The Workshop was co-organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), and several other institutions, with generous support from the Pacific Academy of Sciences (PAS). The Workshop, held under the special auspices of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the Beijing International Science and Technology Exchange Center (BISTEC), produced tangible outcomes and charted viable next steps. More than 30 delegates from UN DESA, and governments and institutions of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and the South Pacific Island Countries (SPIC) actively engaged throughout the full Workshop programme.

In alignment with the Pact for the Future’s call to “bridge STI divides” and the recommendations of the 2025 STI Forum, the Workshop emphasized practical applications of Big Earth Data for monitoring and implementing the UN SDGs. Through lectures, seminars, and interactive presentations, participants explored state-of-the-art methodologies for SDG indicator monitoring and evaluation. The Workshop aimed to bridge critical data gaps, while also strengthening technological and institutional capacity in SIDS to adopt digital tools for data management. By absorbing expertise from leading scientists, delegates were better equipped to support the commitments of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), ensuring progress toward climate resilience, sustainable development, and inclusive growth.

The support of the Pacific Academy of Sciences (PAS) was instrumental in ensuring the representation of island nations, particularly from the Pacific region. Three outstanding researchers nominated by PAS under ISDE’s invitation, namely Dr. Sharon Torao Pingi, Lecturer in Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science of the University of Papua New Guinea, Dr. Philemon Yalamu, Lecturer & Deputy Dean (Planning) of the School of Humanities & Social Sciences (SHSS), University of Papua New Guinea, and Mr. Ierome Tupuola, Lecturer Technology at the National University of Samoa, enriched the Workshop discussions with diverse perspectives and solutions.

Dr. Sharon Torao Pingi shared that the Workshop was transformative for her, giving her valuable insights into how geospatial data can be preprocessed and analysed with AI. She was impressed by China’s significant contributions to the UN 2030 Agenda. Invited by ISDE to present and share perspectives in the Special Session on Digital Earth Technologies for Promoting Sustainable Development in SIDS on behalf of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, she hoped to inspire other delegates to explore how they, as individuals, might begin developing solutions to address their own countries’ SDG challenges. She also voiced her wish for greater innovation through Digital Earth technologies and deeper global cooperation.

Dr. Philemon Yalamu highlighted the value of the advanced Big Earth Data framework, particularly the integration of satellite observations, GIS, AI, and advanced computing, along with the open-access, standardized, and interoperable datasets curated by CBAS, which he called vital for informed decision-making. He described the Workshop as wonderful and insightful, and expressed appreciation to ISDE and PAS for the invitation. As a specialist in human computer interaction, he found it especially meaningful to critically look at the UN SDGs as a way to reshape the world today for the future.

Mr. Ierome Tupuola deemed the Workshop as an eye-opening and enriching experience. For him, the most valuable aspect was to learn how SIDS like Samoa can better position themselves in global science networks while also sharing their unique perspectives and challenges. The Digital Earth Special Session, he noted, highlighted practical pathways for integrating science into policy and underscored the value of regional and international partnerships. Stressing the power of collaboration, he remarked, “No nation, big or small, can tackle today’s pressing issues alone.” Returning home, he said he felt motivated to use science as a bridge between nations and cultures.

A highlight of the Workshop was a Special Session on Digital Earth Technologies for Promoting Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South Pacific Island Countries (SPIC) held on September 5. Organized by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) in collaboration with partner institutions, the Session featured keynote presentations and a dynamic panel discussion, fostering stronger international cooperation and practical pathways for applying geospatial technologies to SDG monitoring.

Among the six invited speakers, Dr. Sharon Torao Pingi presented on “Digital Earth & AI for Bridging Data Gaps in Climate Action: A Pacific Case”. She underscored the potential of Digital Earth and AI to serve as shared platforms for tracking SDG progress, even in contexts with weak national systems. During the panel discussion, she further highlighted the importance of responsible stewardship of AI and digital toolkits to bridge data and capacity gaps across SIDS and SPIC.

All participants of the Workshop also attended the 5th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals which was held on 6-8 September in Beijing. At the special session of “Big Earth Data facilitating SDGs for SIDS and African Countries: Challenges and Opportunities”, delegates jointly generated and endorsed an Outcome Statement of the Workshop. Representatives from all three SIDS regions—6 countries from the AIS (African and Indian Ocean SIDS) region, namely Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Seychelles; 2 from the Caribbean SIDS, namely the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; and 3 from the Pacific region, namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa—recognized the value of the Workshop and its collective achievements in the statement. The participants reached a consensus that strengthened efforts are needed in areas such as STI roadmap development, technical training on Big Earth Data tools, satellite data sharing mechanisms, and the adoption of Digital Earth technologies, among other priorities. Such workshops and initiatives are believed to advance the ABAS commitments, support the Pact for the Future, and contribute to the SDGs’ vision of “leaving no one behind”.

