Science diplomacy operates where science and foreign policy meet, often treating science as a tool in tension or competition. Histories of science show its longstanding role in global relations, yet its practical forms remain complex.

The field now faces a turning point shaped by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, multipolar power dynamics, and urgent planetary challenges. Science is increasingly framed as essential for addressing these issues and securing global advantage.

This moment invites broader perspectives: exploring varied meanings of “science” and “diplomacy,” and expanding beyond hard sciences to include social and human sciences.

We ask: Where can we imagine new ground—and new grounding—for science diplomacy? What practices, perspectives, and possibilities have we overlooked when thinking about how science exists at the intersection of its epistemic and diplomatic dimensions?

Rethinking Science Diplomacy

Approaching the concept and field of science diplomacy as part of a larger ecosystem of knowledge, power, and global relations requires critically rethinking its foundations and its futures. This means interrogating inherited assumptions, experimenting with new analytical frames, and asking what has been neglected or excluded. For example:

What can we learn about science diplomacy by viewing it through the legacies of colonialism and of the global cold war in both science and diplomacy?
What role does gender play in shaping the institutions, practices, and future of science diplomacy?
What overlooked practices of negotiation, solidarity, or contestation might expand our understanding of science diplomacy itself?
How might examining a broader range of scientific disciplines and their diplomatic roles and practices redefine our understanding of science diplomacy?
How might universities and other scientific institutions play multiple roles in the ecosystem of science diplomacy?
To what extent has science diplomacy been examined primarily through the lens of elite individuals, high-level negotiations, and prominent political moments? What alternative perspectives or approaches might broaden the field?
What kind of ethical and justice-related implications of innovation emerge across borders, and what role can science diplomacy play in shaping policies that reflect these principles?

PROGRAMME

16 JUNE 2026

9:00-9:30: Welcome and Coffee (The AIAS Science Diplomacy Theme Group)

9:30-11:00: Panel 1: The challenges of Science Diplomacy

Anna-Lena Rüland (Université Laval), George Salter (Aarhus University), & Henry Bennie (UWE Bristol), Niche power or niche exposure? Toward a political economy of the global quantum computing value chain
Kapil Patil (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Science Diplomacy as a Tool of the “Powerful”: An appraisal from the South
Rachel Fishberg (Aarhus University), Research security in the age of Science Diplomacy

Chair: Matteo De Donà (Science Diplomacy Fellow, AIAS)

11:00-11:30: Break

11:30-13:00: Panel 2: Politics and diplomacy in International scientific collaboration

Matthias Heynmann (Aarhus University), Diplomacy or politics? Writing about the building of the Global Atmospheric Research Program
Lif Jacobsen (Danish Artic Institute), Reframing history of Science Diplomacy in the Arctic
Nicola Vuolo (CNR-IBE Institute of Bio-Economy), From Fossils to Networks: science diplomacy and the evolution of international palaeontological collaborations in response to global socio, political and economic events

Chair: Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen (Science Studies, Aarhus University)

13:00-14:00: lunch

14:00-14:45: Roundtable A: Science Diplomacy and geopolitics - perspectives from institutions

Discussants:

Angela Liberatore (Science Diplomacy Fellow EUI and former Head of the Scientific Department at the ERC)
Alan Irwin (Copenhagen Business School/Aarhus University and Chair of the Committee on Science in Society in the Danish Royal Academy)
Robert Feidenhans'l (Copenhagen University and former Chairman of the Management Board for the European XFEL)

Moderators: Casper Andersen and Maria Rentetzi (AIAS Science Diplomacy Group)

14:45-15:00: Break

15:00-16:00: Roundtable B: Science Diplomacy and geopolitics - the role of Institutes of Advanced Studies

Discussants

Sophie Halart (IEA Nantes)
Olivier Bouin (NetIAS)
Christian Suhm (HIAS)
Flashlight: Ulrike Dorfmüller (HIAS)

Moderator: Andreas Roepstorff (AIAS)

16:00-16:30: Break

16:30-18:00: Panel 3: Space Diplomacy

Alice Naisbitt & Kieron Flanagan (University of Manchester), From Grassroots Science to Intergovernmental Organisation: Competition, Science Diplomacy and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Sarah-Jane Pritchard (University of Lancaster) & Beatrice Kioko (European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO)), Telescopes, Treaties, and Transnationalism: The Southern Skies as a tool for Science Diplomacy
Juliana Chediek (University of Coimbra), Driving the EU Space Economy: Research, Innovation and Science Diplomacy in Action

Chair: Nina Vohnsen (Aarhus University Space Centre)

18:00-20:00: Reception at AIAS

17 June 2026

9:30-11:00: Panel 4: Science diplomacy and the public

Simon Fuglsang (CFA, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University), Public Opinion of Science in International Relations: Diplomacy hopes and security concerns
Nanna Kaalund (Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen), Stakeholder Engagement in Museums as Science Diplomacy
Tine Ravn (CFA, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University), What are the Roles of Publics in Science Diplomacy? Intersections and Implications of Bridging Science and Public Diplomacy

Chair: Rachel Fishberg (Science Diplomacy Fellow, AIAS)

11:00-11:15: Break

11:15-12:15: Panel 5 and poster presentations: Science diplomacy in policy and practice

David Biggs (Institute for Security and Development Policy): Science Diplomacy: a career diplomat’s perspective

Poster presentations:

Amabilly Bonacina (Université de Montréal)
Niels Josva Balling (Aarhus University)
Ioannis Batas (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Rithma Kreie Engelbreth Larsen (Aarhus University)
Fritz Rudy (Copenhagen Business School)
Johannes Mattes (German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Centre of Science Studies)

Chair: Maria Rentetzi (Science Diplomacy Fellow, AIAS)

12:15-13:00: Lunch

13:00-14:30: Poster browsing and networking

14:30-15.45: Panel 6: Science Diplomacy, non-state actors and stakeholders

Mette Terp Høybye (Aarhus University), Cells to Citizens: Public Engagement and the Making of a Biological Commons
Marina Cino Pagliarello (European University Institute & LSE) & Eric Piaget (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Rethinking Science Diplomacy through the lens of European University Alliances: informal diplomatic infrastructures in a multipolar era

Chair: Casper Andersen (Science Diplomacy Fellow, AIAS)

15:45-16:15: Closing discussion

REGISTRATION

Registration is now open. Please register here.

The workshop is open to all, researchers, practitioners, officials and others, interested in the topics listed above. Participation in the workshop is free of charge, but participants will need to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.

TRAVEL AND HOTELS

Please find a document with list of hotels here (the list starts with the pricier hotels) and guidance on how to get to Aarhus here.

FUNDERS & ORGANISERS

The conference has received funding from the Carlsberg Foundation and has been organised by the AIAS-Science Diplomacy Theme-group consisting of four fellows:

Casper Andersen, Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Denmark

Maria Rentetzi, Department of Science Technology and Gender Studies, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

Matteo de Donà, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden

Rachel Fishberg, Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark