S4D4C implemented in-person as well as online, synchronous as well as asynchronous training activities.
We set out to strengthen the capacities for science diplomacy by providing information, training, networking and community-building opportunities and also aimed to support mutual understanding between stakeholders. Europe’s ambitions for better-integrated research have become increasingly intertwined with the priorities of the international community. So far, only a limited number of training opportunities are available. Our aim was to widen the range of training in order to give more diplomats as well as scientists the possibility to develop their understanding and skills in Science Diplomacy. We made an explicit effort to develop and present sustainable results that go beyond one-off activities and are open for others to re-use.
In this section we provide an overview of the S4D4C training offers and how you can use them after the end of the project.
1. S4D4C Training Materials
Link: https://www.s4d4c.eu/training-material
It is S4D4C ambition to help to build and support the European Science Diplomacy community by providing it with relevant knowledge and skills. To do so, S4D4C has been developing a number of capacity development activities, distributed with an open-source license (mostly CC-BY, only in few cases CC-BY-NC, which limits reuse to non-commercial activities). We make more than 20 training materials available and guidelines on how to use them (many of them were used by trainers in the two S4D4C training workshops in 2019 in Trieste and and Vienna, see below but also from other occasions such as the S4D4C’s networking meetings in Madrid and Berlin and the online course). The materials offered enable any interested party to enhance their own science diplomacy seminars, suited to their audience and needs.
Image by Tim Gouw
2. S4D4C Online Course on Science Diplomacy
Link: https://www.s4d4c.eu/european-science-diplomacy-online-course/
The S4D4C online course on Science Diplomacy was designed and launched in 2020 and remains available until after the end of the project. (FYI: We are committed to maintaining the course online until March 2025 under the umbrella of the European Union Science Diplomacy Alliance).
The course is the results of many months of work of researchers and practitioners and enables students to dive deeper into the world of European science diplomacy. It is free of charge for the trainees. Current and future science diplomats are all invited to participate in the course.
In learning six modules giving answers to the following questions:
- What Is Science Diplomacy? This module sets the context of the state of the art in Science Diplomacy, conceptual approaches, nature of professionals involved, etc.
- Who Are the Science Diplomacy Stakeholders? Here you will find a brief description of different stakeholders and networks in Science Diplomacy.
- How Does the European Union Practice Science Diplomacy? The focus of this part of the online course is on the current state of Science Diplomacy within the European Union (EU), on understanding the political structure of the EU as well as the EU science and innovation system and lastly the science diplomacy ecosystem
- Which National, Regional, and Thematic Approaches of Science Diplomacy Exist? This module gives an overview of different science diplomacy strategies across countries, regions, or topics of interest around the world
- What Set of Skills Do I Need to Be a Good Science Diplomat? This module helps you reflect on your own skills and which you need to promote, improve, or train to be a science diplomat.
- What are the Outcomes of Science Diplomacy Cases? This module gives you practical insights into selected case studies and summarises the main findings of the empirical analysis undertaken by S4D4C.
All modules start with an introductory lesson with the learning objectives and preliminary experts’ insights and finish with a lesson including brainstorming questions and a quiz. The course includes two additional modules providing technical guidance through the course (the first part) and additional material (the last part).
Trainees who successfully go through all these modules receive an S4D4C certificate after finishing the online course.
3. S4D4C Toolkit for Trainers
Link: Teaching_Science_Diplomacy_
The toolkit is divided into five key parts:
Part 1: Training Curriculum offers recommendations on the topics (including subtopics, sources and training materials) to be considered for SD training activities.
Part 2: Training Formats provides guidance on how to set concrete learning objectives and how to choose the most suitable format for the training.
Part 3: In-person Training,
Part 4: Online Courses and
Part 5: Online Workshops
Each part is then broken down into the following three key phases:
Phase I: Planning and Organizing contains guidance for trainers including estimated timeframes for each phase.
Phase II: Design, Development and Delivery lists tips on how to design and how to communicate it. It also refers to tools that strengthen the interaction between the trainees.
Phase III: Evaluation outlines methods for organising reviews and gathering feedback to improve future training activities.+
The report is available for download here.
4. S4D4C Science Diplomacy Training Workshops
Links:
| Trieste Workshop “Science meets diplomacy: a new European perspective” |
Vienna Workshop “Science Diplomacy Dynamics – Opening Science! Opening Diplomacy” |
S4D4C organised two workshops on science diplomacy in 2019: (1) at The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in Trieste from 21-23 October 2019 and (2) at the Diplomatische Akademie Wien – Vienna School of International Studies (DA) in Vienna from 25-27 November 2019. The S4D4C consortium prepared two different programmes designed with a slightly different target group in mind: the workshop at TWAS (Trieste) was anticipated to have a higher ratio of scientists while the one at DA (Vienna) was directed to a more diplomatic audience.
The goal of both workshops was to provide participants with the opportunity to understand the state-of-the-art of science diplomacy in Europe, provide them with the necessary skills to work in science diplomacy, as well as showcase some examples e.g. through panel discussions and research-based case studies developed by the consortium. The workshops were designed to be interactive, present different types of sessions, and provide participants with time and opportunity to network and exchange work-related experiences. Some of the materials developed for these courses are made available open-source (see above) and the consortium also prepared a deliverable report which outlines the different steps from the definition of the target group, the launch and promotion of the call, selection of participants, the execution of the workshops and evaluation results. The report concludes with a set of recommendations and lessons learnt as well as a generic workshop agenda – it is available here: D5.6 Feedback training report.
5. S4D4C Open Doors Programme
Link: https://www.s4d4c.eu/open-doors-programme; https://www.s4d4c.eu/s4d4c-open-doors-toolkit/
Already Mid-October 2018, the S4D4C project launched its ‘Open Doors Programme’ in order to train highly motivated scientists in science diplomacy. This competitive scheme gave five grantees the opportunity to engage with different diplomacy stakeholders across Europe and gain hands-on experience, taking part in a ‘learning by doing’ training programme in science diplomacy.
The grantees took part in several meetings held by S4D4C and had the opportunity to visit several institutions (e.g. Spanish embassies in London and Brussels, the European Space Agency) and events (e.g. the final conference of another topical European project, EL-CSID and a science advice workshop in the UK Parliamentary). The experience was also summarised in a toolkit available for download S4D4C_D5.9_open doors report_revised. In this report, we describe the setting up knowledge exchange experiences in policy and/or diplomacy for researchers by building on our own experience, the experience of trainees and host organisations. Furthermore, we describe some programmes outside of S4D4C for further inspiration.