Building on the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) adopted at the Fourth International Conference on SIDS in 2024, the workshop placed a strong emphasis on the unique vulnerabilities of island nations, such as geographic isolation, small economies, and high exposure to natural hazards. In the same year, the first Workshop on Capacity Building on Utilizing Big Earth Data for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) was successfully held in Beijing, whose outputs had been featured on the UN DESA website and offered constructive examples for SIDS.

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As part of International Open Access Week 2025, the International Science Council (ISC) invites you to an online session exploring community-led and scholar-driven approaches to scholarly publishing.

This session will showcase non-commercial, open-access platforms that empower researchers and communities to share knowledge equitably and sustainably. The session is ideal for researchers, librarians, policymakers, and anyone interested in alternative publishing models that prioritize community ownership and equitable access to knowledge.

Join the meeting to learn about innovative platforms that are reshaping the future of scholarly communication. The session will conclude with a live Q&A, giving participants the opportunity to engage directly with the presenters and discuss key insights.

Featured Platforms

The session will feature presentations from the following platforms and organizations:

• Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) – SciELO South Africa
• International Society for Porous Media (InterPore) – InterPore Journal
• CLACSO – Institutional publishing project
• Érudit
• The Royal Society – Subscribe to Open (S2O)

Agenda

Times in UTC

Community spotlights

In addition to the platforms featured during the live webinar, several ISC Members and Affiliated Bodies shared inspiring examples of community-led approaches to scientific publishing and dissemination. These initiatives illustrate the diversity of models advancing equitable, open, and sustainable access to knowledge around the world.

IUFRO in-house publication series for forest science

IUFRO World Series: The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) launched a publication series in 1990 to offer IUFRO scientists an opportunity to make their expertise known to a larger public. A total of 45 volumes have been published, many of them interdisciplinary global assessments produced by the Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) initiative under the Science-Policy Programme (SciPol). The IUFRO World Series publications do not require an external peer review procedure but are subject to quality control through an internal review process involving Coordinators of IUFRO Divisions, Task Forces, Programmes or Projects. These publications are freely available on the IUFRO website: IUFRO – Library

IUFRO Occasional Paper Series: The series was initiated in 1994. It covers topics of special relevance at a given point in time and offers rapid dissemination of short publications reflecting IUFRO activities, selected papers presented at international forums, and discussion papers. In 2005 this in-house publication became a purely electronic series, underlining its ambition of providing wider access to IUFRO’s latest scientific contributions to important forest-related issues. Occasional Papers are freely available on the IUFRO website: IUFRO – Library.

ISPRS Proceedings

The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (ISPRS Archives, https://www.isprs.org/publications/archives.aspx) is the series of peer-reviewed proceedings published by the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). Since Volume XXXII-3/W14, 1999, the Archives are open access publications, they are published under the Creative Common Attribution 3.0 (4.0 since June 2017) License, see https://publications.copernicus.org/for_authors/licence_and_copyright.html for details.

The ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences (ISPRS Annals, https://www.isprs.org/publications/annals.aspx) contain selected full paper double-blind peer-reviewed scientific contributions of ISPRS Congresses, Symposia and a number of Conferences and Workshops. The series was newly established in 2012. The Annals are open access publications, they are published under the Creative Common Attribution 3.0 (4.0 since June 2017) License, see https://publications.copernicus.org/for_authors/licence_and_copyright.html for details.

The post Owning Our Knowledge: Non-Commercial Pathways for Open Access Publishing appeared first on International Science Council.

The webinar series brings together experts to share knowledge and discuss innovative approaches for biodiversity monitoring and the importance of having coordinated and standardised data collection and management. The sessions will provide an introduction to each BioEco EOV and their importance for monitoring biodiversity, enabling ecological forecasting, and supporting science, management and decision making.  

This special session will focus on the coral cover and composition and the microbe biomass and diversity, BioEco EOVs. GOOS considers coral cover and composition an Essential Ocean Variable (EOV). This webinar will discuss the Coral EOV, its scientific and social value, and how coordinated monitoring can focus global observing. Coral assemblages require custom technology and management, and research is bridging methodological gaps to integrate data across depth ranges. The webinar will also present exemplars to underscore the impacts of large-scale microbial observations, and what can be achieved with coordinated taxonomic, genomic and functional annotations and analyses of marine microbes.

Photo by Julia Elliot on Unsplash

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In this event, organized by The Australian Academy of Science, two expert speakers will explore the emerging tech reshaping our world.

Professor Dali Kaafar is Executive Director of the Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub. He is also Founder and CEO of Apate.AI, a fraud prevention and intelligence platform which uses cutting-edge AI-powered bots to lure scammers into extended, unproductive exchanges. Intelligence from these calls is then fed back into Australia’s broader anti-scam ecosystem.   

