This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Academia de Ciencias del Tercer Mundo | |
|---|---|
| Name | Academia de Ciencias del Tercer Mundo |
| Native name | Academia de Ciencias del Tercer Mundo |
| Formation | 1983 |
| Headquarters | Tehran |
| Region served | Global South |
| Leader title | Presidente |
Academia de Ciencias del Tercer Mundo is an international scholarly organization founded in 1983 to promote scientific research, technological development, and policy dialogue in the Global South. The academy has engaged with a wide array of institutions across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, linking scholars and policymakers from cities such as Tehran, New Delhi, Cairo, Lagos, Brasília, and Havana. It has convened conferences, published proceedings, and participated in multilateral initiatives with universities and research councils worldwide.
The academy was established amid geopolitical shifts following events like the Non-Aligned Movement summit and the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution (1979), with founding meetings influenced by delegations from India, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, and Cuba. Early patrons and signatories included representatives connected to institutions such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Organization of African Unity, the South Commission, and the Group of 77. Founding figures drew on intellectual networks that involved scholars associated with the Indian Institute of Science, Cairo University, University of São Paulo, University of Havana, and University of Lagos. Major conferences were held in capitals including New Delhi, Cairo, Tehran, Nairobi, and Caracas, and themes intersected with debates prompted by the Brandt Report, the UNCTAD reports, and positions articulated at the World Conference on Science. Over decades the academy navigated transitions related to the end of the Cold War, the expansion of the European Union, the emergence of the BRICS grouping, and initiatives such as the Montreal Protocol and the Rio Earth Summit.
The stated mission emphasizes scientific capacity-building for countries represented in forums like the Organization of American States, the African Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while engaging with agencies including the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Objectives include fostering partnerships among institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, Peking University, University of Tokyo, and University of Cape Town for technology transfer, advising policy actors linked to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank, and promoting research agendas that resonate with platforms like the Sustainable Development Goals debates endorsed at the United Nations General Assembly.
The governance model features an executive council, regional boards, and thematic committees, with officers who have affiliations to organizations including the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS), the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences (United States), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Membership categories have paralleled fellowships and honorary roles similar to those in the Royal Society of Canada, Indian National Science Academy, Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, and the Academy of Sciences of South Africa. Elections, nominations, and awards have invoked comparisons to procedures at the Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Society, the National Research Council (Italy), and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. The academy has hosted visiting professors and researchers connected to Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Université Paris-Saclay.
Programs include capacity-building workshops, regional symposiums, and thematic networks in areas related to institutions like CERN, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, African Academy of Sciences, Latin American Academy of Sciences, and Arab Academy of Sciences. Thematic initiatives have addressed public health in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, climate research aligned with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agricultural innovation with International Rice Research Institute, and energy policy linked to International Energy Agency. Field projects have partnered with local universities such as Makerere University, University of Ghana, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad de Chile, and University of the West Indies, and with multilateral programs like UNIDO, UNDP, and UNESCO regional bureaux. Capacity programs referenced models from the Wellcome Trust, the Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and regional funds such as the African Development Bank and Asian Development Bank.
The academy has produced conference proceedings, policy briefs, and journals comparable in scope to titles from Nature, Science (journal), The Lancet, PNAS, and regional periodicals such as African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development and Revista Mexicana de Ciencias. Editorial collaborations have involved presses and platforms associated with Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Elsevier, Springer, and Taylor & Francis, and indexing efforts referenced databases like Scopus, Web of Science, and Directory of Open Access Journals. Outreach has included partnerships with broadcasting organizations such as BBC World Service, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America, and digital dissemination aligned with repositories such as arXiv and PubMed Central.
The academy has engaged in trilateral and multilateral collaborations with entities including the European Commission, the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and specialist networks like TWAS, ICSU (International Council for Science), Global Research Council, and the International Science Council. Bilateral memoranda and joint projects connected it with national agencies such as CONICET, CSIR (India), CSIC (Spain), CNPq (Brazil), and NSFC (China), and with UN-related programs including UNFCCC and WHO technical cooperation. Regional alliances involved the MERCOSUR academic forums, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation research panels, and the Commonwealth of Nations science initiatives.
Advocates credit the academy with elevating research visibility for scholars from institutions like University of Nairobi, University of Ibadan, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad de la República (Uruguay), and University of Dar es Salaam, and for informing policy debates at forums such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations and Commission on Science and Technology for Development. Critics have challenged aspects of governance, funding, and geopolitical alignment, drawing comparisons to controversies surrounding development aid agencies, donor-driven programs linked to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and debates seen in contexts like the Green Revolution and patent disputes exemplified by TRIPS Agreement controversies. Questions have been raised about representation vis-à-vis transnational corporations, national academies like the Académie des Sciences, and scientific publishing norms set by outlets such as Nature Communications.
Category:International scientific organizations