World Science Forum 2024 opens: Leading figures from international science meet in Budapest
The main topic of the conference, organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, is the relationship between science and policy-making in times of global transformation.
Budapest, November 20, 2024 – The 11th World Science Forum was officially opened this evening with a welcome speech by President Tamás Sulyok and welcoming remarks by Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. At the conference, which is considered one of the most prestigious events in global science diplomacy, leading figures from international science will discuss the cooperation between science, politics and society in Budapest.
The WSF series is the result of a long-term partnership of the most influential international scientific organizations committed to promoting dialogue between science and society, which attracts high-level representatives of science from well over a hundred countries every two years – every second time in Budapest.
“It is a serious danger for all of us if we give in to efforts that seek to undermine trust in science. Science is not infallible, but it has no alternative in terms of objectivity or the self-correction mechanism built into the scientific method,” said Professor Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, host and main organizer of WSF2024, in his welcoming speech. “The uncontrolled spread of misinformation, pseudoscience and opinions considered equal to facts urgently requires a new alliance based on shared responsibility and trust between policymakers, science and society.”
“One of the most significant areas of the relationship between academia and politics is scientific advice, which is the topic of this forum,” said President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok in his opening remarks. “The quality of this relationship plays a decisive role in how the forces of political decision-making power and academia can come together. The two sides may approach certain issues differently, may set different priorities. Obviously, this is also because they approach certain topics from different perspectives, think in different time frames, and have different priorities. But this does not change the fact that the responsibility is shared. We are responsible for human civilization. We are responsible for our environment. We are responsible for our children and grandchildren. We are responsible for the decisions we make.”
This was followed by opening remarks by Xing Qu, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council (ISC), and Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
This year’s World Science Forum is jointly organized by UNESCO, ISC, AAAS, the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC), the Global Young Academy (GYA), and hosted by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The conference will bring together more than 1,100 participants from 122 countries, including leaders and representatives of scientific organizations, policy experts, prominent scientists and researchers, and this year’s main theme will be the relationship between science and policy in times of global transformation. Participants will discuss how to promote the stronger application of science in policy measures around the world.
In the 19 plenary and thematic sessions of WSF2024, representatives of numerous international scientific organizations, national academies, research networks and prominent scientists will speak over three days, in a total of nearly one hundred presentations - including representatives of the African, American, Brazilian, Indian and Chinese academies of science, government decision-makers from all over the world, representatives of Science Europe, the European science funding organization, the OECD's Director of Science, Technology and Innovation, the White House Deputy Director for Science and Technology Policy, the US State Department's Chief Science and Technology Advisor and many other prominent scientists and researchers.