Mechanisms for Action

1. Federal Agencies

1.1 Federal funds for U.S.-ESP collaboration should be increased and should prioritize research that is high quality, simultaneously rooted in both ESP scientific priorities and in U.S. research goals. When possible, grants should seek to include funds for travel (for both principal investigators and lead researchers), open access publishing fees, and conference participation. Funding programs should be built to encourage participation from young, women, and underrepresented scientists.

1.2 The United States should support enacting novel flexible funding mechanisms. Given the scale of scientific challenges facing the world and the changing landscape of scientific collaboration, this may require revisiting the funding authorities of the various agencies. Novel mechanisms could include:

• Allowing awards in support of the work of international principal investigators, as is currently the case for the NIH’s funding of global health research and ONR Global.
• Expanding bilateral and multilateral scientific research collaborations between U.S. agencies and their ESP counterparts, as in the case of NSF joint funding initiatives.

1.3 The United States should increase the accessibility of federal grants for which researchers in ESPs are eligible, potentially by streamlining application processes, more clearly issuing calls for proposals, and by performing training workshops abroad or virtually to guide ESP researchers through U.S. systems.

U.S. agencies could play an important role in expanding funding support of ESP scientists and institutions. With a few exceptions, such as the NIH and ONR Global, most U.S. agencies cannot directly fund scientists abroad. U.S. agencies and the U.S. Congress should consider revising such policies to support and engage more directly with scientists working on shared scientific priorities and goals, such as climate change. This could be especially important for ESPs where government support is currently insufficient for funding science to enable the development of scientific capacity and promote new knowledge in key fields, such as climate-related sciences.

When U.S. and ESP scientists establish a collaboration on a topic of shared interest, the research questions of each may differ in ways that can be complementary or divergent. Without agreement from all parties on how to proceed with designing the research agenda and methodologies to meet goals on both sides, projects can be disjointed and ineffective.

Identifying shared research goals from the start of the collaboration helps to ensure all partners benefit and can pursue research that will address priorities and goals on both sides. Many regions of the world have established research priorities that fall in line with regionally established development goals or with the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) as outlined in Agenda 2030. Working within these frameworks may help collaborators to align their research.236 Where ESP regional or national research priorities align with those of the United States, U.S. federal agencies could seek to make additional funding available and streamline funding structures. Identifying well-matched collaborations may involve looking beyond the most well-established labs or scientists. Research centers that have emerged as strong scientific entities within ESPs tend to attract a majority of funding, which can leave new and developing research hubs struggling to become established.

1.4 The U.S. State Department should streamline visa application processes and increase visa numbers for ESP scientists at all training and career levels. U.S. agency-administered fellowship programs that provide opportunities for ESP researchers to work in the United States and for U.S. scientists to work in ESPs should be continued and expanded.

1.5 In cases where infrastructure-building is required, U.S. funding agencies should pursue scoping activities prior to allocation of funds if capacity is not already known. Financial or in-kind contributions from ESP governments, often required, should always be encouraged alongside U.S. investments in ESP scientific infrastructure. In addition, the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure should be considered when planning.

The United States must actively foster collaborations with ESP scientists. One important mechanism for doing so is making available federal funding support specifically for ESP graduate students and postdoctoral fellows pursuing education and research opportunities in the United States, especially at universities and research institutions. The relationships forged through such engagements can lead to long-lasting relationships and collaborations with tremendous benefits to all and are a key component of maintaining a robust STEM enterprise and STEM workforce in the United States. Federal agencies, such as the NSF, DOE, NIH, and NASA, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy should consider novel approaches to support this goal.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in Agenda 2030 by the United Nations. Unlike the United States, many ESP research priorities are designed around achieving local and global benchmarks set by the SDGs. Source: iStock.com/yukipon.
 

