View this email in your browser

Year 2025 – Vol. 37 – N.3

Science diplomacy tackles complex challenges

EDITORIAL

Celebrating Science, Supporting the Future

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, TWAS President 

We are looking forward to welcoming many of you in a few days in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 17th TWAS General Conference. We gather in person at a very sobering and unprecedented time as a global community and as an Academy celebrating its 40th anniversary. This is an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come, and to look ahead with renewed purpose on how science can serve humanity and bring hope through science that unites rather than divides.

A call to advocate for science internationally

The 12th AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy opened recently with welcoming words from the organizers and words of encouragement from the event’s keynote speaker to advocate for science to policymakers at all levels. For the course, TWAS and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) brought together 10 pairs of scientists and policymakers from 10 countries, including Bolivia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, in Trieste, Italy. The course receives key financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Lighting the path through professional experience

In today’s complex world, solving global challenges often demands more than scientific expertise. Through policy engagement and international collaboration, science diplomacy plays a growing role. Faith Kandie, a water quality researcher at Moi University in Kenya, explored these approaches during the 12th AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy, held in Trieste, Italy, from 21 to 24 July 2025. The course was launched in 2014 with key funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Opening new frontiers with science diplomacy

Strategies to contain the risks and mitigate damages in countries affected by climate change need the cooperation, in particular, of policymakers and scientists. This is where science diplomacy can play a role. The 12th AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy, held in Trieste, Italy, and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) served as a source of inspiration for Bolivian biotechnologist Natalia Montellano Duran, and Mayra Ingrid Zalles Trigo, a member of the national parliament of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

TWAS in action

Luiz Davidovich receives TWAS Apex Award on quantum science

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the TWAS Apex Award, one of the most prestigious honours bestowed upon scientists from the developing world. Luiz Davidovich, a quantum physicist and emeritus professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, has been named the recipient of the 2025 TWAS Apex Award, which recognizes his advances and leadership in the field, and includes a monetary prize of USD 100,000.

What are TWAS General Conferences?

Roughly every two years, TWAS organizes a showcase for scientific excellence in the developing world called a TWAS General Conference. These events are deeply international and convene a wide range of participants, including TWAS Fellows, who are some of the global South’s most elite scientists.

TWAS’s 40th Anniversary: Accomplishments and New Challenges

Reflections from Ronald Léger, former programme director for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and one of the earliest advocates for TWAS.

UNESCO-TWAS and Conrado Wessel Foundation Launch International Photo-Essay Award

A new global initiative uses photography to spotlight science in the global South. TWAS and the Conrado Wessel Foundation have joined forces to launch a pioneering international science photography award: Through Southern Lenses: Science in Focus. This groundbreaking initiative aims to celebrate scientific excellence in the developing world through the lens of photography.

Engaging the next generation on the digital future

TWAS President Quarraisha Abdool Karim delivered two major addresses at the 5th International Forum on Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (FBAS 2025), in Beijing, China, which took place from 6–8 September. The forum promotes global collaboration in leveraging big data for sustainable development. There, participants share experiences and practices in applying digital technologies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), jointly develop a technological blueprint for driving sustainability through digital innovation, and seek to accelerate progress toward the SDGs over the next five years.

TWAS Annual Report 2024 now available

The 2024 TWAS Annual Report is now available. It includes information about the Academy's impact all over the world, with detailed information about TWAS Programmes and the TWAS network. Download it now and read '2024: Excellence, Innovation and Partnerships for Sustainable Development', the foreword by TWAS President Quarraisha Abdool Karim. 

TWAS Fellow Ratsimbazafy organized international congress about lemurs

Malagasy primatologist Jonah Ratsimbazafy, president of the International Primatological Society (2020) and a TWAS Fellow since 2021, is a leading advocate for the protection and conservation of lemurs. His efforts have been instrumental in elevating Madagascar’s role in global primatology. By organizing the 30th International Primatological Society Congress (IPSC) on 20–25 July, he helped catalyse conservation initiatives and placed Madagascar on the international scientific scene.

