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Dear Colleagues,
At a moment when global challenges are converging with unprecedented speed, the World Academy of Art and Science continues to champion the vital role of human-centered leadership, ethical innovation, and international cooperation. Our work this year reflects a growing recognition across sectors and institutions that securing a shared future requires more than responding to crises—it requires redefining how we understand our present. To this end, we continue to host and participate in events of global significance.
At the 28th General Assembly of CoNGO, we joined partners from across civil society to advance a threefold mission: to clarify the realities shaping our world, to chart a collective path toward a safer and more inclusive future, and to strengthen the voice of civil society at the United Nations. Recently launched projects such as the Global Peace Offensive, Existential Threats and Risks to All (EXTRA) and The Planetary Arts Movement (X-Art) have attracted tremendous interest and activity among Fellows, and we invite you to become involved.
These collaborations and conversations reaffirmed a truth at the heart of WAAS: that global transformation is possible only when informed leadership, empowered institutions, and engaged citizens act together with purpose.
This edition of our newsletter highlights that spirit in action—from new approaches to addressing systemic risk and promoting peace education, to youth engagement, technological innovation, and groundbreaking research initiatives. Across continents and disciplines, our Fellows and partners continue to demonstrate what conscious global collaboration can achieve. I invite you to explore these efforts and join us in advancing a world that works for all.
Sincerely,
Garry Jacobs President, WAAS | | |
Defining the Present, Securing a Shared Future, Asserting Civil Society Participation at the United Nations |  |
During the 28th General Assembly of CoNGO (Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations) between 27-29 October, 2025, Garry Jacobs and WAAS Executive Director Ketan Patel, held a conversation with the outgoing CoNGO President Liberato Bautista and human rights lawyer Jesselina Rana around the three-part theme of the assembly: "Defining the Present, Securing a Shared Future, Asserting Civil Society Participation at the United Nations."
“We have reached a stage when conscious global collaboration is imperative to lead us through a process of social transformation founded on the principles peace, prosperity and human security for all," said Jacobs. "This transition requires leadership with a deeper knowledge of the process of global social evolution and the will to direct it, reconstituted institutions with the power and authority to act on behalf of all humanity, and civil society institutions dedicated to inspiring the global general public – especially youth — with the awareness, understanding and willingness to support it.”
"A shared future requires the mass mobilisation of solutions to deliver progress," said Patel. "The world must build 260 million affordable homes, hundreds of thousands of schools, hospitals, renewable energy systems, and nearly 300,000 km of seawalls and more to do so. Yet blended finance in 2024 covered c.0.1% of SDG needs. Addressing the world’s issues requires risks to be transformed, allowing solutions to reach every corner of the world." |
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| Watch Here |
| Event Reportback |
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Coping with Polycrisis and Systemic Risks: New Approaches to Assessment and Governance
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On November 7, 2025, The WAAS Existential Threats and Risks to All (EXTRA) group held an online discussion that emphasized the shift from integrated disaster and risk research from topical analysis—such as dealing with natural disasters, technological accidents or environmental crises—to a comprehensive analysis of interconnected and mutually interactive risk sources and crises. This interaction has often been framed in the language of “polycrisis” indicating the potentially amplifying and cascading effects of each crisis from one domain to the next.
The event explored new approaches such as foresight, integrated risk assessment, and adaptive management. The session was moderated by Ortwin Renn, Director of Systemic Risk Research, EXTRA, the panelists included: Thomas Reuter, WAAS Trustee and Chair of the EXTRA group, Pia-Johanna Schweiter, RIFS, Germany, Huan Liu, South China University of Technology, China, Guoyi Han, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden, Jonathan Donges, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, and Reinhard Mechler, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria |
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| Watch Here |
| The Science of Peace Education |
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Presented live on UN World Science Day, November 10, 2025, the Global Peace Education Network (GPEN) and WAAS shared a webinar titled "The Science of Peace Education." More than 30 individuals spoke, including António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, Donato Kiniger-Passigli, Vice President (Social Sciences & Humanities), WAAS, David Weinberg, CEO of GPEN, and WAAS Junior Fellow Kehkashan Basu. They shared practical ways to shift mindsets and mobilize communities and featured highlights from the Paris Summit. Around the planet, we urgently need peacebuilding skills. Climate upheaval, armed conflict, historic waves of human displacement and other crises now threaten our existence. The event highlighted that to survive, our communities must quickly master the peace practices required, building skills for trust, transformation and tomorrow.
