Public Engagement

In December, 2001 Dr. Harold Varmus (a Nobel laureate and former Director of NIH) gave a lecture at the Nobel Prize Centennial in which he proposed the establishment of a Global Science Corps. In the lecture, he asserted

"It seems unlikely that the current disparities in health status between the rich and the poor will diminish any time soon. By the end of the 21st century, there will be many more people on this planet; current estimates predict that the world's current population, six billion, will grow to at least nine billion by mid-century. With this growth, many more people are likely to be old (both rich and poor), poor (in the rich countries too), hungry, at high risk of infectious diseases, crowded, exposed to environmental pollution, and resentful of those without complaints (other than age)."

Varmus argued that scientific research, which has contributed so much to improve health in the rich countries, could do the same in the poor parts of the world. But, he noted, "formulas and recommendations for advancing science throughout the world will have little effect if they are not accompanied by missionary zeal---and by means to exercise such convictions. For that reason, I propose establishing an International Corps for Global Science to allow science missionaries, young and old, to help build a global culture of science by working in those parts of the world that are underserved by science now."

Five years later, the Global Science Corp is becoming a reality. On its web site, it states

The Global Science Corps (GSC), an innovative program in international scientific cooperation, will place scientists and engineers (“GSC Fellows”) from developed countries at universities and research institutes in developing countries for one-year terms to share expertise and collaborate with local partners. The objectives of the GSC are to:

• provide the GSC Fellow with a unique and valuable research experience;
  
• help the host institution develop its S&T research capacity through interaction with and instruction from the Fellow;
  
• promote sustained collaboration between the Fellow and the researchers at the host institution even after the formal placement has ended, through electronic communication and return visits;
  
• establish an alumni network of GSC Fellows and host scientists

The GSC is administered by the Science Initiative Group (SIG), an independent organization that provides oversight for a scientific capacity-building program called the Millennium Science Initiative (MSI).

The GSC will constitute an integral part of the MSI, which supports local scientific leaders in designing and implementing excellent research and training programs – so-called “MSI Centers” – in developing countries. MSI Centers will serve as GSC host sites, as will centers of scientific activity, research and training that are at a comparable level of excellence.

The GSC brochure states that "GSC fellows might include individuals at several different career stages who wish to share their skills and experience: older scientists who are nearing retirement or have recently retired; faculty members seeking sabbatical experiences that would expose them to new scientific problems; trainees finishing postdoctoral work and looking for a novel and valuable experience before making a more permanent career commitment; and others. The length of stay will be one to two years."

Benefits to GSC fellows are listed as

• exposure to science in another culture
  
• opportunities to form long-standing research collaborations
  
• access to clinical and biological materials
  
• chances to develop new research interests and address urgent local challenges such as malaria, AIDS, environmental conservation and food security issues.

We often debate whether effective public engagement must be local, or whether it can be global or universal. Here's a chance to have it both ways.