The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) is a global network consisting of over 140
national
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
and regional member
academies of science
An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...
,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, and
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
. It was founded in 1993 as the InterAcademy Panel (IAP). In 2000, the IAP founded the ''InterAcademy Council'' (IAC) and the ''InterAcademy Medical Panel'' (IAMP). The partnership was established in 2016 when it merged the three inter-related networks into IAP for Health (formerly ''IAMP''), IAP for Science (formerly IAP), and IAP for Policy (formerly IAC).
The mission of IAP is for the world's merit-based academies to play a vital role in ensuring that science serves society inclusively and equitably and underpins global sustainable development by advising the public on the
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
science education
Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...
,
biosecurity
Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, thes ...
,
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
,
science communication
Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...
,
women in science
The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments ...
, human
population growth
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
,
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. IAP has also advanced
science diplomacy
Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and to build constructive international partnerships. Science diplomacy is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a n ...
by bringing regional networks together to address global problems.
Governance
The highest decisive body of IAP is the
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...
, which meets every third year, and where each member organization has one vote on organizational decisions. At these meetings, member academies elect new leadership, approve new members, report on organizational activities over the last triennial period, and approve a
strategic plan
Strategic planning is an organization's business process, process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decision making, decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals.
It may also extend to control mechanisms for gu ...
for the next three years.
In between the meetings, the work is directed by three executive committees, one for each pillar of the Partnership (or in the case of IAP Policy, a board), supported by a
secretariat
Secretariat may refer to:
* Secretariat (administrative office)
* Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...
from a host academy. Each executive committee/board convenes annually, with two co-chairs presiding. One of the co-chairs shall be nominated by an academy in a low or middle income country (LMIC); the other shall be nominated by a high income country (HIC). Similar rules of diversity in economic development hold for the executive committee member academies in order to represent a global view. The number of member academies composing the executive committee varies: 11 member academies in IAP for Science, 9 member academies in IAP for Health, and 15 member academies in IAP for Policy.
A Steering Committee composed of the six executive committee/board co-chairs guides the InterAcademy Partnership. From these six Steering Committee members, two are selected to act as co-Presidents. The current co-Presidents are Richard Catlow (UK) and Depei Liu (China). A Board includes the Steering Committee along with one representative from each of four regional networks of academies: in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
, the Asia/Pacific region, and Europe, for a total of ten representatives.
Margaret Hamburg
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Hamburg (born July 12, 1955, Chicago, Illinois) is an American physician and public health administrator, who is serving as the chair of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and co-chair ...
, US. IAP-Health, 2016–present
* Krishan Lal, India. IAP-Science, 2016–present
*Liu Depei, China. IAP-Health, 2016–present
* Richard Catlow, UK. IAP-Policy, 2016–present
*Volker ter Meulen, Germany. IAP-Science, 2013–2019
*
Detlev Ganten
Detlev Ganten (born 1941) is a specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine and is one of the leading scientists in the field of hypertension. He founded the World Health Summit in 2009. He was Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Chari ...
, Germany. IAP-Health, 2013–2019
* Daya Reddy, South Africa. IAP-Policy, 2012–2019
* Mohammed H.A. Hassan, Sudan. IAP-Science, 2010–2016
*Lai Meng Loi, Malaysia. IAP-Health, 2010–2016
*
Jo Ivey Boufford
Jo Ivey Boufford is an American physician and Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, as well as a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the NYU Medical School.
Education
Boufford attended Wellesley ...
, US. IAP-Health, 2010–2013
*
Robbert Dijkgraaf
Robertus Henricus "Robbert" Dijkgraaf FRSE (Dutch: born 24 January 1960) is a Dutch theoretical physicist, mathematician and string theorist, and the current Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands. From July 2012 unti ...
Howard Alper
Howard Alper, (born October 17, 1941) is a Canadian chemist. He is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. He is best known for his research of catalysis in chemistry.
Career and research
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he received a Ba ...
Chen Zhu
Chen Zhu (; born August 17, 1953) is a Chinese hematologist, molecular biologist, and politician. He is a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and President of the Red Cross Society of China. He was also the c ...
, China. IAP-Science, 2003–2010
*Guy de Thé, France. IAP-Health, 2000–2010
*
Bruce Alberts
Bruce Michael Alberts (born April 14, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American biochemist and the Chancellor’s Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science and Education, Emeritus at the University of California, San Francis ...
