ISC Presents

In the final episode of the ISC podcast series, produced with the support of the China Association for Science and Technology, science journalist Izzie Clarke speaks with Professor Yongguan Zhu (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice-President for Membership of the ISC) and Dr Charah Watson (Scientific Research Council, Jamaica) about how scientists can collaborate across disciplines, sectors, and bord...

In the this episode, science journalist Izzie Clarke speaks with Lori Foster , President of the International Association of Applied Psychology, and Yensi Flores Bueso , Co-Chair of the Global Young Academy, about the mental health and well-being of early- and mid-career researchers.  The discussion explores how structural pressures – from precarious contracts and hyper-competition to cultural exp...

In the fourth episode of the ISC podcast series Scientific careers in a changing world , science journalist Izzie Clarke speaks with Professor Rashid Sumaila , Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the University of British Columbia, and Dr Mia Strand , Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Nelson Mandela University. Together, they explore how transdisciplinary rese...

The International Science Council and its Member, the China Association for Science and Technology ( CAST ), in partnership with Nature , have launched a new six-part podcast series exploring the evolving landscape of research careers. Across the series, early- and mid-career researchers will be in conversation with senior scientists, sharing experiences of growth, collaboration, and resilience in...

What does it take to turn science into action on the global stage? In this second episode, science journalist Izzie Clarke speaks with two leading voices in science diplomacy: Professor Zakri Hamid , former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and María Estelí Jarquín , ISC Governing Board member and international relations manager at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.  Togethe...

This opening episode explores how today’s rapidly changing scientific landscape impacts early- and mid-career researchers (EMCRs). Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf and Dr Baojing Gu discuss career uncertainty, access to resources, international collaboration, and balancing personal responsibilities, while sharing real examples of the support available. The conversation highlights why addressing these b...

In this last episode, we invite Cory Doctorow, a science fiction author, activist, and journalist from Canada. He is the author of many books, most recently The Lost Cause , a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. Our conversation touches on digital rights management, social justice and sustainability in the digital world.

Qiufan Chen is an award-winning Chinese speculative fiction writer, author of Waste Tide and co-author of AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future . He is also a research scholar at Yale University and a fellow of Berggruen Institute. Our main discussion centres around artificial intelligence, how we can harness the power of this technology while avoiding the dangers it poses.

This fourth episode invites Fernanda Trías, an award-winning writer from Uruguay and an instructor of creative writing in Colombia. She has published a short story collection and four novels, including the English-translated book Pink Slime. We ask her whether horror can bring about change, and why there is the need to integrate the arts and sciences.

In this third episode, we invite Vandana Singh, a science fiction writer hailing from India, to speak about her views on the science and fiction intersection. She is also a transdisciplinary scholar of climate change and a professor of physics and environment. We discuss the limits of data, the power of narrative, and whether our conception of time could help us think about responsibility in scien...

Barbadian writer Karen Lord is an award-winning author of Redemption in Indigo , The Best of All Possible Worlds , and The Galaxy Game . Her latest book, The Blue, Beautiful World , was published in August 2023. We hear from her the lessons from the COVID pandemic, short-termism, and the power of literature to reach through time.

In this first episode, we speak to Kim Stanley Robinson, a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Ministry for the Future . Listen to our conversation that covers many topics including the dangers of escapism, climate grief, and the myth of scientific objectivity.

In the last episode, we spoke about the many ways that distrust in science is expressed and the need for scientists to consider their own positions, including who they speak to and for. Which leads us neatly into today’s episode, where we focus on the link between communicating science and building knowledge. We need to look at how people process information and their own experiences to make knowl...

In this episode, we explore different ways that distrust can be expressed and what drives that historically, situationally, even structurally. We will also look at how competing narratives can mean making sense of the science is an often difficult, complicated task. This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust...

In this episode, we explore how our sense of identity affects our willingness to trust certain sources of information. We look at why the authority of traditional gatekeepers of expertise, like science academies, seems to be eroding. Have we misunderstood what social media can do and what might this have to do with the rise of identity politics? And of course, we will also reflect on what should b...

In this episode we explore how uncertainties play a role in the process of scientific discovery and why this is such a challenge for the way we need to talk about science – with Courtney Radsch and Felix Bast . This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust to identity and knowledge, seeking to discover how we ca...

 How can we combat malpractice and misconduct in research? And how do we promote trust in scientists and the work they do?  This final episode explores the topics of trust, malpractice, and misconduct in scientific research.  Guests, Elisabeth Bik and Soumya Swaminathan, discuss publication fraud and the importance of instilling scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills in children.

In this fifth episode, Professor Françoise Baylis (philosopher and bioethicist at Dalhousie University) and Ocean Mercier (Associate Professor at the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington) explore new technologies, the associated risks and benefits they bring in science, considering ethical implications and insights from an indigenous perspective. What do developments in fie...

In this fourth episode, Sir Peter Gluckman (ISC President and former and former chief scientific advisor to Prime Ministers in New Zealand) and Saja Al Zoubi (Development economist at St Mary’s University in Canada) explore the role of science in resolving conflicts and the respective responsibilities of states and scientists. How do political tensions or wars affect the integrity of science and t...

 How can we convey accurate scientific information in a world of disinformation, information overload, and politicization? Tune in as our guests, Guy Berger (Professor Emeritus at Rhodes University) and Courtney C. Radsch (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCLA) discuss how scientists tackle complexity, combat falsehoods, and navigate online harassment while exploring the vital role of collaboration...

“The current world needs science, to develop well informed decisions. And that can only come from scientific autonomy.” “Scientific autonomy does not mean that individual scientists can or should be able to do whatever they want.”   In the second episode, Lidia Borrell-Damián (Secretary General of Science Europe) and Willem Halffman (Associate Professor at Radboud University) delve into the concep...

This new ISC podcast series explores contemporary perspectives on science's free and responsible practice in the early 21st century while questioning the challenges science faces today. In this first episode, Anne Husebekk (ISC Vice-President for Freedom and Responsibility in Science) and Robert French (Chancellor of the University of Western Australia) question the new threats that scientifi...

In our final fifth episode we explore the importance of informal and non-governmental channels in maintaining and building international scientific collaborations, the role of informal diplomatic channels such as science and culture in building and maintaining peace, the realities of science diplomacy in practice and the importance of ordinary scientists in fostering scientific collaboration.

In this episode, we’ll discuss the impact of crisis, specifically conflict, on an individual scientist, Dr Alaa Hamdon from Mosul, Iraq. Recorded over a series of voice notes during power cuts in Iraq, we spoke to Alaa about his experience before, during and after ISIS’ takeover of Mosul in June 2014. We discuss the impact of the crisis on his personal, academic and professional life, as well as t...

This episode will unpack the worrying impact that conflict has on the capacity of organized science and scientists to respond to global challenges. Some of the critical spaces in which the most pressing issues of our modern era are being researched and studied are currently being disrupted due to conflict and crisis. In this episode we’ll be discussing two of them, the Arctic and outer space.