In May 2000 all of the world’s science academies created the InterAcademy Council (IAC) to mobilize the best scientists and engineers worldwide to provide high quality advice to influential international bodies–such as the United Nations and the World Bank–as well as to other institutions. Since then the IAC has produced reports on scientific, technological, and health issues related to the great global challenges of our time, providing knowledge and advice to national governments and international organizations.

IAC’s latest report, Women for Science, released in Paris on June 20, 2006, recommends ways to increase the number of women in science and calls for immediate action to help remedy the widespread and persistent underrepresentation of women in scientific and technical fields.

“If we are to spread science and its values around the globe, both in industrialized and developing nations, the full potential of all populations must be harnessed for scientific endeavors,” said IAC Board co-chairs Bruce Alberts, past president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Lu Yongxiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “and science must belong to all citizens, whether male or female, rich or poor.”

Read the report at the InterAcademy web site: http://www.interacademycouncil.net/?id=11228