On September 26–27, 2024, the Science and Society in the Face of New Challenges International Scientific and Practical Conference was held. The event was organized by the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Belarus with the participation of the Scientific Council for Science Studies of the International Association of the Academies of Sciences (IAAS) and the Jakub Kolas Central Scientific Library of the NAS of Belarus. The conference was attended by well-known Belarusian and Russian sociologists, economists and scientists from other CIS countries who are engaged in research on the problems of the development of science, the innovative system of society and the improvement of scientific policy in the modern period.

This international scientific and practical conference solved the main task – to familiarize the scientific community and interested government bodies of Belarus, the Union State and the Council of the International Association of the Academies of Sciences (IAAS) with the most important research results of Belarusian scientists and researchers from the CIS countries on the problems of increasing the role of science and higher education in ensuring scientific and technological security of the state. The recommendations of the sections and round tables of the conference can be used by public authorities in developing measures aimed at achieving a new level of integration in the science – education – production – society chain, improving the principles and mechanisms of personnel policy in the scientific field, as well as accelerating the process of creating a unified scientific and educational space within the Union State. The Science and Society in the Face of New Challenges International Scientific and Practical conference was organized within the framework of the following scientific areas: - science and higher education in the national security system; – academic, university and branch science of the Republic of Belarus and prospects for its development within the framework of the Union State in the face of new challenges and threats; – science – education – society: new forms of interaction and integration; – human resource potential of science: problems of its preservation and reproduction in modern conditions; – youth in science: problems of professional development of young scientists.

Within the framework of the conference, round tables were held:
– Science studies and sociology of science in the post-Soviet space: the state and prospects of development;
– Women in science: new trends in professional self-realization;
– Features of monitoring and analysis of the state of the cultural space of the Republic of Belarus in modern conditions.

Belarus is one of the countries with a high level of scientific and technological development. Currently, Belarus is implementing a program to improve the scientific sphere, as well as the Science and Technology: 2018–2040 Strategy. During the implementation of the activities of these programs, the modernization of Belarusian science was carried out in all areas of its functioning and relations with the national economy, education and the social sphere of society. However, today, in the context of escalating geopolitical tensions and the unprecedented sanctions policy of the United States and EU countries aimed at reducing the economic and scientific potential of the Republic of Belarus, our state is faced with the task of ensuring the parameters of scientific and technological security and the stability of the positive dynamics of the national economy development based on the use of the potential of domestic science and innovation. To solve this strategic task, it is necessary to ensure the expanded reproduction of the scientific and technical potential of the country, to optimize the personnel of Belarusian science mainly on the basis of the influx of talented young scientists. At the same time, it is important to ensure further enhancement of the integration of scientific potentials and intellectual resources of the member states of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. In these conditions, the need is significantly increasing to develop a conceptual framework for improving state scientific policy and increasing its effectiveness in the context of national security, as well as new forms of interaction and integration in the science – education – society system. All these areas of scientific policy have become key on the agenda of the Science and Society in the Face of New Challenges International Scientific and Practical Conference.