Position statement on Gene Patenting
The ICSU position on Gene Patenting has been up-dated in the light of scientific and legal developments.
07.02.2012
Advisory Note on access to shared data to reduce global inequality
A recent Advisory Note of the ICSU Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS) aims to help scientists in developing countries contribute effectively to scientific progress and reduce the brain drain of scientists from developing to developed countries.
11.01.2012
Rio+20 policy briefs released by the GEC Programmes
The first five Rio+20 policy briefs have been released by the Global Environmental Change (GEC) programmes. The policy briefs specifically target policy-makers in the Rio+20 process, aiming to give them access to the latest scientific thinking on sustainable development.
11.01.2012
Declaration of the Budapest World Science Forum 2011
The recently held Fifth World Science Forum 2011 ‘on a New Era of Global Science’, hosted in Budapest on 17-19 November 2011 by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, adopted a Declaration at its concluding session.
03.12.2011
DFG chief announces global sustainability initiatives with ICSU
In the course of his Guest Lecture at the opening of the 30th General Assembly of ICSU in Rome, Professor Matthias Kleiner, President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the German Research Foundation, announced two projects that DFG would sponsor and organize jointly with ICSU.
11.10.2011
Visioning: Towards a new initiative for global sustainability research
The Earth System Visioning process concluded in February with participants at the third and final meeting agreeing on key elements for a new initiative that will address the Grand Challenges for Earth System Science—delivering knowledge to enable societies to meet their sustainable development goals in the next decade.
25.03.2011
ICSU releases statement on the controversy around the 4th IPCC Assessment
As a scientific organization with global representation and active engagement in global environmental change research including climate change, ICSU has been closely following the ongoing controversy concerning the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Important issues have been raised in relation to both the interpretation of scientific knowledge, especially in making predictions of future developments, and the procedures used by the IPCC in its assessment.
27.01.2011
Statement: Promoting the integrity of science and the scientific record
The first World Conference on Research Integrity: Fostering Responsible Research, took place in Lisbon, Portugal in September 2007. Much of the focus was on scientific publications and mechanisms for monitoring and addressing scientific misconduct. There was general agreement that science is, at least in the longer term, self-correcting, and that errors in the scientific record – either inadvertent or deliberate –will eventually be exposed.
14.09.2008
Statement: Publication practices and indices and the role of peer review in research assessment
Progress in science, and confidence in the scientific process, depends on the accuracy and reliability of the scientific literature. This in turn depends on the rigour of the manuscript review process. In addition to ensuring the quality of scientific publications, independent peer review is also a critical part of the evaluation process for both individual scientists and research institutes.
14.07.2008
Statement: Israeli scholars
Since its inception in 1931, the International Council for Science (ICSU) has affirmed and vigorously upheld the principle of universality of science based on the human right of scientists throughout the world to participate in scientific activity without any discrimination on the grounds of citizenship, religion, creed, political stance, ethnic origin, race, colour, age or gender. It has argued that the processes of academic research and scholarship, and the unfettered pursuit of knowledge, are of benefit to mankind as a whole.
14.08.2002