2024 Leadership STeP Conference

 

 

The 2024 IAI Science Technology and Policy (STeP) Leadership Conference brought together (Generation 2 & 3) fellows to the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Antigua, Guatemala.

2024 STeP Leadership Conference 

Mock  Negotiation: Previous online sessions on negotiation and consensus-building theory bring us to this point where Fellows will participate over the course of the conference in a mock negotiation on a topic from UNFCCC COP28.

Science Diplomacy Training and Project Forum: Fellows worked with their groups in preparation for the project forum on the final day of the conference.  The Forum was open to local stakeholders invited by the IAI.  

Evidence-Based Mentorship Training: “To do things differently, we need strategic support.” Each fellow built their own professional ecosystem support map to aid in 1) Career Advancement 2) Getting Your Work Done, and 3) Well-Being and strategize how to take advantage of their network and get the work/life balance we deserve.  

Moving Towards a Transdisciplinary Approach: Included various sessions deepening on participatory processes, and how Fellows would like to implement the STeP Leadership Statement.    

Action STePs: Daily opportunity to share/learn what each Fellow is doing in their country/host institution.  This session was also communication training not just for the Fellow presenting but also for the Fellows in the audience to synthesize and draft social media posts based on flash talks from each Fellow. 

2022 STeP Leadership in Science Diplomacy Workshop

 

The first face-to-face meeting of the Inter-American network of Fellows from the IAI  Science, Technology and Policy  (STeP) Fellowship Program took place from November 12 to 15, 2022 in Punta del Este and Montevideo, Uruguay.

AGENDA & OUTCOMES

The Leadership in Science Diplomacy Workshop was a welcome break from virtual professional development since the program's inception in 2020. 30 fellows from 14 nationalities in the Americas were invited to learn and interact with each other alongside global experts from the new Advisory Board of IAI Science Diplomacy Center (SDC).

Based on the experience of this workshop, Fellows drafted a leadership statement later presented at the IAI Meeting of the Conference of the Parties in June 2023.

The workshop addressed the following topics:

Transdisciplinary Leadership

- The key principles of the TD Approach in the context of the IAI's 30 years of global change research. A discussion on methodologies and stories  from fellows  highlighting their TD skills and experiences. 

- Leadership Redefined: Using the ground rules created by Fellows in the previous sessions, Fellows worked together to challenge the current definition and examples of leadership. This experience then resulted in a draft leadership statement that embodies their vision of science diplomacy in the Americas, presented to members of the Global Research Council, also meeting in Montevideo. Fellows then shared the final version of the statement with the IAI Conference of Parties meeting in June 2023.

Science Diplomacy

-Accident in a Marine Ecosystem off the Central American Coast! This science diplomacy simulation game allowed fellows to role play different stakeholders in a multilateral negotiation scenario.  

-Behavioural science in science diplomacy for consensus building.

-Group Work and Project Presentations: Fellows met with their science diplomacy groups and continued to work on their projects due in January 2023. They practiced their communication skills by preparing a pitch to the SDC Advisory Board seeking expert feedback, mentorship and networking.

This year's groups are working on the following topics:

• Circular economy approaches to wastewater treatment.
• Hydrogen for the Americas.
• Stakeholder engagement to share data on the global health-climate change nexus.
• The “30X30” conservation ambition in the Americas and the Science Diplomacy opportunity for collective implementation.
• Clean transportation life cycle and energy/mineral sources.
• Microplastic pollution and global action aligned with behavior.

For more information, contact step@dir.iai.int