When working with researchers based in ESPs, U.S. collaborators, including at the institution and individual level, must understand the scientific capacity of the country or institution with whom they are partnering if they are to successfully design and engage in scientific collaborations. Within and across ESPs, capacity and talent are heterogenous. For example, the scientific capacity of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) differs greatly from that of others in their regions.237 In collaborating with ESPs regionally, and with stronger regional partners like the BRICS, the United States could more directly support growing calls for enhanced “triangular cooperation,” a strategy the United Nations hopes will help to achieve the goals of Agenda 2030.238 Triangular cooperation is broadly defined as involving three or more partners, with one serving as the enabler or funder (e.g., the United States), one as the provider of technical assistance or infrastructure (e.g., a BRICS country), and one as the receiver or beneficiary that expands capacity (e.g., an ESP country).239

For some ESP scientists, accessing necessary equipment, data, or samples can be an enormous barrier.240 Through continued conversations between partners and through exchanges in which scientists visit one another’s research spaces to better understand context, partners can work together to identify approaches that will work well on all sides.

When initiated from a foundation of peer-to-peer collaboration, projects to fund the construction of large-scale scientific facilities in ESPs promise to create opportunities for more regional and global collaboration.241 World-class facilities attract global scientific talent, contributing to a greater circulation of ideas. Further efforts to develop centers of excellence, scientific facilities and research hubs at universities, and independent research institutions can lead more scientists from outside of the region to consider conducting their research in ESP countries, while also providing incentives for trained scientists to remain in-country to further their research.

1.6 U.S. funding agencies should fund long-term training initiatives that build technical and methodological capacity within ESPs, including initiatives to support young researchers, women, and underrepresented scientists, infrastructure for the scientific enterprise, promotion of legal and intellectual property (IP) protections, and the development of knowledge of financial reporting requirements.

1.7 U.S. funding agencies should set aside funds specifically to bolster U.S. institutions’ collaborations with scientists in ESPs so as to enable universities and research institutions to improve and strengthen their collaborations.

The need for capacity building in scientific administration and management can be ongoing for both new and established collaborations. For example, institutions may not have the in-house expertise to review contractual agreements, which becomes especially important in matters of IP protection and ensuring that credit and IP ownership are attributed correctly.242 As noted by the World Intellectual Property Organization, “the modernization of the IP infrastructures of many countries has raised expectations on how the IP system can be used to promote economic development.”243 Administrative barriers must also be considered, particularly for newer institutions that may not have the necessary staffing capacity or financial reporting experience to handle and administer large grants, or the digital capacity to store data.

While some ESP scientists return to their home countries after training abroad, the barriers of obtaining funding and support from ESP governments and universities incentivize many to remain abroad.244 Capacity must be expanded within ESPs so that conducting excellent scientific research at local institutions and remaining in their home countries is an attractive option for scientists. In U.S. supported research collaborations with ESPs, providing specific funding to support capacity-building initiatives could be an important mechanism for fostering sustained brain circulation between U.S. and ESP partners for the long term. Thailand, for example, recognized the threat of brain drain and created the Reverse Brain Drain program in 1997 specifically to engage with the Thai diaspora and to encourage Thai nationals to return to Thailand as a part of the research community. Whether for a permanent or temporary return, this encouragement to bring trained researchers home helps to prompt the exchange of ideas, strengthen partnerships and relationships with other nations, and drive further innovation. (Thailand, for example, has invested in major national scientific facilities and is planning a fourth-generation synchrotron light facility.)245
 

Endnotes

• 236UN General Assembly, “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” A/RES/70/1, adopted September 25, 2015 (accessed August 31, 2021); and Africa Union Commission, Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024.
• 237Swapan Kumar Patra and Mammo Muchie, eds., Science, Technology and Innovation in BRICS Countries (New York: Routledge, 2020); and Scimago Institutions Rankings, “Scimago Journal and Country Rank” (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 238Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation, Triangular Co-operation in the Era of the 2030 Agenda: Sharing Evidence and Stories from the Field (Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation, 2019) (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 239“Promoting Sustainable Development through Triangular Cooperation,” DCF Policy Briefs, no. 19 (September 2017) (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 240Nina Dudnik, “No, Africa Is Not Lacking Talented Scientists. We’re Just Not Investing in Them,” Quartz Africa, June 29, 2017 (accessed November 11, 2021).
• 241For more on the benefits of large-scale scientific facilities and distributed network collaborations, see American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Bold Ambition.
• 242National Academies, Culture Matters: International Research Collaboration in a Changing World–Summary of a Workshop (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2014), chap. 6; and Sana Almansour, “The Challenges of International Collaboration: Perspectives from Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University,” Cogent Education 2 (1) (2015).
• 243World Intellectual Property Organization, The Economics of Intellectual Property: Suggestions for Further Research in Developing Countries and Countries with Economies in Transition (Geneva: World Intellectual Property Organization, January 2009) (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 244Susan Guthrie, Catherine Lichten, Jennie Corbett, and Steven Wooding, International Mobility of Researchers: A Review of the Literature (Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, 2017) (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 245Lightsources.org, “Thailand Is Planning to Build Its ‘Second’ Synchrotron Light Source,” August 31, 2018 (accessed August 31, 2021); and Lightsources.org, “Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI),” February 20, 2018 (accessed August 31, 2021).

