Author: Gina Gunaratnam

On 2^nd December 2021, the United Nations declared 2022 the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD2022). The resolution is the result of a proposal from the IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) led by Michel Spiro, its current president, in coordination with international scientific organisations such as CERN, EGO, IAU, SKA Observatory, to name but a few (list of organisers).

With this Year, the United Nations General Assembly  « invites all [its] Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and other global, regional and subregional organizations, as well as other relevant stakeholders, including academia, civil society, inter alia, international and national non- governmental organizations, individuals and the private sector, to observe and raise awareness of the importance of basic sciences for sustainable development, in accordance with national priorities».

The European Physical Society (EPS) is a founding partner and a member of the Steering Committee of the IYBSSD2022. The EPS strongly supports this initiative as it encourages the dissemination of basic sciences through its involvement in related European projects and programmes.

The « Joint APS-ICTP-EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme » is an example of activities that will start in 2022, where the EPS is involved together with the APS (American Physical Society) and the ICTP (Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics). This programme enables early career scientists to return to universities and research centres where they had previously obtained their PhD, to use laboratory facilities which may not be available in their home country and to gain training on writing grant proposals, among others.

The EPS will program more activities in the frame of the IYBSSD2022, that will officially be inaugurated on 30 June-1st July 2022 with a conference held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Check our website for the latest news.

For more info :

• Press release of the United Nations
• IYBSSD2022 website
• social media: @IYBSSD2022 and #IYBSSD2022
• Joint APS-ICTP-EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme 
• EPS website