Suneel Randhawa is the Chief of Information Sciences in the Defence Science and Technology Group at the Department of Defence. His expertise is in cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, and AI, and he works to harness Australia’s innovation ecosystem to enhance our defence, intelligence, and national security.

Come along to discover the power of AI, and how we can ensure its use is ethical and transparent while keeping communities safe.

About the speakers

Professor Dali Kaafar, Macquarie University

Professor Dali Kaafar is Executive Director of the Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub, chair of the Cyber Skills Academy, and a Professor of Privacy Preserving Technologies in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. He also leads the NSW Cyber Range Training Centre and contributes to national initiatives on cyber training and workforce development.
Appointed NSW Cyber Ambassador in 2019, he drives national cyber capability uplift through research, training and public engagement.

Professor Kaafar is the Founder and CEO of Apate.AI, a university spin-out combating global phone scams through AI. This fraud prevention and intelligence platform leverages conversational AI to intercept scam phone calls and lure scammers into extended, unproductive exchanges, successfully diverting tens of thousands of scam calls each day in Australia.

Suneel Randhawa, Chief of Information Sciences, Defence Science and Technology Group

Suneel Randhawa is Chief of Information Sciences Division in the Defence Science and Technology Group within the Australian Department of Defence.

Mr Randhawa’s expertise and research interests lie in cybersecurity and cyberwarfare, with an emphasis on the intersection between artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomy. He began his career with Defence Science and Technology Group in 1995, commencing in the Advanced Computer Capabilities group. He received the prestigious Defence Science Fellowship in 2002, facilitating a secondment to SRI International in the USA.

The post AI in science: the promise, perils and path forward – AI and our safety appeared first on International Science Council.

The webinar will feature presentations by two ocean oxygen scientists, one early career and one mid-late career scientist, followed by moderated discussion sessions. Speakers will discuss the latest globally relevant ocean oxygen research in the context of their fields of research and expertise. The series is moderated by GO₂NE working group members and guest experts.

Speakers

• Moderator: Dimitri Gutiérrez, Instituto del Mar del Peru, Peru
• Lander Merma-Mora, Cayetano Heredia University, Peru
  • Coastal oxygen monitoring in the Pacific region: a roadmap to enhance the management of aquatic living resources involving the exposure to coastal deoxygenation
• ­­Kenny Rose, University of Maryland – Center for Environmental Science, USA
  • Translating Deoxygenation Research into Management: An Illustration Using Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract submission

If you are interested in presenting at one of the upcoming webinars, please submit a short abstract here.

Photo by Armand Khoury on Unsplash

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About CODATA

The mission of CODATA is to “Connect data and people to advance science and improve our world”.

As the ‘Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC)’, CODATA supports the ISC’s mission of ‘advancing science as a global public good’ by promoting Open Science and FAIR data. CODATA convenes a global expert community and provides a forum for international consensus building and agreements around a range of data science and data policy issues, from the fundamental physical constants to cross-domain data specifications. CODATA’s membership includes national data committees, scientific academies, International Scientific Unions and other organisations.

About CODATA’s WorldFAIR+

CODATA is expanding and sustaining the vision and methodology of WorldFAIR through the WorldFAIR+ programme. The purpose is to provide practical guidance and technical recommendations to help ensure that the data required for interdisciplinary research are FAIR and have maximum utility.

About CODATA’s CDIF

The Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) is a set of practical, implementation-level principles designed to enhance data management practices within any community and reduce barriers to cross-domain data reuse. CDIF provides standards and methodologies for achieving various levels of interoperability, necessary for reusing data across diverse domains. It is built around five core profiles that address the essential functions for implementing cross-domain FAIR principles.

About AuScope

AuScope is Australia’s provider of research infrastructure to the national geoscience community working on fundamental geoscience questions and grand challenges — climate change, natural resources security and natural hazards. The Australian Government funds us via the Department of Education (NCRIS). You can find our team, tools, data, analytics and services at Geoscience Australia, CSIRO, state and territory geological surveys and universities across the Australian continent.

AuScope, in collaboration with OneGeochemistry, partnered with CODATA in the delivery of the Geochemistry work package in the original Horizon Europe Framework Programme WorldFAIR major project. As one of 11 domain-specific case studies advancing the implementation of the FAIR data principles, it was an action-packed two years that continues with our ongoing commitment to and collaboration in these critical CODATA initiatives, which are progressing FAIR and Open Science.

AuScope’s collaboration with CODATA continues through the ‘Modernising Earth Science Data for High Performance Computing’ project with our Cross-NCRIS partnership with the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), and participation in the “FAIR Principles implementation for DDE” IUGS-funded project.