2. Universities and Research Institutions

2.1 Universities and research institutions should broaden existing international scientific exchange programs that facilitate scientific networking to include scientific opportunities for American scientists, including postdoctoral researchers and students, to work in ESPs.

Universities and research institutions, in ESPs and the United States alike, are major hubs for researchers and emerging student talent. They provide important points of entry for launching ESP-U.S. collaborations, especially for scientists seeking collaborators who share their research goals and with whom they can begin working on an informal peer-to-peer basis. In ESPs, universities are often selected to house key research centers and institutes, as well as state-of-the-art technology and scientific infrastructure.

In addition to building peer-to-peer collaborations, networks of universities around the world can also be key access points for identifying potential scientific collaborators working on similar research questions and priorities at a regional scale. For example, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities connects universities in and along the Pacific Ocean, including in East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, South America, and the United States, to address key regional issues such as sustainable development, global health, sea-level rise and pollution in the Pacific Ocean, and gender imbalance in STEM fields.246 Similarly, the African Research University Alliance connects strong research institutions on the African continent and is a node for researchers based in the United States and elsewhere to identify potential collaborators and ongoing work.247 For researchers looking to identify new collaborators, platforms such as these, which have already developed collaboration networks, are valuable starting points.

2.2 Universities and research institutions should welcome young scientists from ESPs, including to study and work as postdoctoral fellows in the United States. As these researchers return to their home countries, universities and research institutions should strengthen relationships and networks formed in the United States by identifying and removing barriers to collaboration. Doing so would promote a “brain circulation” model of mobility rather than compounding the already existing pull for ESP researchers to remain in the United States.

As university and research institute collaborations are built, attention must be paid to strengthening them equitably so they support talent and promising scientific ideas across well-resourced and emerging institutions alike. Researchers are naturally drawn to well-resourced labs and institutions that will enable them to pursue their scientific dreams. In countries and regions without strong commitments to building sustainable science ecosystems, resident scientists relocate outside of their home country to pursue their research goals more frequently than international scientists are drawn in. This brain drain pulls trained expertise away from countries that could benefit from capitalizing on this expertise to drive science innovation and engage the next generation of the science workforce.248

Alongside U.S. federal agencies, U.S. universities should take steps to combat brain drain and encourage “brain circulation” for the benefit of their own research enterprises and the well-being of the global research community over the long term. For example, universities should seek funding mechanisms that support international collaborations conducted by diasporas of trained scientists from ESPs residing in the United States. These programs could be modeled on other existing programs for international exchange, such as the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s long-standing postdoctoral scholarship program at Stanford University, which funds Swedish postdoctoral researchers across scientific disciplines so they can spend one to two years in the United States at Stanford.249

ESP diasporas in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have been key to developing scientific capacity in their home countries.250 Trained ESP scientists based in the United States can leverage their positions to foster long-standing collaborations and partnerships with researchers and centers in ESPs, especially when engaging with and recruiting early career researchers and graduate students. Sustained collaborations present opportunities for exchange programs between institutions, provide invaluable experiences and perspectives on both sides, and contribute to building a stronger critical mass and institutional knowledge in both contexts.

2.3 Universities and research institutions should enact policies that work toward appropriate credit attribution for publications, accommodations for language barriers, and equitable distribution of IP rights gained from research collaborations between U.S. and ESP scientists.

In the near term, universities should create policies that increase equity for ESP researchers, including by providing access to equipment and ensuring fairness in authorship and IP rights. Policy needs may vary across disciplines and contexts and should be determined in partnership with ESP researchers to ensure policy details do not unintentionally exacerbate inequities.

