Amanda Shores

On November 7th, in Marrakech, Morocco, the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will open its 22nd meeting. The Belmont Forum will be present to participate in an ICSU-hosted panel on urgent needs in climate research science following the Paris Agreement.

Next week marks the 11th annual plenary meeting of the Belmont Forum. The meeting, hosted by the Qatar National Research Fund in Doha, Qatar, brings together funding organizations and ministries from more than 24 countries, UN and international development agencies, regional science consortia, and international scientific governance bodies.

In Beijing this week, awardees from the joint JPI-FACCE and Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action on Food Security and Land Use Change will be presenting at the 3rd annual Global Land Project Open Science Meeting.

The Belmont Forum, together with JPI Urban Europe, invites those interested in learning more about our newest call, the Sustainable Urban Global Initiative (SUGI): Food-Water-Energy Nexus, to a webinar on October 5th!

The recent EcoSummit Meeting in Montpellier, France, highlighted the advances of several Belmont Forum projects. Investigators shared their results and experiences conducting multi-national, inter- and trandisciplinary research during special sessions at this 5th Congress.

International Data Week formally opened last night in Denver, Colorado with very positive discussions about data sharing, interoperability, stewardship, incentives, training, and metrics for assessing improvement towards a more open data universe.

It is with great sadness and loss that we mark the passing last night of our friend and colleague, Dr. Allison. His contributions to the Forum include a lasting legacy of open data that we will carry forward, breaking down barriers and building partnerships with a smile and kind words, just like Lee.

In his new blog, Open Data and Open Science, Dr. Robert Gurney of the University of Reading and the Belmont Forum E-Infrastructure Secretariat details new opportunities for input to the evolving datascape. This online forum provides an interactive platform for data scientists, users, students, and stakeholders to engage in the developing activities of the Belmont Forum E-Infrastructure.

The members of the Belmont Forum welcome a new partner in support of increased data access to inform human action and adaptation to global environmental change. The Group on Earth Observations joins our partners ICSU, IIASA, ISSC, and USGCRP in advancing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science through inter-institutional cooperation.

Next week at the 5th General Assembly of the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD) hosted by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Mao Takeuchi, Deputy Director of the Belmont Forum, will give an invited presentation about the Forum’s efforts to build capacity in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science to address multi-national concerns about global change.