WAAS aims to develop novel ways of communication and cooperation between scientists, artists, policy-makers and all other science and art stakeholders The World Conference on Science and Art for Sustainability, to be held on September 22–24, 2025 in Belgrade, Serbia, will be the second conference within the EHC-WAAS Program and a flagship event within the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD). The aims of this Conference are to listen to prominent individuals acting in different science and art disciplines and coming from different parts of the world, to induce fruitful interactions among them, and to deduce from all that some concrete conclusions on the contributions of science and art to sustainable, secure, and peaceful development to be presented to the interested policy-makers and other science and art stakeholders at the local, national, regional, and global scales. Pathways towards regeneration and sustainability The integral goal of IDSSD is to significantly contribute to tracing the pathways towards regeneration and sustainability of nature and society as well as human security and peace. This should be done following eight Human Security Dimensions (HSDs), specified by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in January 1994 and September 2022, and 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), defined by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. These dimensions and goals are related to the existential problems and challenges facing the Earth and humanity today, which are: depletion of natural resources; climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss; intercultural conflicts, forced migrations, and wars; human inequality and inequity. Today, it is clear that these problems have complex and multiple disciplinary character while the efforts of scientific communities worldwide are mostly limited to separated disciplines. In addition, the problems are interdependent and can mutually reinforce each other. Therefore, a systemic and multiple disciplinary approach in looking for and finding their solutions is necessary. However, the current state of affairs is such that serious concerns about the ability of humankind to carry out the SDGs and HSDs by 2030, аs it was planned, are raised. Within WAAS-EHC Program The Earth-Humanity Coalition was founded with the task to prepare and implement, in close cooperation with UNESCO, various initiatives within the overall IDSSD program. The first of these initiatives was the EHC-WAAS Program of Sciences for Sustainable Development, which had been prepared by WAAS. It currently includes two series of webinars, six world conferences, a number of journal articles and reports, and four platforms in science and technology for cooperation between the Global North and the Global South. The EHC-WAAS Program is based on the conviction that acquiring knowledge along the chain of basic, applied, social, and humanistic disciplines by scientific and technological communities worldwide within the disciplinary boundaries must be supplemented with their transdisciplinary efforts, and that the realization of the resulting agendas must be going on in a well-coordinated way. This endeavor also includes local and national traditional knowledge and its interactions with contemporary science and technology generated knowledge. One of the main aims of the Program is to enable the establishment of a solid foundation for the advancements of innovation, technology, education, agriculture, and industry towards sustainable, secure, and peaceful development at the local, national, regional, and global scales. Besides, in the Program, relations between science and art are underlined, as between two distinct but complementary methods of inquiry about nature, society, and human beings with the same aim – to unravel the sense of the universe and communicate their findings to others. The results of science, being objective, and the results of art, being subjective, should influence and enrich one another, and thus push farther the boundaries of a true and deep understanding of the universe. The EHC-WAAS Program should be applied worldwide, in both the Global North and the Global South, and in their cooperation following the principles of multilateralism, guaranteeing the respect of rights of every country in every domain, and the objective to make the Earth an equitably habitable planet that upholds well-being and justice for all. Novel ways of communication and cooperation It is well known that relationships between scientists and artists on the one side and policy-makers and all other science and art stakeholders in the public and private sectors on the other side are characterized by a lack of respect and trust. Therefore, the EHC-WAAS Program includes a strong request that novel ways of communication and cooperation of the two sides, based on sincere mutual respect and trust, must be developed and nurtured. The aim is to overcome the barriers that prevent these interactions as well as to effectively use the levers that stimulate them. This should lead to the evolution of these communications from the one-sided and market-driven ones to a wide-participatory co-creation of approaches and agendas of science, technology, art, and education driven by the societally relevant problems and challenges. Besides, all three pillars of science and art diplomacy, being science and art for diplomacy, science and art in diplomacy, and diplomacy for science and art, should be continually used. These pillars cover the soft power of science and art to improve relations between countries even where official relations are strained or severed, the ways how science and art achievements help inform diplomatic objectives and foreign policy, and the ability of diplomacy to facilitate cooperation in science and art across borders, respectively. Read the programme of the September 22–24, 2025 conference (PDF file). SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER To stay up to date with our projects and the development of the EHC Read more articles

