Mission
Uniting Europe’s Science Diplomacy Community
Consolidating European Science Diplomacy (CUSP) is a Horizon Europe project that translates the European Framework for Science Diplomacy into concrete action.
About CUSP
While Europe boasts immense scientific strength, its efforts are often fragmented across countries and institutions. CUSP unites these scattered initiatives to ensure Europe’s scientific excellence translates into meaningful global influence.
The project’s mission rests on three core pillars:
We will build the first comprehensive map of science diplomacy actors, strategies, initiatives, and training schemes in Europe and beyond. Using a common taxonomy and an AI-assisted, openly accessible knowledge base, we turn a fragmented landscape into an evidence base for policymakers and practitioners.
Moreover, we analyse the gathered data to identify the key drivers, gaps, and emerging trends in European science diplomacy, informing where future action, investment, and research are most needed.
We will establish a Science Diplomacy Hub: an impartial space online where scientists, diplomats, and policymakers can meet, co-create, access on-demand policy advice, and join thematic Working Groups, consolidating a genuine community of practice across Europe and beyond that will live beyond the project lifetime.
Through regional policy dialogues across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and by engaging with stakeholders from the Global South and multilateral organisations, we work to ensure that perspectives from across the world are part of the global science diplomacy discourse. We also bring science diplomacy actors together through Impact Days and a CUSP Conference.
We co-create a Competence Framework, curricula, and pilot training schemes for diplomats, science counsellors, policy officers, and researchers. A train-the-trainer model and open-source training materials ensure these skills extend beyond the project.
Deeply anchored in the European Union (EU) Science Diplomacy Alliance, CUSP brings together an expert consortium of 11 partner institutions from across Europe and beyond.
Why science diplomacy, and why now?
Science and technology have become key geopolitical currencies, shaping economies, security, and Europe’s role in the world.
Since the European Commission’s Global Approach to Research and Innovation in 2021 called for integrating science and technology into the European Union’s foreign and security policy, momentum has been building.
Enrico Letta’s report on the single market and Mario Draghi’s report on European competitiveness placed research and innovation at the heart of Europe’s global positioning, and in 2025, the expert report on a European Framework for Science Diplomacy marked a milestone in conceptualising and coordinating efforts in this field.
Yet European science diplomacy remains fragmented across countries, institutions, and initiatives. The Framework report calls on Europe to join forces, connecting state and non-state actors, building shared competences, and creating the lasting structures that turn scientific excellence into global influence. CUSP exists to answer that call: Consolidating the community, operationalising the Framework’s recommendations, and building capacity in science diplomacy.
From objectives to impact: What CUSP is building
CUSP will deliver resources designed to outlive the project lifecycle. As a result of the project, Europe’s science diplomacy ecosystem will be better mapped, connected, and skilled with open data, a community platform, and freely available training resources embedded in the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance and its wider network. We also bring the science diplomacy community together through Impact Days,a CUSP Conference, and regional policy dialogues. Through these activities, we help ensure that Europe’s scientific strength effectively addresses the global challenges that define our time.
Open data
Training resources
A community Hub
Events
