5 Ideas from Global Diplomacy

This was an undeniably tremendous undertaking, made possible by all those who shared their time, expertise, and resources. Many researchers you find on this list like myself work behind-the-scenes: we build arguments and proofs to make recommendations on complex global challenges, and we always exercise caution because initiatives have the potential to do harm just as they have the potential to do good. Some days we feel like we have things together, then there are others when we wish we could have done more. In many respects we are ordinary people doing our jobs as meticulously as we can with the time that we have. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication though all errors are my own. This section is for everyone who made this project possible by sheer force of will, creativity, and dedication. Thank you!

This project would not be possible without the support of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) during my time as a Global Diplomacy Fellow. I would like to offer a heartfelt thank you to my advisor H.E. Ambassador Dr. Yuriy Sergeyev (Visiting Lecturer, UNITAR) who was the first to support the project. I would also like to thank Mr. Nikhil Seth (Executive Director, UNITAR), and H.E. Ambassador Mr Marco A. Suazo (Head of New York Office, UNITAR). Thank you to my reader Ms. Larisa Schelkin (Professor of Practice, UNITAR) for her expertise on science diplomacy, and Mr. Pelayo Alvarez (Programme Coordinator, UNITAR) for his continued support.

I am grateful for the support of the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs, and in particular my Co-Director, Dr. Marguerite Van Cook (Adjunct Professor, Columbia University), for going on this journey with me. Thank you to the universities that provided research support. The breadth and depth of this publication was staggering.  I received additional research training for this publication from the University of Oxford Dept. of Politics and International Relations and the Dept. of Continuing Education Graduate School. I have also attended many research seminars at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the University of Oxford Faculty of Law, and the Oxford Centre for Economic and Social History. They provided an understanding of different disciplinary logics that were critical to this transdisciplinary research project.

A sincere thank you goes to SDG16 Hub, a practitioner’s platform hosted by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, for providing the space for our public forum, and the UN General Assembly Science Summit for hosting the Future of Global Governance Series Workshops. Thank you goes to the SDG16 Hub, the Network for Transdisciplinary Research of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (Td-Net), and the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) for supporting our outreach. Thank you to the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) at Johns Hopkins University, the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN), Act4SDGs by the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign, and JISCMail for providing a platform for outreach. I would also like to recognize the value of the public archives provided by the Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab, the WHO Council on the Economics of Health For All, and the Internet Archive.

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their already busy lives to contribute to the Global Stakeholder Consultation Process. Special thanks goes to Benjamin Hanussek (Director, Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology Game Lab), Brent M. Shea, Ph.D. (Professor of Sociology, Emeritus & Adjunct, Sweet Briar College), Christina Ntulo (Country Director, StrongMinds Uganda), Damian Pattinson (Executive Director, eLife, UK), Dennis Larsen (Co-Founder and Director, Initiative for Global Sustainable Economies (IGSE); University Lecturer, BI Norwegian Business School), Domenico Dentoni (Full Professor and Co-Director of the Chair COAST (Communication and OrgAnizing for Sustainable Transformations), Montpellier Business School), Emma Leiken (Chief of Programs, Omidyar Network), Inez Harker-Schuch, Ph.D. (Co-founder, The Planet Academy; Researcher and Environmental Scientist), Ivy Kwan Arce (President, Treatment Action Group (TAG)), Jerome Glenn (CEO, The Millennium Project), Jim Hall, FREng (Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks; Director of Research, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford), Joachim Nijs (Founder, 自然をつくる国日本 (Japan: Nation Building Nature)), Julien Isoré (Alan Tod, Forest Artist), Lowell Clare (Independent Researcher); Peggy Cyphers (Professor of Painting, Pratt Institute), Peter Kennard (Professor of Political Art, Royal College of Art), Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, DHSc, MSc, MA (Research Director, Real World Evidence, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy), Shady El Damaty, Ph.D. (President, OpSci; Co-Founder, Holonym), Steve MacFeely (Director of Data and Analytics, World Health Organization (WHO)), Stuart RF King (Research Culture Manager, eLife, UK), Umberto Fracassi (Research Scientist, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)), and others.

Thank you to the Global Consortium for Systems Research (GCSR) for coordinating the collaborative peer review process. Special thanks goes to collaborative peer reviewers especially Andrzej Klimczuk, Ph.D. (Sociologist and public policy expert; Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Policy of the Collegium of Socio-Economics at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland), Annabel Pretty (Senior Lecturer, Te Pūkenga, Aotearoa), Brent M. Shea, Ph.D. (Professor of Sociology, Emeritus & Adjunct, Sweet Briar College), Jacqueline Mitchell (Professor Emeritus in Health, Futurist, and Community Advocate), Roni Kay M. O’Dell, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Political Science, Coordinator of the Political Science and Global Studies Program, Seton Hill University), Dr. Marguerite Van Cook (Adjunct Professor, Columbia University), Umberto Fracassi (Research Scientist, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)), and others.

Thank you goes to the participants of our Global Stakeholder Consultation Process as well. Special thanks to Arthur Wandzel (Founder, Delta Capture), Cathleen Zeippen (Independent), James Romberger (Artist and Professor, School of Visual Arts), LeeCherry (NC State University College of Design), LouiseO'Boyle (Associate Dean (Academic Quality & Student Experience), Ulster University), Martina De Sole (Director, European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)), NabihaMiskini (Chief Service, National Institute of Statistics), Sarah Johnson (PhD Candidate, Kingston School of Art), Dr. Swati Bute (Associate Professor, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal-India), and others.

Thank you to the many people who supported this project off the record.

Thank you to my friends and family in every sense of the word, and thank you to my Airedale Terrier Frederic.