Uganda, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST)

The Uganda National Council for Science and Technology has been a member since 1995.

The Uganda National Council for Science and Technology was established in 1990 for the purpose of inter alia advising on and coordinating the formulation of national policy on all fields of science and technology, and for assisting in the promotion and development of indigenous science and technology. It establishes institutions for and carries out scientific and technological research and development, and it desseminates R&D findings. The Council cooperates closely with other organizations involved in scientific and technological activities.

A brief history

The International Science Council (ISC) was created in 2018 from a merger of the International Council for Science (founded in 1931) and the International Social Science Council (founded in 1952).
At their joint General Assembly in Taipei in October 2017, the members of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) took a decision to merge the two organizations to become the International Science Council (ISC).
More information

Over the years, ICSU addressed specific global issues through the creation of Interdisciplinary Bodies, and of Joint Initiatives in partnership with other organizations. Important programmes of the past include the International Polar Year (2007-08), International Geophysical Year (1957-58) and the International Biological Programme (1964-74). Major current programmes include the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), DIVERSITAS: An International Programme of Biodiversity Science and the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).

In 1992, ICSU was invited to act as principal scientific adviser to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro and, again in 2002, to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. Prior to UNCED, ICSU organized an International Conference on an Agenda of Science for Environment and Development into the 21st Century (ASCEND 21) in Vienna, in 1991, and ten years later, ICSU mobilized the scientific community even more broadly by organizing, with the help of other organizations, a Scientific Forum in parallel to the WSSD itself. ICSU also actively participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005.

Overview

The Council convenes the scientific expertise and resources needed to lead on catalysing, incubating and coordinating impactful international action on issues of major scientific and public importance. The Council’s Action Plan forms a practical framework for the ISC’s work until the end of 2024, and to work towards our vision of science as a global public good.

The Council’s activities focus on three principal areas of work.

Science-for-policy to stimulate and support international scientific research and scholarship, and to communicate science that is relevant to international policy issues.
Policy-for-science to promote developments that enable science to contribute more effectively to major issues in the international public domain.
Scientific freedom and responsibility to defend the free and responsible practice of science.
With a broad range of co-sponsored international research programmes, networks and committees, the Council’s activities span a broad range of issues, from global sustainability, poverty, urban health and wellbeing and disaster risk reduction, to data, observing systems and science advice to governments.