Background
This session will address one of the key mandates of the STI Forum, namely the science-policy interface and demonstrate the value of robust scientific facts and understanding for policy-making and related actions. Evidence-based policy is crucial to solving the interconnected and complex challenges our societies are facing at all levels. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance and potential of science to address such challenges, including by having vaccines developed at record-speed. At the same time, the pandemic has also highlighted the need to foster trust in science and technology as an essential basis for swift and effective policy actions. This session will take stock of the overall global picture and critically explore specific recent cases to answer the question of how stakeholders can work together to jointly build trust in science and technology, to tackle misinformation, and to explore how the science-advisory systems across the UN system, governments, civil society and private sector could work together in a more effective way.
Chaired by H.E. Ms. Mathu Joyini, Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations
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Moderator:
- Ms. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Associate Scientific Director, CAPRISA, South Africa;Professor, Columbia University’ Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of KwaZulu-Natal; UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV; co-chair, Secretary General’s 10-Member- Group
- Panelists:
- Mr. Joel Netshitenzhe, Executive Director, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection(MISTRA)
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Joel Khathutshelo Netshitenzhe is the Executive Director and Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA). He has a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Financial Economics and a post-graduate diploma in Economic Principles from the University of London; as well as a diploma in Political Science from the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow.
Before his retirement in 2009, he served in government as head of Communication in President Nelson Mandela’s office, CEO of Government Communications (GCIS), and head of the Policy Unit in The Presidency. He was a member of the first National Planning Commission and non-executive Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and currently serves on the Board of Life Healthcare Group. He was a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC from 1991 to 2022.
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- Ms. Cary Funk, Director, Science and society research, Pew Research Center
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Cary Funk is director of science and society research at Pew Research Center, where she leads the Center’s efforts to understand the implications of science for society. Center studies look at the social, ethical and policy implications of scientific developments in areas such as climate and energy, emerging issues in genetic engineering, and food and space science. She has authored or co-authored a number of reports focused on public trust in science, scientific experts and science news and information.
Funk has broad expertise in public opinion research and has specialized in public understanding of science topics for nearly two decades. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, she directed the Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Surveys, national surveys on science and biotechnology. Funk began her career at CBS News in New York working on preelection polling and analysis of exit polls. She earned a doctorate and a master’s in social psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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- Ms. Ana-Maria Cetto, Professor, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM)
- Mr. Joel Netshitenzhe, Executive Director, Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection(MISTRA)
- Lead discussants:
- Mr. Peter Gluckman, President, International Science Council
- Mr. Scott C Ratzan, Executive Director, Business Partners for Sustainable Development
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Dr. Ratzan has three decades of pioneering accomplishments in the U.S. and globally in health communication, health literacy, and strategic diplomacy. He serves as Executive Director of Business Partners for Sustainable Development with the U.S. Council for International Business Foundation. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives.
Mr. Ratzan is currently on the Board of Global Health for the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He recently was Co-Chair of the UN Secretary General’s Every Woman Every Child Innovation Working Group, on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Infectious Disease, and was a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. He also leads Business Partners to CONVINCE – a Coalition for Vaccine Information Communication & Engagement.
He has worked in private and public sectors including Johnson & Johnson and USAID in Brussels, New York and Washington DC. He is a Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy and has adjunct professorial appointments at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Tufts University School of Medicine, and the University of St Andrews School of Medicine.
Dr. Ratzan has an M.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School, and an M.A. in Communication from Emerson College.
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- Interactive discussion:
- Mr. Taffere Tesfachew, Acting Managing Director, UN Technology Bank for LDCs
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Taffere Tesfachew, PhD is currently the Acting Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least developed Countries. Until December 2021, he was a Senior Advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). Prior to joining the TBI, he was a staff member of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for nearly twenty-eight years working in different capacities, including Chief of Staff, Spokesperson and Director of the Division on Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). He is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) and The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Industrial Development Advisory Council.
Tesfachew is an economist and holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of Lancaster, UK, and an MPhil and a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK. He has published on a range of topics, including: “Technological Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “The role of policy in promoting enterprise learning during early industrialization”; “The Journey of Ethiopian Airlines: Technological Learning and Industrialization in Ethiopia”; “Industrial Parks in Ethiopia: Newcomer advantages”; “Learning to catch-up in Africa”; “Special Economic Zones and export-led growth: an industrial policy imperative”, among others.
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- Mr. Taffere Tesfachew, Acting Managing Director, UN Technology Bank for LDCs