On Monday, June 16, participants at the SRI 2025 congress in Chicago have the opportunity to engage with the global repository for sustainable development A joint team from the Belmont Forum and The Earth-Humanity Coalition prepared a poster about the global repository for sustainable development project that will be presented Monday, June 16, between 12:05 pm and 1:30 pm (CDT) during the poster session of the SRI 2025 congress. The poster is shown below. Give your feedback! To better serve the sustainability science community a poll using a Google form is proposed, to collect views about how the the repository can meet your needs and any feedback you have on its development. You can access it by flashing the QR code on the poster or by clicking on this link. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER To stay up to date with our projects and the development of the EHC Read more articles

Attendants of the yearly meeting will have the opportunity to engage with a project aimed at the whole sustainability research and innovation community THE SRI 2025 congress will be held 16-19 June 2025 in Chicago, USA, with the title “Shaping a Sustainable Future” The upcoming Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress (SRI2025), set to take place in Chicago from June 16-19, 2025, will feature a poster presentation focused on a critical initiative by The Earth-Humanity Coalition: building a global repository for transdisciplinary research on sustainable development. This project aims to create a vital resource for the scattered community working in this crucial field. The poster will introduce attendants of the congress to a new, dedicated collaborative and equitable repository space being developed within a well-respected, open, and trusted generalist repository committed to long-term data storage and open science, whose name is Zenodo. Zenodo is hosted by CERN. This repository is developed in partnership with the Belmont Forum. Projects funded through its calls will be invited specifically to participate to the co-construction, and also to post their results on the platform. Any kind of digital object The repository is designed to accommodate any kind of digital object, or “artifact,” relevant to transdisciplinarity for sustainable development, including scientific papers, videos, photos, datasets, and audio recordings: it is not limited to just scientific articles. This inclusivity is key to facilitating the use of the platform by non-scientists and providing visibility for actors outside of academia who may lack access to specialized repositories or face barriers to publishing open access in traditional journals. A core aspect of this initiative is its co-constructed approach. The repository will be built collaboratively with users – including scientists, non-scientists, funders, and policymakers – to ensure it meets their needs and challenges. The poster at SRI2025 will serve to present technical aspects and existing use cases of Zenodo, engage participants in this co-construction process, and even initiate the creation of working groups to help implement the community. Ultimately, this global repository seeks to connect the transdisciplinary community focusing on sustainable development, ensure a long-time archive for research artifacts, and accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals. By providing an open platform and promoting the open access publishing of results, it aims to sustain the commons character of all knowledge, in a fair and equitable way, fostering epistemic justice on a global scale. SRI2025 is organized jointly by Future Earth and the Belmont Forum. Luc Allemand SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER To stay up to date with our projects and the development of the EHC Read more articles

The Earth-Humanity Coalition Approves the EHC-S4SF Program of Science and Education for Society and Sustainable Future On April 29, 2025, the EHC Steering Committee officially approved the EHC-S4SF Program of Science and Education for Society as a specific EHC initiative. Science for Sustainable Future (S4SF) is a non-governmental organization established in 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its integral goal is to create a platform for dialogues between present and future science and society leaders, all relevant stakeholders of the international innovation ecosystem, and other interested actors at the international scale to foster scientific awareness and promote science-based decision making for a sustainable future. The Head of the Program is Dr. Barbora Bruant Gulejova, Founder and President of S4SF (more details in this article). The EHC-S4SF Program directly supports two key EHC Working Threads, reflecting how science can serve as a unifying force for sustainability, education, and global cooperation. Youth at STEM for Sustainable Future As part of the EHC Working Thread 6: Promotion of Transdisciplinary Practices in Education, S4SF leads the pioneering and groundbreaking initiative Youth@STEM4SF (Youth at STEM for Sustainable Future), aiming to shape the STEM education at high- and even primary-school level. This innovative program aims to inspire talented girls and boys to pursue STEM-related careers and to cultivate a new generation of future society leaders who are scientifically aware, responsible citizens and decision-makers. Through real-world context, transdisciplinary collaboration, and engagement with experts from research, academia, and industry, students dive in the innovation ecosystem and in the second step – Youth@STEM4SF competition – they become co-creators of new educational resources that link science with societal impact and sustainability. The program has been officially recognized by Swiss educational authorities for its alignment with the new federal education plan and its relevance for transversal competencies, SDG integration, and informed career orientation. In addition, in May 2025, the project has been chosen to be presented at the general assembly of Swiss national conference of gymnasium directors. During the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development, the successful Swiss pilot and proof of concept is planned to be extended to other countries across Europe and