Scientific research cooperation: Why collaborate in science? Benefits and examples

The need for a stronger scientific collaboration

It was one of the longest-standing enigmas in art history. For centuries, no one had been able to say for sure that a Madonna and Child painting, often attributed to Raphael, had been directly created by the great Renaissance master himself.

During that time, the painting had changed hands many times. It became the property of popes, was looted by Napoleon during the Italian campaign and in the 1930s ended up in a private collection in Prague, disappearing from public view.

The painting lay almost forgotten until 2020, when a robotic scanner using a particle detector developed at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, confirmed the brushstrokes on the canvas were indeed Raphael’s.

The authentication of Raphael’s painting through particle detection is just one of the many scientific discoveries that have moved from CERN’s laboratories in Switzerland to daily life, along with the World Wide Web and medical scanners.

Since its foundation in 1954 under the auspices of UNESCO, the complex – one of the largest scientific facilities on earth – has been home to scientists, engineers and students from CERN’s 21 Member States and visiting scholars from other countries.

More than six decades later, CERN has become one the most striking examples of successful scientific cooperation in the world. Its birth was one of the first large initiatives in science and science diplomacy at UNESCO, as well as a diplomatic answer to seek the peaceful benefits of atomic energy after the destruction caused by WW2. Today, CERN has become a model for cooperation in terms of research, embodying the ‘one-earth’ approach that the world needs to tackle the global challenges we are facing.

World War II had not long ended when the idea of scientific laboratories began to emerge under the auspices of UNESCO. It was felt that such endeavours would bring warring nations together, rebuild cooperation and reach scientific excellence.

US Nobel laureate for physics Isidor Rabi’s proposal resulted in the constitution of CERN four years later.

As the world emerged from the ravages of the war, the idea of science diplomacy began to gain traction. In August 1955, the United Nations’ International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, known as "Atoms for Peace", was held in Geneva, attended by a delegation from the USSR that included a number of scientists. It was the first time that a large delegation of Soviet scientists working in particle physics took part in a scientific conference in the West. The symposium offered the opportunity for many to make personal contacts. Several Soviet physicists who attended went on to fill important roles in their countries and their work began to be translated into English and published in the West.

Using CERN as a blueprint, global cooperation among scientists became one of UNESCO’s key missions and paved the way to support other institutions that combine scientific excellence with science diplomacy. Science diplomacy helps establish links and strengthen relations between societies, especially where there may not be another official approach. Science is then used to strengthen or build links between countries that have tense or even non-existent relationships.

Even though the Cold War continued to intensify, scientific cooperation projects were able to demonstrate the capacity of scientific cooperation to forge links between countries and colleagues beyond political or religious considerations.

Ten years after the birth of CERN, UNESCO supported the creation of another venture that would provide a rare line of communication between scientists from the East and the West.

In 1960, a 34-year-old physicist from Pakistan, future Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, suggested the founding of an international theoretical physics institute to help advance scientific expertise.

Salam was convinced that "scientific thought and its creation are the common and shared heritage of mankind". However, at that time, researchers in developing countries, as well as those in smaller countries of the developed world, were often unable to improve their knowledge and sharpen their skills.

His proposal became a reality in 1964 when the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) was set up in Trieste, Italy, through an agreement between UNESCO, the Italian Government and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Over the decades, ICTP has provided scientists from developing countries with the continuing education and skills necessary to further their careers. Many alumni teach at major universities in their countries, lead key research centres and have been recognized for their contributions to science.

Website: International Research Scientist Awards

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