Past Award Winners

The 2023 AAAS David and Hamburg Award for Science Diplomacy had two recipients: Dr. Abdelbagi Ismail and Dr. Uma Shankar Singh. Ismail, a Sudanese botanist, and Singh, an Indian plant pathologist, received the award for their work on seed exchange agreements in Southeast and South Asia. Both working at the International Rice Research Institute, Ismail and Singh have worked to harmonize seed policies and formalize exchanges of key crops across countries through the Seeds Without Borders initiative.

In 2022, Sir David King, a South African-born British physical chemist, was recognized for his diplomatic stewardship towards international consensus for urgent global action on climate change. As the UK’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David elevated the role of climate change in the country’s foreign policy.  

Dr. Carlos Nobre, a Brazilian climate scientist specializing in the effects of climate change in the Amazon, received the 2021 AAAS Award for Science Diplomacy for his career-spanning work to understand and protect the biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon. Credit: Neil Orman/AAAS.

Past recipients have contributed in many ways to the advancement of science diplomacy. This award has been granted to international trailblazers, including sir Peter Gluckman, who transformed the theory and practice of science advice; to diplomats like Thomas R. Pickering, and policymakers like Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, who have promoted the application of science and technology from their roles in public service; and to a small group of scientists who made central contributions to the founding and development of the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East laboratory (SESAME), the first major international scientific center in that region, among other notable winners.

To see the full list of past recipients, please visit here.