New UN advisory board to focus on scientific breakthroughs

New York, Aug. 4, (dpa/GNA) - A new advisory board will advise United Nations leaders on breakthroughs in science and technology, UN Secretary General António Guterres announced on Thursday. 

The panel will also keep UN leaders informed about how to harness the benefits of advances and mitigate potential risks, a statement said. 

“Scientific and technological progress can support efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals — but they are also giving rise to ethical, legal and political concerns that require multilateral solutions,” Guterres said. 

The board would strengthen the role of the UN as a reliable source of data and evidence, he added. 

In addition to experts already working for the UN, seven scientists from different disciplines working at universities in Canada, Argentina, South Africa and the US would make up the board. It would also be associated with a network of diverse scientific institutions from across the world, Guterres said. 

One of the members is the German-American Nobel laureate Thomas Südhof. Südhof is a biochemist at Stanford University. In 2013, he and two other scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of essential transport mechanisms in cells. 

GNA