- Over 200 events were featured on the ISC website this year, grappling with issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s participation in science, science communication, social change, the global sustainability agenda, and much more.
- 15 young academies and associations have applied for Affiliated Membership as part of the ISC’s programme of diversifying the membership. Along with these new young members who have been invited to join, the ISC welcomed a total of six new Full and Affiliated Members this year.
- The ISC continued releasing content on the Unlocking Science series, jointly with BBC Storyworks, resulting in over 83 million impressions on the BBC website, as part of the ISC’s programme to increase the visibility of the Council and the public value of science through storytelling.
- The ISC Governing Board announced the appointment of Dr Salvatore Aricò as Chief Executive Officer of the ISC, succeeding Dr Heide Hackmann.
- The ISC actively stenghthened its cooperation with the United Nations system, notably through signing Memorendum of Understanding with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- A result of the Council’s COVID-19 Outcome Scenarios Project, the ISC released the Unprecedented and Unfinished: COVID-19 and Implications for National and Global Policy report to support the shift in thinking required to achieve a more comprehensive ‘worldview’ of pandemics and similar emergencies.
- The first of the series of Global Knowledge Dialogue (GKD) was held in Cape Town, South Africa, on the margins of the World Science Forum in December 2022. Following the GKD, the ISC and Future Africa signed an agreement to respond to the need to support African agendas and capacities and strengthen the presence of African science on the global stage.
- The ISC launched its Fellowship to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to the promotion of science as a global public good. 66 Foundation Fellows were appointed at the launch of the Fellowship, together with three Honorary Fellows for the inaugural and outgoing ISC Patrons. The second cohort of 60 Fellows was appointed in December 2022, on the margins of the World Science Forum in Cape Town, South Africa.
- The ISC launched its first two Regional Focal Points in Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia-Pactific to ensure that regional needs and priorities are adequately represented in the ISC’s global agenda, that regional voices are actively engaged in the governance and management of the ISC’s work, and that regions benefit from the results of that work.
- The ISC and partners organized a conference on the war in Ukraine ‘Responses from the European higher education and research sectors’, bringing together 150 stakeholders from across Europe, with over half of them from Ukraine. The discussions were summarized in a report including seven key recommendations for the international community to better support science systems affected by conflict.
- The Talk Back Better webinar series explored the capacities that research institutions need to practice progressive, effective science communication in the current global context and delivered six compelling messages on science communication.
- After nine years, the Transformations to Sustainability (T2S) programme ended in December 2022. It involved about 370 people across more than 35 countries and produced over 400 academic publications. In 2022, seven films on social transformations to sustainability were launched to illustrate the project’s global impact.