Dear all,

It is really good to see different people getting involved and in moving this impetus as group forward with the horizon of delivering the change we want to see in Rio and afterwards!

This email is coming much later than I had planned - apologies to Pamela and Vasna whom I promised an explanatory email with the ideas shared at the PuP. In the aftermaths of the conference I wanted to suggest to this established group some possible avenues for materializing our energy in constructive contributions towards Rio. The point is to build a strategy for a participatory commonly-agreed message of early career researchers in defining pathways for sustainable development in the Rio+20 process, communicating a clear message and influencing decision-makers in Rio.

From what I see in the blog, there are already some other suggestions of steps to continue our momentum. It might be useful to start discussing these and defining what we want/can do. For this reason I share what I believe could be a successful strategy and open it up for your comments/discussion. Here is the simple structure and below a bit more developed what are my thoughts for each step:

1. Increase critical mass of our group

2. Create a platform for worldwide participation from young researchers (International Forum for Young Researchers engaged with Sustainable Development)

3. Synthesise forum contributions into a commonly-agreed message that gives voice to the proposals and concerns of young scientists.

4. Disseminate the message to influence Rio decision-makers and spread our vision and ideas across the wider civil society

5. INFLUENCE sustainable development decisions

1. Increase mass dimension of our group

Expanding our group and outreach more young scientists across the world that would be interested in participate and collaborate with our effort. This would make our message later on have a bigger impact. The action plan suggested by Catherine and Ann can be a good idea to achieve this, as well as the use of online networks as suggested by Juanjo Lopez-Villarejo. However, as Cherae Robinson said, we need to keep direction and make sure the group’s voices and vision does not get tainted by people on the internet with potential vested-interested in utilizing the momentum we are gaining. I suggest using preferably more professional networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter to start with.

2. International Forum for Young Researchers contributions for Sustainable Development

Building on the participatory experience in putting together the youth annex for the PuP declaration, we could set up a platform (forum) for a worldwide discussion of our proposals and most importantly allow a deeper and more concrete materialization of our ideas. This is key to be more influencing. For instance, I met people with concrete suggestions for possible SDGs and methodologies for their motorization, but also for changes in GDP accounting, and concrete/tangible ways for improving the liaison of science with the wider community (namely policy-makers). These can be discussed, improved and become the voice of young researchers on Rio+20.

3. Synthesise contributions into a commonly-shared message that gives voice to the proposals and concerns of young scientists.

Again, building on the experience of the PuP declaration annex. We need to bear in mind that the time to Rio+20 is enough for building up a participated message but short for long-lasting, ineffective discussion processes. Direction and handle on discussions is required to ensure quality and efficacy.

4. Disseminate the message so as to influence the Rio+20 process and also making our vision known amongst the wider civil society

This is already a materialization to better liaise of science, policy-makers and civil society that we so much referred in PuP to be necessary. We had already a lot of suggestions on these and it is good to see we all agree on wanting our message to be divulged and known through the use of more and better communication. I suggest for spreading the message count on:

a. Supporters of the youth annex to the declaration such as the PuP Board of Patrons and the co-chairs Lidia Brito and Mark Stafford Smith;

b. A lot of media that got interested in the PuP conference. Use the forum and our energy to hook them up, creating media engagement for our message;

c. Use of our professional/institutional networks to reach policy-makers from the various countries we are involved with;

d. (As suggested by others) Use online networks to disseminate our message and to gain more support. After producing a concise commonly-agreed message we shall spread it across the whole civil society, gaining momentum for a bigger impact in policy-makers decisions.

5. INFLUENCE the process

Having a clear message that is representative of a large group of young scientists, free from dubious political or associative lobbies/groups, is, I believe, a potential way to influence this process. We need though to discuss further how this can be worked out ensuring that there is a voice for our proposals and concerns in the process, potentially even at the negotiations.

We are special!

I am absolutely convinced that we are a key lever as we already possess, in our ways of working and thinking, the many if not most of all the key recommendations mentioned to improve the contribution of science for this process. 1) Young researchers are widely interdisciplinary and 2) we have work experience in several different types of organizations which vary from research centres, to NGOs, public sector, ODA’s, businesses, etc. This helps us to think across disciplines but also communities and understand better the needs and the ways in which more interface work can be done. 3) A lot of us has worked in various countries and having a true global experience which helps us adopting more effective international cooperative approaches and in mediating global action. 4) Finally, by being young and yet fully settled into one career/job, we are more free from strong academic (or departmental) traditions or attitudes that often are the main bottlenecks (as widely mentioned in the conference) for more cooperative work between disciplines but also with other stakeholders such as policy-makers, businesses and communities.

I think it is time for us to start drawing a strategy or action plan based on this and other plan suggestions already shared and define our actions for the coming 10 weeks left until the start of Rio+20. Then, as we say in Portuguese, we shall "pull up our sleeves" and dig in working out our plan!