Through this platform, we aim not only to trace this evolution—paying particular attention to multidisciplinary international history, but also to address the present day, reporting on research initiatives, advanced training, and outreach activities, of which the International School on Science & Diplomacy opened in Erice by the Ettore Majorana Centre is one example. We will not limit ourselves to the institutions of the four Directors of the School, CASD, CNR, Paris Sorbonne University, University of Padua, and VIU (Venice International University). Interest is growing across Italy, from the Politecnico di Milano, with the appointment of the first Rector’s Delegate for Science Diplomacy, to the Politecnico di Torino with its work on the history of physics; from the Universities of Trieste and Florence with their focus on development policies, to the National PhD Programme in Space Science and Technology coordinated by the University of Trento, which includes a curriculum specifically dedicated to Space DiplomacyInitiatives are multiplying in Italy, and we intend to review them while keeping in mind developments at the European and international levels, including the Science Diplomacy Alliance to the Center e al Journal Science Diplomacy della AAAS.

While maintaining close attention to the international context, the focal point of our analyses remains Italy, which, as many colleagues in Europe and beyond acknowledge, has made significant and original contributions over the past four years in research and advanced training. Italy’s new policy approach is well represented by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) action to increase the number of Science Attachés from 22 to around 60, differentiating them into scientific and space attachés, and finally establishing agricultural attachés. Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) action.

Our core pillars are research, advanced training, and outreach. While paying particular attention to the research sector (ERC-2024 SH6_11 – Global history, transnational history, comparative history, entangled histories), we adopt an interdisciplinary approach involving colleagues from the STEAM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), not only within the corresponding SH6 Human past subfields but also through the direct involvement of scientists and technologists. It is essential to understand the evolution of innovation in the technosciences and the moments of rupture within it. Analysis limited solely to the political sphere of the international dimension—or to its economic or social aspects—is insufficient, especially when engaging with the present. Today, science and technology are clearly strategic and unavoidable elements of any foreign policy decision. Hence, their historically rooted link with defence and security is an indispensable component of diplomacy.

At the same time, an urgent focus on current affairs risks obscuring the analytical potential of studying the evolution of the international system to reconstruct the present. Hence, it is urgent to analyze the crucial juncture between research and advanced training by re-examining past case studies, witness testimony from recent events, and the participation of contemporary actors. It is at the intersection of different disciplines and between diachronic analysis and representation that we propose, as an “applied” approach, the concept of operational history, from research to advanced training.

Mission e target

We aim to offer an opportunity to new practitioners, scientists, international civil servants, and diplomats, of Science Diplomacy, as well as to young scholars in the STEAM fields, Master’s students, and PhD candidates, to engage with the world of science, technology, and foreign policy, between historical perspectives and present-day outlooks, within both research and advanced training. The goal is both to acquire new insights into Science Diplomacy and to approach a new frontier of interdisciplinary and international research, involving actors and dynamics, scientists and diplomats alike. 

“Curiosity and audacity, which characterise the human species, have brought us from the Stone Age to the present day, from the discovery of fire to the gradual understanding of the causes of celestial motions,” wrote a renowned Italian scientist. At the centre of this process, especially today, stands the researcher. “A good researcher is not necessarily someone who was an outstanding student; superconversely, an excellent student may turn out to be a mediocre researcher,” the same scientist observed. “In fact, beyond subject knowledge and solid basic training, it is important to possess the initiative and imagination required to interpret experiments and observations, qualities that are largely innate, as well as a degree of independence and naïveté that often allow one to glimpse what a more experienced researcher, accustomed to working within established tracks, fails to see.”

It is precisely this unconventional curiosity of the researcher, perpetually at risk of straying from established paths into unexplored terrain, with an invisible horizon lost in the immediacy of ongoing research, that we seek to foster. Interaction with “users” is essential. The definition and practices of Science Diplomacy evolve in parallel with stimuli and pressures from the international context, and it is crucial not to shy away from the demands of those directly engaged in it. For this reason the website, in addition to a News Letter,includes also a restricted, login-based area for sharing documents, texts, and reflections, as well as serving as a platform for shared research and advanced training experiences. the site also features in-depth analyses, bibliographic resources, presentations of archives, events, schools, and courses at Master’s and PhD level, where Science Diplomacy is taught or where the interconnection between science, technology, and foreign policy is explored. Users will be able to suggest news, events, and publications for dissemination. We will keep track of initiatives and publications, as it is essential to reconstruct the history of what is being done in the field of Science Diplomacy.