The 50th Anniversary Forum on Science for Peace, Prosperity, and Justice – IFS Celebrates and Looks Ahead

On 10 November 2022, 46 colleagues and friends gathered to celebrate IFS’s half-century of awarding more than 8,800 grants to earlycareer researchers in more than 100 countries. Held on the premises of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in Stockholm –one of IFS’s founding member organisations – the Forum’s participants represented current, former and prospective members of the IFS community, including alumni, Scientific Advisory Committee members, partners, donors, Board of Trustees and Secretariat staff. Several other colleagues were invited to participate in the Forum as keynote and panel speakers on issues related to the decolonization of science, the strengthening of science and its impact on indigenous peoples and local community organisations.

In addition to the release of the IFS 50th Anniversary booklet, throughout the day of the Forum participants also enjoyed video screenings of testimonials and salutations from IFS grantees and alumni from around the world, as well as from partner organisations such as Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). Forum participants were also connected in almost-real-time to the COP27 Climate Change Conference in Egypt, through the screening of a professionally produced video narrated by IFS alumni Dr David Chiawo, on his participation in a meeting organized by the African Association of Business Schools, and IFS’s involvement in developing plans to source global funds for climate research (see https://youtu.be/P49YQ1XFawc).

The Forum opened with remarks by Dr Tuula Teeri, President, IVA; Prof Patrick Van Damme, IFS Board Chair; and Mr Alan AtKisson, Assistant Director-General, Sida; followed by a presentation of IFS’s 50 years of achievements by Dr Nighisty Ghezae, IFS Director. The two keynote presentations on the theme of “science for peace, prosperity and justice” were given by Prof Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan, and Dr Margaret Rugadya, The Tenure Facility. Prof Agrawal spoke of how research on “the commons” has been dominated by a focus on the role of the state and markets, and the conditions necessary for them to work, to the exclusion of communitylevel challenge-focused “emergent” research on what works.

Dr Rugadya took the gathering along on her journey from community activist to grant manager via an intermediary role among research, policy and practice, bringing together researchers, communities and policymakers to co-create solutions. However, Arun and Margaret arrived at the same place – that we need more trans-disciplinary research in which researchers, communities, policymakers and practitioners work together to identify problems, collaborate on interdisciplinary research, co-analyse results, and co-produce solutions.

The first of the Forum’s two panels was inspired by the efforts of IFS alumni in Africa and Asia to draw attention to the decolonization of science. It was chaired by Prof Suneetha Kadiyala, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, with panellists Dr Adedotun Afolayan (Nigeria), Dr María Eugenia Flores-Giubi (Paraguay), Dr Kathelyn Paredes Villanueva (Bolivia) and Dr Babita Paudel (Nepal). Drawing on their practical experiences as IFS grantees in their own countries, the panellists spoke about facing real problems of lack of resources, institutional and systemic inequalities within and between southern research institutions, even bigger ones between them and northern institutions, and how we are all at the mercy of our respective wider socio-economic, cultural and political contexts. The panel emphasised manageable solutions such as relatively small changes in research funding mechanisms and budgets, an emphasis on more equitable partnerships, and strengthening local, national, regional and global research networks.

Chaired by Dr Sajitha Bashir, formerly of the World Bank, the second panel on strengthening science and impact with indigenous peoples and local community organisations, had as panellists Mr Stephen Moiko (Kenya), Mr Samuel Nguiffo (Cameroon) and Dr Kathelyn Paredes Villanueva (Bolivia). Although the panel provided examples of the involvement of local people and indigenous knowledge in action-research projects, it was also noted that there has generally been little progress over the past four decades in terms of valuing local communities’ contributions in scientific endeavours and progress and the question remains about how global scientific networks and institutions can best support indigenous people.

Prof Malcolm Beveridge, IFS Board member, and Dr Nighisty Ghezae, IFS Director, then presented “IFS 2.0 –Towards a New Strategic Direction”. They suggested that IFS’s next chapter be grounded in its history, vision and mission, that it continues with its proven model of supporting the research of early-career scientists in the Global South with grants and capacity-enhancing support, and that it broaden its scope of engagement to include partnerships with indigenous peoples and local community organisations (and their young scholars), new modalities of working with other science capacity-building organisations, and new kinds of collaborations with industrial partners and scientists in the Global South.

In the Forum’s final session, several participants reflected on the day’s discussions, findings, and the way forward for IFS. They mentioned:

> The unique culture and remit of IFS and its reputation in countries of the Global South

> Concerns about changing the nature and operations of IFS, and not losing its soul

> The hope that IFS continues to be inclusive, with its support to women in science, and also now with the possibilities of working with indigenous peoples and local community organisations, and

> How IFS will still be helping to create the best science possible by embracing indigenous peoples, knowledge, and local communities.

IFS is grateful to each participant in the 50th Anniversary Forum, for bringing their passions and ideas, for their unwavering support of IFS, and for making the Forum a success.