Science as common ground: How research bridges divides

Can science create common ground where politics struggles to? The 2026 World Science Day for Peace and Development, observed on November 10 under the theme "Common ground through science diplomacy," offers a timely answer. Two recent initiatives – one regional, one bilateral – show what that common ground looks like in practice.

In Jordan, the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) has operated since 2017 as the region's only synchrotron light source. Its members – Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine and Türkiye – include countries often divided by conflict, yet they jointly fund and use the facility. 

In November 2025, the United Kingdom's national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source, hosted a SESAME delegation and confirmed a major technical contribution: equipment that will enable SESAME to build a new beamline. Speaking at that event, Professor Dame Angela McLean, the UK Government's chief scientific adviser, said international collaboration on science facilities like SESAME "benefits all members," and they are hubs for training, technology development and science diplomacy, providing access to capabilities that "no country could achieve alone."

A second example comes from Beijing. On October 29, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina signed the "SfF2026 Declaration on Climate, Health and Biodiversity" during the third Science for Future conference. The declaration commits both academies to joint research on climate-related health risks and to "the equitable exchange of data and the responsible use of modern technologies."

Neither initiative will dissolve geopolitical tensions. But together they demonstrate what science diplomacy offers: shared infrastructure, shared evidence and a shared stake in problems that no single country can solve alone. The 2026 theme is not aspirational rhetoric. It describes work already under way.