About this Research Topic

Background

With humanity facing challenges such as a global emergency, science and technology have become crucial tools for tackling them. Addressing such grand problems requires the coordinated efforts of researchers, diplomats, and policy makers, giving rise to the emerging field of Science Diplomacy (SD). Bridging science with international relations, SD has been defined as “all practices in which actions of researchers and diplomats interact”. As globalization is causing traditional geographic and geopolitical boundaries to reconfigure, international interactions occur faster and more comprehensively than ever. In addition, the transnational nature of complex problems requires intense international dialogues that involve actors from different countries and regions. In this context, the international role of science is more evident than ever, particularly in respect to the 2030 sustainable development agenda. In times of critical global challenges, such as climate change and pandemics, science diplomacy could play a crucial role. This is because the creation of synergies goes beyond the institutions that sign treaties and agreements, involving other actors such as the scientific community, the private and public sectors, and multilateral organizations.

Countries located in Europe and North America have made progress discussing the content of SD, however, the voices of scholars from other regions are needed for developing an inclusive and holistic approach. Latin America, a region in which societies face different moments in their development stage, is particularly vulnerable when trying to participate in the global economic growth paradigm that is based on scientific and technological advances. Challenges experienced by Latin American societies include heterogeneity, diversity, multi-ethnicity, and inequality. Although, these issues might be present in other societies from Europe, North America, Africa among others, regional specificities are important to be taken into account for the nearly 600 million people that inhabit Latin America sharing common cultural, linguistic, historical, and religious backgrounds.

This Research Topic aims to showcase discussions on Science Diplomacy and Sustainable Development from Latin American countries in order to highlight their particular challenges as heterogeneous, diverse, multi-ethnic, and unequal societies. It addresses the need for science to be internationally discussed as actors from different countries and regions engage in collaborative efforts towards shared objectives in seeking sustainable development from the perspective of Latin America. The goal is to encourage knowledge production in response to the discussions and challenges that humanity is facing while working towards the 2030 sustainable development agenda. By bringing these to the fore this Research Topic seeks to balance studies that have, so far, been emerging from and concentrating on the European and North American regions.
The inclusion of any Latin American country within bilateral or multilateral relations is required, but the consideration of Latin America as a regional block is also accepted. We invite manuscripts in relation to science diplomacy and sustainable development in the following subtopics:

• interdependence, complexity, and political challenges
• governance of science and technology
• economics of development
• budgets and the sustainable development agenda 2030
• science and technology policy
• international relations and new global scientific paradigms
• communication of science in Latin America.

Keywords: Science Diplomacy, Latin America, Sustainable Development, Scientific International Cooperation, science and technology policy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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