A global perspective on power, policy, and science diplomacy from one of the field’s leading international voices, Professor Alexis Roig
Just days after participating in the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, where global headlines focused on geopolitical fragmentation, climate-driven instability, the politicization of technology, and the erosion of trust between blocs, Alexis Roig has arrived in Pakistan for a series of high-level engagements focused on science diplomacy as a tool of national resilience and global governance.
Alexis Roig serves as CEO of SciTech DiploHub, an international organisation at the intersection of science and foreign policy, and is a researcher at the United Nations University (UNU) and the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), as well as Professor of Science Diplomacy at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI), bridging entrepreneurship, academia, and diplomacy across multiple continents.
Over recent years, he has emerged as a leading international voice on how science, technology, and innovation are reshaping diplomacy and global power, working closely with governments, cities, and multilateral institutions across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. His work has contributed to shaping how science diplomacy is defined, understood, and practiced by governments, cities, and multilateral institutions worldwide. As a result, his analysis and practice of science diplomacy are frequently used as reference points in international policy debates and training contexts. He has also been among the experts appointed by the European Commission to contribute to the elaboration of Europe’s science diplomacy framework.
During his visit to Pakistan, Professor Alexis Roig is participating in ThinkFest in Lahore, where he is engaging in a high-level public dialogue with Musadik Malik, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Climate Change, on climate governance, resilience, and how knowledge increasingly shapes public policy decisions. He has also been invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan to deliver a specialized training session at the Foreign Service Academy in Islamabad, contributing to the preparation of the next generation of Pakistani diplomats in science and technology diplomacy. In parallel, his program includes academic exchanges with leading universities and engagements with national media, reflecting the growing international interest in science diplomacy as a strategic field of practice.
Across regions and governance levels, science diplomacy has become a shared framework for navigating global uncertainty, technological change, and geopolitical risk. At a moment when international institutions warn that geo economic confrontation, misinformation, and extreme weather are among the defining risks shaping 2026, The Diplomatic Insight spoke with Professor Alexis Roig about Pakistan’s strategic opportunities, climate governance, regional stability, and why scientific credibility has become a core pillar of modern statecraft.
TDI: As you move from Davos to Islamabad and engage directly with Pakistani institutions, global leaders are warning of fragmentation, strategic rivalry, and a more transactional world order. Why does Pakistan matter more in today’s global conversations than many international observers assume?
One of the dominant messages emerging from the Davos summit this year, echoed across panels on climate finance, AI governance, supply chains, and global risk, was that cooperation is becoming harder, more selective, and increasingly shaped by power politics and standards competition. This was not abstract. It was practical and immediate.
Pakistan matters in this context because it sits at the intersection of several of these pressures. It experiences climate risk directly, it is embedded in complex regional dynamics, and it has a young population navigating rapid technological change. Yet it is still too often framed internationally only through crisis narratives.
Science diplomacy offers a different lens. It allows Pakistan to reposition itself within global policy conversations on climate resilience, technology governance, global health security, and development not as a passive recipient, but as a credible partner in solutions. In the twenty-first century, standards, not slogans, increasingly determine who holds influence. Countries that can connect domestic expertise to international decision-making gain strategic agency, and Pakistan has both the knowledge base and the lived experience to do so.
TDI: Professor, at ThinkFest in Lahore, you are sharing the stage with Federal Minister Musadik Malik, in a session hosted by the European Union Delegation in Pakistan. What does science diplomacy add when climate policy is discussed at this level?
Climate is where science diplomacy becomes unavoidable, because it sits at the intersection of evidence, policy delivery, and international trust.
Our exchange reflects an important evolution in how climate is now understood. It is no longer treated as a purely environmental issue, but as national resilience, shaping infrastructure choices, public health preparedness, food systems, and economic stability. Increasingly, the decisive question is what can be implemented: early-warning systems, preparedness, and credible data that enable coordination and unlock international support.
Science diplomacy strengthens this operational layer. It connects Pakistan’s domestic priorities with global mechanisms such as adaptation finance, technology partnerships, and research cooperation, while ensuring that Pakistan’s technical capabilities are recognized internationally. Without scientific credibility, climate diplomacy becomes declaratory. Without diplomacy, science remains underused.
TDI: Pakistan’s disaster-management community is placing growing emphasis on preparedness and early warning. How does that kind of planning connect to foreign policy and diplomacy?
Preparedness is not only an internal administrative task; it is also a diplomatic one. Early-warning systems, baseline data, and coordinated planning create the conditions for international interoperability, whether with multilateral agencies, scientific partners, or neighboring countries facing shared risks. When institutions invest in anticipatory governance, they also invest in international credibility.
Science diplomacy ensures that these domestic efforts are linked outward to international scientific networks, shared standards, and long-term partnerships. In practice, resilience diplomacy is increasingly evidence diplomacy, designed for foresight rather than reaction.
