CONICET co-organized the Regional Meeting of the Americas of the Global Research Council

The Regional Meeting of the Americas of the Global Research Council (GRC) was organized by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) together with ‘National Council for Science and Technology of Paraguay (CONACYT) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), with the special support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the American National Sanitation Foundation (NSF).

The aim of the meeting was to exchange ideas and try to consolidate a regional position about the main topics, which will be the focus of the next GRC annual meeting in 2022: ethics of research, integrity and culture in the context of rapid results research, and the development of science and technology workforce.

During the opening ceremony, Ana Franchi, CONICET president and Board member of the GRC (Vice Chair) said: “Almost two years after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue facing challenges in our systems of Science and Technology and we persist in dealing with new obstacles and uncertainties. Therefore, it is more and more important that we make efforts to foster international collaboration and promote multilateral dialogues. Besides, it is in this particular context that the GRC plays a vital role in fostering cooperation between member agencies and stakeholders around the world to support global science and the world research community.”

In the meeting, the participants discussed the road map and the vision of the GRC. There was also a presentation of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change. Besides, a special session of the GRC Gender Working Group was held, where the contributions that gender equality could make to Science and Technology Workforce Development, Research Ethics, Integrity and culture in the context of quick results.

Finally, a parallel event organized by the ‘Latin American Forum for the Evaluation of Research (FOLEC) was held: “A turn towards the transformation of evaluative cultures in the Americas: equity, bibliodiversity, multilingualism and inclusiveness.” It was presented by Mario Pecheny, deputy chairman of Scientific Matters of CONICET, and the experts who participated were: de Fernanda Beigel, researcher at the ‘Institute for Human, Social and Environmental Sciences’ (INCIHUSA-CONICET), Laura Rovelli, coordinator of the ‘Latin American Forum on Scientific Evaluation’ (FOLEC) and Dominic Babini, ‘Open Science Advisor of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO).

The Global Research Council is a virtual organization that comprises the heads of the science and technology funding agencies from around the world, aimed at promoting the exchange of data and best practices for high-quality collaboration among participating institutions.