SDCI Signs MOU with the International Institute of Science Diplomacy and Sustainability (IISDS) at UCSI University in Malaysia
The Science Diplomacy Center, Inc. (SDCI) creates core partnership with the International Institute of Science Diplomacy and Sustainability (IISDS) at UCSI University, bridging the Global South and Global North with science diplomacy.
The SDCI-IISDS Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reflects their “common interests to enhance the understanding and applications of science diplomacy with informed decisionmaking and common-interest building for sustainable development at local-to-global levels, especially across the Global South”.
The SDCI-IISDS MOU matured with the friendship and active collaboration across decades with Tan Sri Prof. Zakri Abdul Hamid and Prof. Paul Arthur Berkman, who respectively are the Founders of IISDS in Malaysia and SDCI in the United States, both of which were incorporated in 2022. The MOU was signed in Kuala Lumpur on 4 September 2025 as part of a public event with the inaugural IISDS Ambassadorial Lecture by Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, who is the Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Prof. Berkman signed the MOU on behalf of SDCI during his 6-weeks at UCSI University in summer 2025 with IISDS as a Fulbright Specialist 2024-2027 with the United States Department of State, assisting IISDS to become a Centre of Excellence for Science Diplomacy with the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), among many other shared science diplomacy initiatives introduced in the SDCI-IISDS MOU.