beyond. The first pilot beyond Switzerland has been already realised with IUPAP as pre-event of Big Science Business Forum 2024 in Trieste. The video below presents testimonials from teachers, students, scientists and industries. More details about activities 2023-2024 can be found in the article published by Swiss Physical Society. Strategic relevance of this approach of integration of innovation ecosystem actors in shaping the education, is described in the article in the European Physics News. Big Science model for global societal challenges Aligned with EHC Working Thread 4: Development of Sciences for Planetary Reconciliation, the program promotes the Big Science model as a proven paradigm for addressing global societal challenges through peaceful international cooperation and shared research infrastructures. This model – highlighted in an article in European Physics News – emphasizes how scientific collaboration can transcend geopolitical divides and advance sustainability, peace, and security. In parallel, the EHC-S4SF Program is creating a platform for strategic dialogue among current society leaders – scientists, policymakers, industries, and investors – on emerging technologies with societal relevance. A first example of this was the high-level discussion on commercial era of nuclear fusion, co-organized with the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences (SATW) and EPFL in December 2024. The event gathered 14 key players from the global fusion ecosystem to explore how science diplomacy and coordinated strategies can accelerate the commercial and sustainable future of fusion energy; and follow-up discussions and action are on-going. Through these complementary tracks – education and policy dialogue – the EHC-S4SF Program contributes directly to the UN International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033) and supports the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER To stay up to date with our projects and the development of the EHC Read more articles

EHC develops a global repository to revolutionize access to sustainable development research, based on a global open platform The “Transdisciplinarity research for sustainable development” home page on the Zenodo platform is a prototype of EHC Commons A groundbreaking initiative by the Earth-Humanity Coalition is underway to establish a global online repository specifically dedicated to transdisciplinary research for sustainable development : EHC Commons. Leveraging the existing Zenodo platform, this project aims to overcome significant barriers currently faced by researchers and practitioners alike, fostering a more connected and equitable global community working towards sustainable solutions. The proposal outlines a vision for a collaborative, open-access hub for diverse digital artifacts related to this critical field. The core problem the repository seeks to address stems from the nature of transdisciplinary research for sustainable development itself. Unlike traditional academic disciplines, transdisciplinarity usually involves actors from outside academia. This diverse community faces several challenges when it comes to accessing and disseminating knowledge. Exploring and sharing Exploring relevant literature can be difficult. While tools like Google Scholar are free, they lack curation, and curated databases like Web of Science and Scopus are expensive and restricted to subscribers. Moreover, they are primarily covering mainstream English literature. Access to published research is also limited, with only a fraction of academic journals generally accessible. Considering publication, actors from low income countries, and actors outside academia often cannot afford open access publication fees, or lack access to specialized repositories that could provide visibility. This leads to inefficient and scattered research efforts. In response to these challenges, The Earth-Humanity Coalition proposes to develop a global repository based on the open platform Zenodo. This aligns with the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024 – 2033), which aims to transform sciences and societies under the auspices of UNESCO. Zenodo characteristics Operated and enhanced by CERN, Zenodo was launched in 2013 and has grown significantly, serving today 400,000 users from 9,000 organizations in 161 countries. It is the largest general-purpose repository in the world. Zenodo can accommodate any kind of digital object, referred to as an “artifact,” regardless of file format. Crucially, Zenodo is free to search, and data can be curated in dedicated collections. The platform has been funded by various bodies, including initial EU funding, contributions from the National Institute of Health (US), Sloan Foundation, Arcadia Foundation, and CERN is covering operational costs. While material can be access protected when needed, the general idea is to make results available open access. Anyone can submit research artifacts to the platform. This capability directly addresses the identified issues. On one hand, it enables anybody to explore the literature (through free search and curated collections) and access published content (by encouraging open access submissions). On the other hand, publishing results, whether they are written articles, videos, data sheets, slides, etc., is also addressed, as anyone can submit artifacts, and special collections curated by the transdisciplinarity for sustainability community will ensure relevance and quality. Transdisciplinary by construction The proposed repository embodies in itself several key transdisciplinary aspects. Firstly, its fundamental purpose is to be a repository specifically dedicated to data related to transdisciplinarity for sustainable development. Secondly, it will accept any kind of data in digital format, not being limited solely to scientific articles, thus facilitating use by non-scientists. Finally, a co-constructed approach is at the very root of the project: the global shape is defined by Zenodo structure, but the details and the structure of the “Transdisciplinarity for sustainable development” part of Zenodo will be co-constructed with diverse