G20 CSAR meet | Traditional knowledge systems, interlinked repositories: Nations discuss priority areas
G20 countries also acknowledged the need to enable “immediate and universal access to appropriate publicly funded scholarly scientific knowledge to communities within and beyond G20 members”.
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A glimpse of the G20-Chief Science Advisers’ Roundtable (CSAR) meetings that concluded in Gandhinagar on Monday. (X/InfoGujarat) Traditional and indigenous knowledge systems should be taken into account with contemporary science to foster evidence-based innovations that are culturally inspired and locally relevant, recommended an outcome document on Monday as the G20-Chief Science Advisers’ Roundtable (CSAR) meetings concluded in Gandhinagar.
In response to a query by The Indian Express, Principal Scientific Adviser Prof Ajay Kumar Sood added, “No specific model was discussed but what is important is to bring the traditional knowledge in the framework, of course, based on evidence-driven evaluations. The idea is to not look at the traditional knowledge system with a bias. Many countries, not only India, have strong support for that because they too have their own tribal communities, and it is a rich source of knowledge.”
Meanwhile, G20 countries also acknowledged the need to enable “immediate and universal access to appropriate publicly funded scholarly scientific knowledge to communities within and beyond G20 members”.
However, the countries emphasised that such scholarly accessibility should uphold the “protection of national security”, and “research integrity, privacy, and protection of intellectual property rights”.
For expanding access to scholarly scientific knowledge, the countries recommended establishing “interoperability standards that would allow interlinking among various national as well as international repositories to expand access to publicly funded research outputs”.
2nd meeting of #G20 Chief Science Advisers’ Roundtable begins at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar with Opening remarks by Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of 🇮🇳 Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood
Science advisors,Scientists,researchers from G 20 countries are taking part in meeting pic.twitter.com/auFNN4PBB2
— Gujarat Information (@InfoGujarat) August 28, 2023
“Frameworks for research assessment and evaluation that take into consideration the holistic contribution of research outputs, including both their intrinsic merit as well as the broader impact, are desirable and deserve further development,” the outcome document read.
Making a push for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI&A), a comprehensive DEI&A database was proposed by the countries at the meeting, which would be on “comparable DEI&A indicators” so as to foster evidence-informed policy-making. However further details of this proposed DEI&A remain to be discussed, notes the outcome document of the meet.
Additionally, in order to establish government-to-government (G2G) synergies when it comes to science and technology, the countries agreed on institutionalising a mechanism that “brings chief science advisers and their nominated equivalents together” across the G20 nations “to deliberate on contemporary issues that “demand effective global science advice to address existing knowledge asymmetries”.
Among the other priority areas discussed were opportunities in ‘One Health for Better Disease Prevention, Control, and Pandemic Preparedness’, where the countries stressed the need to facilitate the development of data standards via appropriate bodies for better information sharing.
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