Science Day 2025: Unlocking Tomorrow’s Solutions, Today

You must register in advance for an in-person pass, and the name you use to register must match exactly the ID you will show when entering the UN grounds.

Science Day 2025 marks the third edition of a shared initiative convened by the International Science Council (ISC), the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in the margins of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF). It offers an open, informal, and independent space for dialogue between the scientific community, policy-makers, UN agencies, and a broad range of global actors. Designed to foster exchange across disciplines and sectors, Science Day has become a recognized platform for identifying where science is contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and where more integration, support, and innovation are needed.

This year’s edition, held under the theme “Unlocking Tomorrow’s Solutions, Today”, builds on the momentum of the two previous events (2023 and 2024) while responding to a moment of growing urgency. As the international community approaches the final stretch of the 2030 Agenda, there is widespread recognition that progress across many of the SDGs remains alarmingly slow. This is especially true in areas related to means of implementation – including financing, capacity, and institutional coordination. Science Day 2025 provides an opportunity to take stock of these challenges, while highlighting how science – particularly when it is transdisciplinary, inclusive, and attuned to local realities – can help overcome them.

As with earlier editions, this year’s Science Day will showcase innovative tools, insights, and practices that support evidence-informed, integrated, and participatory decision-making. But it will also open space for forward-looking reflection. While implementation of the current SDGs must remain a global priority, early thinking is beginning around the shape of a future sustainable development agenda. Science Day 2025 aims to contribute to that conversation – ensuring that science, in all its diversity, is not only part of the analysis of today’s challenges but also part of co-designing the pathways ahead.

This edition will thus serve both as a strategic stocktaking moment and a platform for ‘horizon scanning’ – grounded in practice, yet ambitious in scope. It will explore how science is supporting SDG implementation today, where systemic gaps remain, and what kinds of science-policy collaboration will be needed to advance sustainable development in the years to come. It will also consider the complex global context in which this future must be navigated – marked by political fragmentation, financial uncertainty, and strain across multilateral institutions – and how science can remain a credible, trusted, and adaptive partner amid these dynamics.