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| Watch: "Going Far Together" |
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| Watch: "Securing Life" |
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| Watch: "Taking Peace to Heart" |
| GlobalMindED New York: Local Action Shaping Global Leaders |
 | Above, center: Grant Schreiber. Right: Carol Carter |
On October 20, 2025, WAAS Fellow Carol Carter of GlobalMindED hosted an event at the United Nations that brought leaders from business, government, education, and non-profits together with select students to identify solutions to today’s workforce pipeline challenges. WAAS General Manger Grant Schreiber, spoke on a panel titled "Human by Design," that highlighted the importance of human security in creating employment opportunity through AI, collaboration and innovation. The underemployment of 52% of U.S. college graduates creates significant negative effects for businesses, individuals, and the broader economy. The event stressed the need for skills of compassion, diplomacy, tolerance, and connection by students, educators and business leaders alike.
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| Watch Here |
| Partner News |
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The Parliamentarians' Global Guide to Climate Change and Climate Solutions WAAS is an associating partner to a new guide for parliamentarians that highlights why human well-being depends on planetary health. The guide was developed in association with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Arizona State University, and University of Exeter, among others. |
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| Download the Guide |
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The World Investment Plan, Investing in the Global Transition
WAAS Research Partner Force for Good released an updated report — The World Investment Plan — at COP30 that provides a practical route through today’s global turbulence, including conflict, climate shocks, technological disruption, and social strain. It outlines the basis of a worldwide investment boom based on profitably building essential assets to protect and advance towards a more secure future for all.
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| Download the Report |
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WAAS Returns to CES WAAS has been invited back to CES, the world's largest technology event, for the fourth-year running. CES is a supporter of the WAAS Human Security for All campaign (HS4A), supported by the UN Trust Fund for Human Security. In addition to the HS4A booth that will film interviews with tech leaders, a record 19 WAAS Fellows participated in judging of the Human Security category of the CES Innovation Awards.
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| WAAS DIGEST |
| Books/Articles by Members |
| | | Art by Members | |
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 | | Recent Member Activities | |
NOVEMBER 2025 / CAPE TOWN Jonathan Granoff: Keynote Address, FW de Klerk Memorial Lecture
The Foundation hosted Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, as the keynote speaker, who delivered a lecture on: “FW de Klerk’s Commitment to Justice: Transformation, Constitutionalism and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons”
OCTOBER 2025 / EUROPE
Alberto Zucconi: The COPE Project
Preparing informal educators in Europe for work with trauma survivors. The training course and workbook will be freely available here.
SEPTEMBER 2025 / EUROPE Phoebe Koundouri: AE4RIA Activity Report
Phoebe Koundouri is appointed as Co-Chair of the 2027 UN Global Sustainable Development Report & First Official UN Member State Briefing and receives the Award of Excellence of the Republic of Cyprus. | |
Upcoming Events | |
5 DECEMBER, 2025 / CONSTANTA, ONLINE International Conference on the Global Peace Offensive
“The Challenges to Peace in the Black Sea and the Role of the Tatars for a Future based on Security, Trust & Cooperation”. REGISTER HERE
5 DECEMBER, 2025 / ZAGREB The Role of Science in War and Peace — Dialogue, Respect and Dignity
Hosted by Pugwash Croatia, this event will mark several international anniversaries: The 70th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the 30th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Sir Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs. This year, Croatia marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of the academician and humanist Ivan Supek, founder of Pugwash Croatia. READ MORE
6-9 JANUARY, 2026 / LAS VEGAS CES 2026
CES, the world’s largest consumer tech event, will once again partner with WAAS and the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) to highlight how tech can play a critical role in solving pressing social and environmental issues. WAAS will host a panel discussion on 6 January 2026 at CES on "Human Security and Mobility." READ MORE |
| From The Archives |
 | The Architect of Possibility: How Buckminster Fuller Embodied the World Academy’s Dream.
Fuller became a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science during a period when both he and the organization were grappling with the same fundamental question: How could human ingenuity solve global problems rather than create them? The Academy was founded on the recognition that scientific discovery had created instruments of unparalleled power for either fulfillment or destruction, and Fuller, an early futurist, had spent decades developing what he called “Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science”—a methodology aimed at making the world work for all humanity through technological innovation guided by ethical principles. READ MORE
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