, US. IAP-Policy, 2000–2008
*
Goverdhan Mehta
Goverdhan Mehta FNA, FASc, FTWAS, FRS, FRSC (born 26 June 1943) is an Indian researcher and scientist.
Career
Mehta received his BSc and MSc from the BITS Pilani and PhD from Pune University. His post-doctoral research was at the Mich ...
, India. IAP-Policy, 2000–2008
* Yves Quéré, France. IAP-Science, 2000–2007
*David Challoner, US. IAP-Health, 2000–2006
* Eduardo Krieger, Brazil. IAP-Science, until 2003
IAP reports
IAP publishes reports and recommendations that utilize the expertise of member academies to address issues of interest to the global
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
and policy communities. IAP reports are not endorsed by academy members, but instead must have the consensus of an expert committee and undergo a rigorous
peer review
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
IAP also promotes its goals through "statements on issues of fundamental importance to humanity." Statements present the combined consensus of the world's academies to provide independent,
evidence-based
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. While seemingly obviously desirable, the proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to indivi ...
advice and recommendations to policymakers in governments, international organizations, or academies themselves. Often an IAP statement can be used to globalise an issue on which a
national academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...
or regional network of academies has already done a significant amount of work.
An IAP statement is developed following a specific procedure and released only when the
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster p. 4. Thus, the statements are intended to represent the consensus of the
scientific community
The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
regenerative medicine
Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...
technologies – also when it comes to the proposed use of stem cells to tackle
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
health by stopping habitat destruction and the spread of environmental contaminants, fighting
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
regulatory authorities
A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulatin ...
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
(CO2) caused by human activities, and that it probably will rise further with severe effects on
marine ecosystem
Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surf ...
s if the emission of CO2 does not decrease considerably. They urge the issue be recognized among the problems addressed by the
United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
.
#IAP statement on the teaching of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
biosecurity
Biosecurity refers to measures aimed at preventing the introduction and/or spread of harmful organisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria, etc.) to animals and plants in order to minimize the risk of transmission of infectious disease. In agriculture, thes ...
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
capacity building
Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...
human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...
, 2003 signed by 67 members The academies support "a worldwide ban on the reproductive cloning of human beings", but at the same time call for "cloning to obtain
embryonic stem cells
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre- implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they co ...
for both research and therapeutic purposes to be excluded from this ban".
#IAP statement on transition to
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
. They state that this in itself is not necessarily a bad development, but that it may have rather negative effects, if appropriate measures are not taken in order to ensure the new city dwellers e.g. access to water and adequate housing. Therefore, active city planning is necessary, and so is further research on urbanization.
# IAP statement on population growth, proposed 1993, ratified 1994 signed by 58 members The academies state that "the world is undergoing an unprecedented population expansion", and that it is necessary to stop it. They noted that the amount of food produced (both on land and sea) per person was decreasing, and stated that many
environmental problems
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...
were aggravated by the
population expansion
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
. The academies state that we must reach "zero population growth within the lifetime of our children". They enumerate means which should be taken to achieve this, and also to counteract the effects of the population growth on environment and food production, inter alia. This includes furthering equal opportunities for women, easy access to cheap and safe
contraceptives
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
, broad primary health care, governmental policies recognizing longer-term environmental responsibilities, and increased research on cultural, religious, and other factors, which "affect reproductive behavior".
Role in reviewing the IPCC process
In 2010, the council board recommended changes in the
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
, such as having an executive committee with "individuals from outside the IPCC or even outside the
climate science
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stud ...
community."InterAcademy Council Report Recommends Fundamental Reform of IPCC Management Structure /ref>
Major changes from then within the IPCC approach include a stronger focus on the treatment of uncertainty (since the IAC 2010 IPCC review) and the involvement of risk management deliberations (based on fundamental conclusions in the AR4 Synthesis Report).
See also
*
International Council for Science
The International Council for Science (ICSU, after its former name, International Council of Scientific Unions) was an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the advancement of science. Its members ...
Network of African Science Academies The Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) was formed in December 2001 as an independent forum for African science academies to discuss scientific issues of common concern.
Member academies are:
* African Academy of Sciences
* Cameroon Academ ...