TDI: You are one of the most prominent scholars of city diplomacy and a strong advocate of the role cities can play in science diplomacy. In Lahore, you have spoken about why this city is a place where ideas matter. Why do cities and universities play such a central role today?
Cities are where science diplomacy becomes concrete. They host universities, research centers, hospitals, start-ups, and cultural institutions. They concentrate talent, and they are where policy outcomes are felt first.
Lahore illustrates this well. When a city sustains serious intellectual life, it becomes a diplomatic actor and a creator of ideas and partnerships in its own right, able to convene, attract collaborations, and project credibility beyond national borders. Globally, cities are increasingly leading on climate innovation, public-health cooperation, and elements of technology governance.
For Pakistan, enabling cities and universities to operate internationally, aligned with national priorities, multiplies diplomatic reach and strengthens the country’s role as a contributor to global solutions.
TDI: Professor Roig, you have also been invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deliver a specialized session at the Foreign Service Academy in Islamabad. Why is this institutional step strategically significant?
Because science diplomacy is ultimately about institutional capability, not branding. Modern diplomats negotiate in knowledge-dense environments shaped by climate science, public-health data, water governance, and digital standards. If foreign policy cannot work confidently with evidence, understand uncertainty, and translate technical options into policy trade-offs, it loses effectiveness.
In practice, science diplomacy refers to the systematic integration of scientific knowledge into foreign policy decision-making across diplomatic, economic, and security domains. Embedding science diplomacy training in the Foreign Service Academy signals long-term institutional investment. Science diplomacy must be treated as infrastructure, not as a side project. This approach strengthens Pakistan’s ability to negotiate, build alliances, and protect national interests in forums where technical frameworks increasingly shape real outcomes.
TDI: At a time of regional tension and climate stress, how can science diplomacy help Pakistan act as a stabilizing force in South and Central Asia?
Science diplomacy is particularly valuable where political trust is fragile but shared challenges are unavoidable.
Water management, disaster-risk reduction, public health, and environmental monitoring do not respect borders. Scientific cooperation in these areas can function as a confidence-building mechanism, even when formal political dialogue is constrained.
For Pakistan, science-based cooperation offers a pragmatic way to support regional stability while strengthening its role as a connector between South Asia, Central Asia, and wider international networks. It complements traditional diplomacy by opening spaces where cooperation remains possible.
TDI: Talent mobility and diaspora engagement are central issues for Pakistan. How can science diplomacy address brain drain while remaining open internationally?
The challenge is not mobility itself; it is one-way mobility. Science diplomacy can help shift the model from brain drain to brain circulation. That means creating structured pathways for Pakistani researchers to move internationally and return, or to remain connected through joint projects, visiting chairs, and co-produced research.
Diaspora scientists are not a loss; they are potential bridges. With the right institutional mechanisms, two-way mobility strengthens domestic capacity while keeping Pakistan embedded in global knowledge networks. Strategic openness, combined with domestic investment, strengthens sovereignty rather than weakening it.
TDI: In an era of AI competition and technology controls, how can Pakistan cooperate internationally without compromising sovereignty or research integrity?
This is one of the defining tensions of our time, particularly in artificial intelligence, where scientific credibility, governance capacity, and diplomatic trust intersect. Openness enables innovation, but unmanaged openness can create vulnerability. The answer is not isolation; it is governance.
Clear research-integrity standards, informed diplomatic capacity, and credible institutions allow countries to cooperate while protecting their interests. In technology governance, unspoken assumptions and unmanaged risks often act as a ghost layer beneath formal cooperation frameworks, shaping outcomes without being explicitly acknowledged.
Power in AI and digital systems does not only come from who builds technology, but from who shapes the rules, including data governance, interoperability standards, and norms of use. Science diplomacy is trust-building with instruments such as data, standards, talent mobility, and institutions. When these are in place, cooperation becomes a source of resilience rather than risk.
TDI: Finally, what message would you share with Pakistani diplomats, students, and readers of The Diplomatic Insight at the start of 2026?
In the twenty-first century, knowledge shapes power, and credibility shapes partnerships.
In a year marked by intensifying competition, misinformation pressures, and climate risk, Pakistan’s strategic advantage will come from resilient institutions that can generate and mobilize knowledge. Science diplomacy is not about prestige; it is about agency, the ability to protect national interests, build trust, and contribute meaningfully to global solutions.
As global challenges intensify, science diplomacy will increasingly define how power, trust, and cooperation are exercised in international affairs over the coming decades. This is a long-term project, not a response to the news cycle. Pakistan has the talent and the relevance. The decisive question is whether it will convert those assets into durable diplomatic capability anchored in the decades ahead.
Established in December 2008, The Diplomatic Insight is Pakistan’s premier diplomacy and foreign affairs magazine, available in both digital and print formats.
