Nordic Life Science 1
PEACE // INTERVIEW 78 “The whole validation of di
sarmament was based on developments scientists made together. For this to happen, exchange and good communication between scientists is necessary.” T Hannes Jung, Spokesperson, Science4Peace Forum he Science4Peace Forum was founded in February 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its goal is international cooperation for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of humanity. “With scientific cooperation and communication, better understanding in other areas also comes. Science can provide communication channels, where politics might fail,” says Jung. Science works independently of political and ideological ideas, and scientific cooperation often helps to pave the road for diplomatic initiatives. As an example of these ideas, Jung mentions the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, founded in the fall of 1954 by scientists whose countries were fighting against each other during World War II. It was important for the initiators to work together on fundamental physics issues, regardless of their political systems. “In order to find solutions to the immense challenges in fundamental physics, international exchange is necessary. No nation can cope with this alone,” he says. During the Cold War, the initiative to start freezing and then reducing nuclear weapons was initiated by scientists, continues Jung. “The whole validation of disarmament was based on developments scientists made together. For this to happen, exchange and good communication between scientists is necessary.” A third example is the SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) project, initiated at the end of the 1990s in Jordan. “In this ”CERN of the Middle East” scientists from Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, as well as Turkey and Cyprus work together peacefully, although some of them are politically in conflict. This is how one gets to know other perspectives and this helps in mutual understanding,” says Jung. Consequences from the war in Ukraine After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 many western science organizations and laboratories banned any institutional cooperation with Russian and Belarusian institutes. In some cases, even common publications and participation in common conferences were banned. This led to the founding of the Science4Peace Forum, describes Jung. “The Science4Peace Forum was formed when a group of scientists from international research laboratories came together to protest against these unjustified and even counterproductive measures. Even one year after the war began, these measures are still in place, but the sanctions did not help to end this senseless killing of people,” he says. The consequences of the sanctions in science are immense, he says. Long term cooperations, which started even during the cold war, are now put on ice. Scientists who worked in laboratories for fundamental research were sent back. For young students from Russia and Belarus, the possibilities to work in fundamental science are reduced, and many might face work for the military. “But even more, trust is broken. If trust is broken, even after the war, it will take many years or even decades, to rebuild and reach a situation we had before the war,” says Jung. “There were many scientists opposing the war against Ukraine. If cooperation no longer exists, these people have to go back and might face consequences. With the sanctions against institutes, these people are also punished, which is the opposite of what one should aim for.” Scientific progress will be also slowed down, and in some cases will be impossible, both in Russia and in Ukraine. PEACE // INTERVIEW