Speakers

• Rebecca Farrington, AuScope;
• Simon Hodson, CODATA;
• Steve McEachern, UKDS;
• Lesley Wyborn, ANU

Agenda

Photo by Conny Schneider on Unsplash

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The conference will be conducted in Spanish and English only, but other options will be explored for interpretation services using new technologies to enhance the conference experience.

Come share your knowledge and experience, help transform the understanding of the state and trends of biodiversity, and learn how together this work contributes towards conserving the living world.

Speakers

• Dr. Alice Hughes, Professor, Biosciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Dr. Lydia Jennings, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Dartmouth College, USA
• Dr. Sabina Leonelli, Professor, Philosophy and History of Science and Technology, School of Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Germany
• Dr. Rudolf Meier, Professor, Integrative Biodiversity Discovery, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

The programme of the conference can be viewed here.

For get more information on all the sessions of the conference please visit the Living 2025 webpage.

Photo by Faber Leonardo on Unsplash

The post Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) – Living data 2025 appeared first on International Science Council.

In the first of two workshops, the meaning of an integrated curriculum and the different forms it can take will be explored. Three experienced pharmacologists from very different institutions will describe their experiences and highlight what worked well and why, and how they resolved some of the challenges that they faced. They will explain what they wished they knew before they started! Participants will have the opportunity to share their own successes and challenges so that we can crowdsource solutions.

Workshop 1

The 1st workshop will take place on 15 October 2025 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm UTC

Topics and speakers

• Integrated curriculum: what is it and what are the challenges and pitfalls for pharmacology?
  • Prof. Kelly Karpa, East Tennessee State University
• Threading the Needle: Effective Pharmacology Leadership
  • A/Prof. Munder Zagaar, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
  • A/Prof. Carolina Restini, Michigan State University
• Chair: Prof. John Szarek, Geisinger College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Pennsylvania
  

Registration

You can register for the 1st workshop by clicking the register button below:

Workshop 2

Workshop 2 will take place on 18 November 2025 from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm UTC and will follow up from the first workshop and here we will address further the challenges and opportunities through a series of lightning (5 min) presentations. Expressions of interest will be invited to give a 5 min lightning presentation on an aspect of teaching pharmacology in an integrated curriculum. Deadline for submitting expression of interest is 22nd October 2025 (see below for information required).

Topics could include (but are not limited to): Ways of mapping curriculum and communication; assessment; integrating core concepts; sequencing content; reinforcement across the years; tracking retention; integration with clinical years (e.g., vertical integration); use of AI; use of virtual reality; simulation-based learning; supplemental materials/resources used, etc.

Please email the following information to jennifer.koenig@nottingham.ac.uk and janet.mifsud@um.edu.mt by 22nd Oct 2025. The organizing team will review and select presenters within a few days of this deadline.

Expression of Interest for 5 min lightning presentation on an aspect of teaching pharmacology in an integrated curriculum.

• Name:
• Contact email:
• Title: Provide a clear and concise title that reflects a specific aspect of teaching pharmacology in an integrated curriculum.
• Institution/University name and country:
• Abstract: Summarize the talk in 250 words or fewer, it might include: What has worked well and/or what challenges have you overcome? What challenges have you tried to solve but would like further possible solutions for?

Registration

To register for workshop 2 please click the register button below:

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

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The first two days will feature three live stream channels, divided into two time blocks (morning and evening, according to Chilean time). We have considered plenary conferences, panels, individual presentations, and pre-recorded video presentations. The last day we will have time for the SCAR Standing Committee on the Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) and the action groups’ business meeting.

Speakers

• Dr Adrian Howkins, environmental historian of Antarctica, the Arctic, and beyond
• Dr Consuelo León Woppke

You can view the preliminary programme here.

Registration is required for all presenters and general participants in order to access the conference Online Participant Portal and the venue at University of Chile. Registration is free and participants are welcome from across the community.

Photo by Sebastián Silva Solar on Unsplash

The post 2025 SCAR humanities and social sciences conference – Antarctica in times of change appeared first on International Science Council.

Held on the sidelines of InnoWeek 2025 – Uzbekistan’s premier international innovation and technology exhibition – this high-level Consultative meeting brings together regional academies of science and relevant ministries to shape the regional science agenda and discuss the establishment of the International Science Council (ISC) Regional Focal Point for Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

This is a strategic step toward strengthening regional scientific collaboration and integrating Central Asian and Transcaucasian scientific communities more fully into the global science ecosystem.

Invited academies and ministries

• Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan 
• Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovations, Uzbekistan
• Agency of Innovative Development (AID), Uzbekistan
• Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
• National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan
• National Academy of Science of Kyrgyz Republic
• National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan
• Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan
• National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia
• Georgian National Academy of Science
• University of Tehran, Iran
• Bilim Akademisi, Türkiye
• Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA)
• Turkic Academy
• Russian Academy of Sciences

Programme

Photo by Farhodjon Chinberdiev on Unsplash

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