As one example, language barriers can meaningfully obstruct access to authorship for some ESP researchers. Many universities and research institutions provide formal guidelines for their research teams to determine authorship, while acknowledging substantial variation across scientific disciplines. These guidelines vary across institutions, as well as across scientific journals; for example, some say authors must be involved in manuscript drafting; others say authors may or may not need to directly draft or revise reports of research findings.251 U.S. researchers tend to draft and publish their manuscripts in English. International collaborators may or may not be well-positioned to draft a scientific publication in a nonnative language, despite having contributed to or co-led the scientific research. When working internationally, if authorship requires writing in a nonnative language, such a policy may unintentionally result in inadequate or no authorship credit for a collaborator who was a meaningful contributor or lead designer of the research.

Endnotes

• 246APRU, “About APRU” (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 247Ibid.
• 248M. A. Kana, “From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation,” Jos Journal of Medicine 4 (1) (2009): 8–10.
• 249Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, “The Wallenberg Foundation Postdoctoral Scholarship at Stanford University, USA” (accessed August 12, 2021).
• 250Rafiou Agoro, “African Diaspora Scientists as Development Catalysts,” Science and Diplomacy, June 7, 2018 (accessed August 31, 2021); and Tian Fangmeng, “Brain Circulation, Diaspora and Scientific Progress: A Study of the International Migration of Chinese Scientists, 1998–2006,” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 25 (3) (2016): 296–319.
• 251Research at Brown, “Authorship Policy,” Brown University (accessed August 31, 2021); and FAS Research Administration Services, “Guidelines on Authorship and Acknowledgement,” Harvard University (accessed August 31, 2021).

3. Scientific Societies and Academies

3.1 U.S. scientific society programs that facilitate global science should be expanded to facilitate interactions between U.S. scientists and ESP scientists. Programs should include public engagement by societies and their partners in ESPs, including in primary and secondary schools and in informal settings. They should also promote knowledge of major ESP research agendas and opportunities among U.S. researchers, including regional priorities often aligned with the UN’s SDGs.

3.2 American scientific academies and professional scientific societies should establish partnerships based on shared goals and initiatives with their counterparts in ESPs, including the GYA and the National Young Academies.

The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are well-established bodies with capacity to engage researchers internationally.257 Working with the  Global Young Academy (GYA) and newly established in-country branches of Young Academies around the world could lead to significant opportunities for mentorships and fostering relationships between U.S. and ESP scientists.258 Doing so would positively feed into the greater science community over the long term, as the young ESP scientists would be able to expand their networks, open avenues for dialogue and opportunities for engagement, and build greater capacity in scientific institutions in their home countries, including enhancing the capacity of their national science academies. Another significant focus of the GYA is the promotion of women in STEM and the removal of barriers to their involvement through its Women in Science working group.259 Thus, further support and collaboration between the United States and the GYA would open more channels for engagement with, as well as opportunities for the mentorship of, women in science.

3.3 U.S. scientific society journals should increase the participation of researchers from ESPs in the publication process by adopting changes to policies and training programs, including processes for identifying invited papers, serving on editorial boards, reviewing submissions, and submitting for and publishing research articles. They should also seek ways to improve publishing equity, including ensuring appropriate coauthor inclusion and anticipating and working to overcome language barriers.

3.4 When designing programs and nominating featured speakers for international conferences, U.S. scientific societies should recruit speakers, moderators, and other scientific leaders who are researchers in ESPs, with particular attention to involving rising stars. Overall, programs should represent ESP interests. When appropriate to the topic, scientific societies should consider hosting conferences and regional meetings outside the United States or holding them as more widely accessible virtual programs. ESP participation in conferences should be encouraged, potentially through travel awards, registration fee waivers, and family-friendly accommodations.

As scientific societies and academies work to engage internationally, opportunities for digital engagement must be carefully considered. In the past two decades, digital access has revolutionized the scientific enterprise and accelerated innovation, allowing rapid access to data and recently published studies and promoting communication among scientists around the globe. In the pandemic era, digital tools and platforms have been vital for maintaining established connections, and they have opened new opportunities to expand personal and professional networks through accessible scientific events such as conferences, panels, and lectures.260 Some scientists suggest that all conferences, by default, should be virtual so as to be more inclusive, especially of women and young scientists, who tend to have competing family obligations and have less access to travel funds, and be more environmentally conscious.261 The ease and low cost of “Zoom-style” meetings, dramatically advanced during the pandemic, make many new types of exchanges possible, and the many new opportunities should be fully explored.

