Meeting of the International Scientific Unions of ICSU

The International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) was well represented at a
meeting of the International Scientific Unions of the International Council for Science
(ICSU). The meeting was held in Paris from 29 to 30 April 2013, and IUPsyS was
represented by the President, Saths Cooper, the Secretary-General, Ann Watts, and
Executive Committee member, Pam Maras.

Pam Maras, ICSU President Yuan-Tseh Lee, Saths Cooper and Ann Watts

The agenda was organised around plenary and break-out sessions. During the initial
plenary session, President Lee invited criticisms of ICSU’s processes, functioning and
direction which set the tone of constructive engagement during the meeting. Key
areas addressed in break-out sessions on the first day were the‘Future Earth’
initiative, science education and communication between ICSU and its Union
members. The communication break-out sessions were chaired by Pam Maras.

During the second day these sessions targeted Integrated Research on Disaster Risk
(IDRD), urban health and well-being, new disciplinary horizons and open access to
data and information. It was noteworthy that psychological input was referred to
during both plenary and break-out sessions, highlighting the centrality of behaviour
to all the issues and problems addressed and the potential future contribution of the
discipline in these spheres.

Three clusters of Unions met prior to the meeting: Biological Unions, Geographical
Unions and Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Unions. IUPsyS has taken the
initiative to convene and coordinate the Social Science Unions cluster.