights', The International Journal of Human Rights 24, no. 8 (2020): 8.76 Article 22 UDHR reads: 'Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.'77 Johannes Morsink, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting and Intent (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 212.78 See Laurence R. Helfer and Graeme W. Austin, Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping the Global Interface (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 144. – We flesh out this line of thinking in more detail in Porsdam, Science as a Cultural Human Right.79 Anna-Maria Hubert, 'The Human Right to Science and Its Relationship to International Environmental Law', The European Journal of International Law 31, no. 2 (2020): 626–7.80 Cf. the reports by UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHelle PorsdamHelle Porsdam is professor of Law and Humanities and UNESCO Chair in Cultural Rights at the University of Copenhagen.Sebastian Porsdam MannSebastian Porsdam Mann is a DPhil researcher at the University of Oxford.