However, digital access varies widely, both across and within countries, including within the United States. Referred to as the “digital divide,” nearly half of the global population does not have access to broadband Internet. Addressing this divide has proven challenging for the private sector alone to tackle. X Development, a subsidiary of Alphabet (the parent company of Google), was unable to find a sustainable business opportunity or partners for its moonshot initiative “Project Loon,” which aimed to bring the Internet to remote regions of the world.262

Scientists in ESPs face several barriers to access, including poor connectivity for home Internet users, significant difficulty accessing broadband Internet in rural areas, and high cost. Differences in access also have a significant gender component. Some countries in Africa, Asia, and South America report that women are 30–50 percent less likely to use the Internet than men are.263 Additionally, many benefits of in-person conferences, such as informal meetings and networking, are difficult or even impossible to duplicate in virtual settings.

Despite the limitations of virtual engagement, the tools and strategies employed to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and to expand connections around the world should not be discarded. Integrating digital tools and platforms into the conduct of scientific, development, and diplomatic work could be a key strategy for building relationships, promoting capacity-building efforts, and creating more equitable access to opportunities for scientists at all career levels and in all areas of the world.
 

Endnotes

• 257National Academies (accessed August 12, 2021); and National Academies, “New Voices in Science, Engineering, and Medicine” (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 258Bruce Alberts, “The Young Academy Movement,” Science 332 (6027) (2011): 283.
• 259Global Young Academy, “Women in Science” (accessed November 12, 2021).
• 260Michael Price, Natalia Aristizábal, Katie Langin, et al., “As COVID-19 Forces Conferences Online, Scientists Discover Upsides of Virtual Format,” Science, April 28, 2020; and Chris Woolston, “Learning to Love Virtual Conferences in the Coronavirus Era,” Nature 582 (2020): 135–136.
• 261Adam Fortais, “All Conferences Should Be Virtual in a Post-Coronavirus World,” Massive Science, April 28, 2020 (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 262Manish Singh, “Alphabet Is Shutting Down Loon Connectivity Firm,” TechCrunch, January 21, 2021 (accessed August 31, 2021).
• 263The State of Broadband 2019: Report High­lights (Geneva: Broadband Commission for Sustainable De­velopment, 2019) (accessed August 31, 2021).

4. Foundations and the Private Sector

4.1 Foundations and companies should fund the activities listed above for universities and scientific societies in cases where those activities align with foundation and company goals, including supporting ESP public engagement. U.S.-based foundations that work to promote development should consider basic science investment in ESPs to be an indirect but key path toward innovation and economic growth. However, doing so should not come at the expense of current investments in applied research addressing global challenges.

4.2 U.S.-based multinational research companies should strengthen relationships with ESP universities to encourage skills development and technology transfer from local ESP university researchers to local branches of their companies. They should also prioritize processes for hiring local scientific talent, with an emphasis on working toward diversity and inclusion.

4.3 Foundations should provide training for lawyers based at ESP universities and research institutions to facilitate specialized education about scientific MOUs, IP, and the legal aspects of establishing such formal agreements and arrangements.

Developing legal expertise to facilitate the administrative and legal processes related to formal scientific partnerships is essential for successfully navigating collaborations. Philanthropies, with their flexibility in setting funding priorities, could play a major role in building ESP capacity in this area, a necessary element for ensuring equity in collaborations between wealthy nations like the United States and ESPs. In the listening sessions conducted by the CISP project, scientists expressed the need for attorneys with the expertise to facilitate collaborations and ensure that the ESP partner is not being exploited and has due equity in the partnership.

Foundations also have a major role to play in sponsoring fellowships for ESP researchers, especially in early career stages. Many such fellowships already exist for international scholars. They should be expanded and should explicitly encourage participation by ESP scientists.

Just as markets are global, talent can be found anywhere. Investing in sustained initiatives to develop talent pools, establish new science and tech companies and start-ups, and contribute locally to developing S&T capacity could have tremendous benefits for innovation (see Tech in Africa below). Private sector collaborators have much to gain from supporting the expansion of talent in all corners of the globe, including in emerging scientific enterprises.