users, including scientists, non-scientists involved in sustainability projects, funders, and policy makers. The project is designed to further equitable solutions for sustainability. It proposes constructing a community where each ‘node’ operates autonomously, adhering to common guidelines defined by a board of moderators. All collected information will be searchable, allowing exploration across all nodes via a specific interface. Being dedicated to sustainability and fully open access, the repository ensures that anyone with an internet connection can post, search, and download content. Furthermore, the platform is envisioned as a network where communities, from local to worldwide, can manage their own data using their own language, concepts, topics, and link them to the global network. This structure aims to facilitate the practice of epistemic justice at a global scale. The initiative seeks to sustain the commons character of all knowledge in a fair and equitable way. Developping plan The plan for building this community and platform involves several stages over multiple years. First, the “Bootstrap” phase will focus on preparing the technical infrastructure on Zenodo, engaging early adopters, establishing editorial boards and policies, identifying next onboarders, and initiating dissemination and communication efforts through various channels. This is being advanced tanks to a memorandum of understanding signed between EHC and the Belmont Forum, and to a presentation at the Sustanability Research and Innovation 2025 congress. Then, the “Scale” phase, involves developing a sustainability plan with diversified future funding sources, building capacity, implementing the scaling and adaptability plans (pilot-to-scale model), fostering community ownership, monitoring and evaluating progress through tracking impact metrics and using data and testimonials to demonstrate demand, onboarding new communities, and continuing dissemination. Following, the “Transition” phase, will review policies and structure, transition to a sustainable phase, and continue dissemination and communication efforts. On the long term, the vision is for EHC to carry the initiative forward, with distributed hosting of artifacts across territories and a common use and search engine in place. A project with an impact The anticipated results and specific impacts of this global repository are significant. First, it will connect the scattered transdisciplinary communities focused on sustainable development, enabling to create wider communities and engaging newcomers in the field, be they professional scientistst, association responsibles or local authorities. The repository is intended to tie this communities closer together. The platform will facilitate the use by non-scientists as it is not limited to scientific articles. Curation of the content, as well as the envisonned production of summaries accessible to all, with the help of artificial

The UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition’s gathering in July 2025 will have a day of sessions open to everybody Phan Thị Kim Phúc, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace, will deliver the Bridging Futures Inaugural Distinguished Public Lecture with the title “From the Terror of War to Reconciliation and Care” The BRIDGES International Programme Office warmly invites everyone to join for a special day of programming on Wednesday, 16 July 2025, as part of the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition’s gathering, at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wales. While the full event spans two days, this invitation is specifically for friends, partners, and wider community to participate in a day of events on the 16th, culminating in the inaugural Bridging Futures Distinguished Public Lecture. Let join for this day of shared learning, cultural exchange, and visionary dialogue. The day offers a rich and inspiring programme designed to highlight the voices, contributions and connections that make BRIDGES such a vibrant global community. Programme Overview Showcase of Contributions from BRIDGES hubs and coalition partners, including innovations, impact stories, and collaborative projects Presentation of UNESCO’s Publication on the social impacts of climate policy High-Level Roundtable featuring global thought leaders in sustainability Cultural Activities & Interactive Sessions, including an address from the Kogi Indigenous Community (Colombia) Strategic Dialogue on shaping BRIDGES 2025–2028 Intergenerational Conversation on co-creating pathways to flourishing futures Keynote Address on building bridges to better futures From the Terror of War to Reconciliation and Care The Inaugural Bridging Futures Distinguished Public Lecture will be given by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and global peace advocate Phan Thị Kim Phúc (Kim). As a child, Kim was the subject of one of the most iconic and haunting photographs of war in the late 20th century, The Terror of War, by Vietnamese-American photographer Nick Ut. The Pulitzer Prize-winning image captured 9-year-old Kim fleeing with her family from a napalm attack on civilians outside a temple in Trang Bàng, Vietnam. Since then, she has devoted her life to peace, reconciliation, and advocacy for victims of war. Her message carries urgency and resonance in today’s troubled world and vital lessons for the future. You can view a short film about the photograph that changed the Vietnam war (note that the film contains very distressing images and may not be suitable for all viewers). The Bridging Futures lecture is co-sponsored by the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition, the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Arizona State University, Julie Ann Wrigley, Global Institute of Sustainability. Lunch and refreshments are included. The Dylan Thomas bar will be open after the lecture until 9pm providing an opportunity for informal dialogue and celebration of our shared work. Places are limited so please RSVP here. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER To stay up to date with our projects and the development of the EHC Read more articles