World Social Science Forum to focus on security and equality for sustainable futures

The 2018 Forum focuses on security, in all its dimensions. With speakers including Kate Raworth, Ursula Oswald Spring, Urs Gasser, General Romeo Dallaire, Andrew Feinstein and many more, the Forum seeks to create a platform for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to contribute to transformations to a more sustainable world.

World Social Science Forum to focus on security and equality for sustainable futures

The last four decades have seen the development of new forms of war and conflict, environmental change, emerging risks from new technology, and growing tensions as a result of increasing numbers of refugees and displaced people. At the same time, insecurity is increasingly being used to justify attacks on freedom and democracy. Security is one of the most critical issues of today, and its various dimensions are connected in ways that make it impossible to address one aspect of security independently from the others. “Security” is a multidimensional reality which must be approached accordingly.

Between 25 and 28 September 2018, approximately 1000 participants from 60 countries will converge in Fukuoka, Japan, to debate various dimensions of security, interrogating how the demand for security relates to societies’ quests for equality and sustainability. It will ask how scientists and other stakeholders can and do contribute to advancing knowledge on security and equality, and will identify critical research priorities on security, as well as data and knowledge gaps, globally and in specific regions.

Online registration is open until 31 August.

Five multisectoral plenary events with leading scientists from across the world will set the tone for debate on topics such as existential risks, Artificial Intelligence, security in Southeast Asia, and new forms of conflict. Speakers include Craig Calhoun, Kate Raworth, Partha Dasgupta, and many other scientists and stakeholders from across the world. The opening and closing plenary sessions will be livestreamed.

A further 15 invited sessions will focus on cross-cutting issues such as gender security, social progress, biosecurity, migrations, resilience, and the approaches and types of research relevant to addressing them. A high-level round-table held in partnership with UNESCO will highlight policy questions for dealing with security issues in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while a session with government science advisors will look at social policy developments in the age of big data. Over 90 parallel sessions will also take place over the course of four days.

The Forum is the first major scientific activity to take place under the auspices of the International Science Council. In line with the Council’s aim to be the global voice for science, the Forum will bring together scientists from across the disciplines alongside civil society partners and other stakeholders.

The 2018 World Social Science Forum is co-organized with a consortium of academic and research institutions led by Kyushu University, and supported by Science Council Japan and Japan Science and Technology Agency.

 

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