Speaker
Description
In recent years, established Big Science organizations in the Global North, such as the particle physics facility CERN or the synchrotron facility ESRF, became increasingly internationalized, both in terms of the involved researchers and the participating countries. At the same time, more and more large Big Science projects emerge in regions where until recently no or very few Big Science projects existed. Although countries like India or South Africa are currently rendering the Global South increasingly visible in Big Science collaborations, so far, there is little research on their role in these projects.
- Which objectives do emerging powers of the Global South pursue in Big Science projects?
- Under which conditions are they likely to achieve their objectives?
- And to what extent does the institutional set-up of Big Science collaborations reinforce or diminish North-South asymmetries in science, technology and politics?
In this presentation we will shed light on these questions and provide three policy recommendations that outline strategies for countries of the Global South to maximize their benefits from participating in Big Science collaborations. The presentation is based on the findings and policy recommendations of a study that analyzed the participation of emerging powers of the Global South in four different Big Science collaborations: the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the Square Kilometer Array and the African Light Source Project.
References
Rüland A.N., Rüffin N., Cramer K., Ngabonziza P., Saxena M. & Skupien S. (2023), Science diplomacy from the Global South: the case of intergovernmental science organizations, Science and Public Policy: scad024.