TWAS introduces its 2024 Young Affiliates

The new class of TWAS Young Affiliates was selected in 2024 and is now listed in the Academy's online Directory. Every year, TWAS — through its five Regional Partners — selects up to 25 scientists under the age of 40 to become Young Affiliates for a period of six years. During this time, they interact with TWAS Fellows, attend TWAS General Meetings and General Conferences as observers, and participate in events organized by the Regional Partners.

TWAS President Quarraisha Abdool Karim is a co-winner of the Virchow Prize for 2025

TWAS President Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, a 2016 TWAS awardee, have been jointly awarded the Virchow Prize 2025, in recognition of their pioneering, lifelong leadership in advancing maternal, newborn, and child health equity through community-centred, evidence-based research, in particular supporting some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Subscribe to receive TWAS Plus

Would you like to receive timely information on major TWAS upcoming events and career-building programmes, in fields such as research, education, science policy and science diplomacy? Subscribe to receive TWAS Plus six times per year. It's free!

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

B. S. Murty appointed head of Indian Institute of Metals

Indian engineer Budaraju Srinivasa Murty, elected to TWAS in 2019 and the current director of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), was named president of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), headquartered in Kolkata, India, for the 2025–26 term. 

Two TWAS Fellows in the new Bangladesh Academy of Sciences executive council

Professor Zahurul Karim and Professor Yearul Kabir, TWAS Fellows from 1998 and 2023 respectively, sit in the newly elected executive council of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS). Karim has been appointed BAS president, while Kabir is the new secretary of BAS.

IN MEMORIAM

Maria Aparecida Soares Ruas (1948–2025)

Maria Aparecida Soares Ruas, a newly elected TWAS Fellow (2025) passed away on 30 June 2025, at the age of 77. She was a professor emerita of mathematics at the Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of San Paulo (USP), Brazil where she served as a professor (1981–2012). She obtained her PhD from USP in 1983, and in her career focused on differential geometry and singularity theory.

Dakhil Hassan Jerew (1942–2025)

Leading Iraqi scientist Dakhil Hassan Jerew, elected to TWAS in 2006, passed away on 20 July 2025. He was the former president of the University of Basrah; University of Technology, Iraq; and Iraqi Academy of Sciences. Under his tenure, the institutions witnessed significant development in their infrastructure and academic programmes.

Support TWAS

A donation contributes to the advancement of science,
engineering, and technology in developing nations.

The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) works to support sustainable prosperity through research, education, policy and diplomacy.

TWAS was founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the global South and global North, under the leadership of Abdus Salam, the Pakistani physicist and Nobel laureate. As of January 2025, TWAS had 1,444 elected Fellows representing over 112 countries; 13 of them are Nobel laureates. It is based in Trieste, Italy, on the campus of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).  

Through four decades, the Academy’s mission has remained consistent, namely to:

• Recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the developing world
• Respond to the needs of young scientists in countries that are lagging in science and technology
• Promote South-South and South-North cooperation in science, technology and innovation, and
• Encourage scientific and engineering research and sharing of experiences in solving major problems facing developing countries.

With its partners, TWAS has graduated over 1,230 PhDs and awarded more than 2,300 postdoctoral fellowships to developing world scientists. The Academy also bestowed over 1,200 prizes, awarded over 2,800 research grants, trained over 750 individuals in science diplomacy, and supported over 1,400 exchange visits.

TWAS hosts and works in association with two organizations, also hosted on the ICTP campus: the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).

At its founding in 1989, OWSD was the first international forum uniting women scientists from the developing and developed worlds. Today, the organization has more than 10,800 members. Their objective is to strengthen the role of women in the development process and promote their representation in scientific and technological leadership.

IAP represents 150 national and regional science and medical academies worldwide. It provides high-quality analysis and advice on science, health and development to national and international policymakers and the public; supports programmes on scientific capacity-building, education and communication; leads efforts to expand international science cooperation; and promotes the  involvement of women and young scientists in all its activities.

TWAS, a programme unit of UNESCO , receives its core funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

TWAS NEWSLETTER
Produced quarterly by The World Academy of Sciences
for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS)

Strada Costiera 11, 34151, Trieste, Italy
e-mail: info@twas.org | website: www.twas.org 
 
TWAS Council: https://twas.org/council 
TWAS Executive Director: Marcelo Knobel
TWAS Public Information Unit: https://twas.org/press-room

Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2025 The World Academy of Sciences