Introduction

UNESCO promotes international cooperation in natural, social and human sciences in the interests of peace, human rights, and development.  To achieve this, UNESCO acts as an advocate for science, a think tank, a standard setter, and a catalyst for cooperation, dialogue, and innovation through networks and capacity building activities.

“Science has long been recognized as a driver of change. However, the magnitude and complexity of the problems we confront today – from extreme poverty and deepening inequality to environmental degradation and increasing vulnerability to resource scarcity and natural disasters – make the effective mobilization of scientific knowledge more fundamental than ever.”

(Message from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Science Day for Peace and Development, November 10, 2008)

Priorities and Strategic Objectives

The UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy for 2008-13 provides the overarching priorities and strategic programme objectives for the natural, social and human sciences:

• Mobilizing science knowledge and policy for sustainable development

• Leveraging scientific knowledge for the benefit of the environment and the management of natural resources

• Fostering policies and capacity-building in science, technology, and innovation

• Contributing to disaster preparedness and mitigation

• Addressing emerging social and ethical challenges

• Promoting principles, practices, and ethical norms relevant for scientific and technological development

• Enhancing research-policy linkages on social transformation

• Fostering research on critical emerging ethical and social issues

Major Activity Areas

Key themes for UNESCO’s work in science include collaboration, strengthening national capacities, and interdisciplinary approaches – whether working with climate change, science education, urban issues, developing countries especially Africa, gender equality, the eradication of poverty, or sustainable development  Within this framework, the activities of the science sector address such concrete issues as:

• Science and technology policy

• Sustainable development

• Local and indigenous knowledge

• Ethics

• Human Rights

• Water sciences

• Ecological sciences

• Ocean sciences

• Earth sciences

• Basic sciences

• Renewable energy

• Natural disaster reduction

• Social Transformations – with a focus on improving the linkage between research and policy making in five major areas:

• Democracy

• International migration and multiculturalism

• Physical education and sport

• Urban development

• Acting with and for youth

Some of the major programs, initiatives, and legal instruments include:

• International Hydrological Programme

• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee

• Man and the Biosphere Programme

• International Geosciences Programme

• World Water Assessment Programme

• the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights

• the International Convention against Doping in Sports

• the international conventions and instruments related to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a special emphasis on gender equality.

Activities in Canada

The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and Canadians have been actively involved with the exact, natural, social and human science sectors of UNESCO, through working with UNESCO on select international and intergovernmental commissions and committees and through projects within Canada. Some examples include:

• UNESCO World Biospheres in Canada – There are now 15 Biospheres Reserves in Canada, with two new ones and one major expansion added in 2007

• Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination - With a growing number of municipalities signing on as members of the Coalition, the Commission continues to promote the Call for a Coalition.

• UNESCO Seventh Consultation of Member States on the Implementation of the Convention and Recommendation against Discrimination in Education - Working with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, the Commission gathered information on the policies, practices, research, and resources of the 13 educational jurisdictions, the federal government, and civil society organizations for this 2007 report.

• Canadian Commission for UNESCO - Science for Peace and Development Award for an outstanding project presented at the annual Canada-Wide Science Fair addressing the contribution of science to peace and development.

international L'Oréal-UNESCO "For Women in Science" program

The world needs science...Science needs women.

The international L'Oréal-UNESCO "For Women in Science" program was launched in Paris in 1998, with the aim of improving the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers and young women scientists engaged in promising projects.

International bursaries include L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards (monetary value of US $100,000 each, recognizing laureates for their career achievements) and International Fellowships (monetary value of $40,000 each). Fellows must be enrolled in research at the doctoral or postdoctoral level and pursuing part of their scientific endeavours in an academic institution or laboratory abroad.

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In Canada, the L’Oréal UNESCO For Women in Science Mentor Fellowships (valued at $5,000) were launched in 2003 to reward young scientists at the doctoral level and to encourage them to continue their studies. The fellows participate in the Actua Girls Mentorship Program where they share their experiences and their passion for science with young girls aged 6 to 17 through summer camps, workshops and clubs. Since the beginning of the program, over 250 mentors have been involved in mentoring sessions and almost 5000 girls across Canada have benefited from these experiences.

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In 2006, the success of the mentoring program led to the creation of the L’Oréal Canada For Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowships, with the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. These fellowships (valued at $20,000 each) support major research projects by women scientists at the postdoctoral level. Their goal is to reward excellence and enable Canadian women scientists to pursue and expand their research projects. The Fellows are selected by a panel of judges with acknowledged expertise in their field and alternate each year between life sciences and engineering/pure and applied sciences.

UNESCO and L'Oréal have also launched an online forum called AGORA to highlight and support women's contributions towards scientific progress, focusing on topics such as science education for girls and women, women of science and sustainable development, bioethics and diversity. http://www.agora.forwomeninscience.com