Science diplomacy is experiencing growing politicization. Once viewed largely as an apolitical mechanism for fostering international research collaboration and mutual understanding, scientific innovation is now increasingly positioned as a strategic asset tied to national power and influence.

On Wednesday, February 18th, at 9 am PT, the Pacific Council will explore how governments are moving away from scientific collaboration and are instead leveraging scientific capabilities to advance economic competitiveness, safeguard digital and technological infrastructure, and strengthen national security. Attendees will hear from Professor Paul Arthur Berkman, Fellow, International Science Council & Founder, Science Diplomacy Center, and Dr. Jonathan I. Lunine, Chief Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, and Pacific Council Science and Technology Senior Fellow. 

Why it’s important:

• Geopolitical polarization is turning science into a national security issue, replacing free exchange with sanctions and techno-nationalism.
• On October 19, 2025, Beijing’s Ministry of State Security and Internet Emergency Center shared the details of a cyberattack they attributed to the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA). This reveal was met with calls for U.S. tech decoupling in China as Beijing amplified the growing suspicion of American technology products. 
• Space is emerging as a competitive frontier, with China, India, Israel, etc., all increasing investments in space exploration

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

Guest Speaker 

Professor Paul Arthur Berkman is a Fellow of the International Science Council and Founder of the Science Diplomacy Center in the United States. He is a Faculty Associate with the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and a Visiting Distinguished Professor with the International Institute of Science Diplomacy and Sustainability (IISDS) in Malaysia. Paul wintered in Antarctica on a SCUBA research expedition with Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1981 and became a Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles the following year at the age of 23, when he began to develop science diplomacy.

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Guest Speaker

Dr. Jonathan Lunine is Chief Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology. He came to Pasadena in 2024 after 13 years as the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, including five years as chair of the Department of Astronomy, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Prior to that, he was on the faculty in Planetary Science and Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Arizona, Tucson, for 25 years, and Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, in Italy, from 2010-2011.

Lunine has performed pioneering research on the formation and evolution of planetary systems, the nature of planetary interiors and atmospheres, and where environments suited for life might exist in the solar system and beyond. He pursues this research through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He was an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and on the James Webb Space Telescope, both joint missions between NASA, the European Space Agency ESA, and other space agencies. Presently, he is a co-investigator on NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter and the Europa Clipper mission headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and a team member on the 3GM gravity experiment on ESA’s JUICE mission on its way to Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.

Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has chaired or co-chaired numerous advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA, including the Giant Planet Systems panel for the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023, and "Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration."

Lunine received a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Rochester and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the California Institute of Technology.

 

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.