The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) is the coordinating hub of the International Science Reserve (ISR).

Established by ISR’s scientific network, NYAS identifies and secures critical resources, and oversees the ISR throughout all stages of our work.  The Academy works closely with the ISR Executive Committee and Board and the scientific community to respond effectively to global crises. The ISR is generously supported by our funders. 

Why The New York Academy of Sciences?

The New York Academy of Sciences, the convening institution of the ISR, is one of the oldest scientific societies in the U.S. For over 200 years, we have been a respected and neutral convener, with rich experience organizing complex public-private partnerships and bringing together competing interests to develop and implement global scientific solutions. 

We are not involved in the incentives inherent in institutions that conduct primary research, nor is it as affected by global geopolitical concerns, or stymied by governmental bureaucracy. This allows the Academy to convene diverse stakeholders quickly to address global issues, as we did with antibiotics (1946), AIDS (1983), SARS (2003), H1N1 swine flu (2009), and more recently with COVID-19 research and vaccine development.

Learn more about the Academy here.

“The point of [the International Science Reserve] is not to stand up a huge organization, but to make this into a network that is nimble, that is heavily annotated with knowledge and connections, then to actively engage discrete groups of partners to simulate what we might do in the event of something terrible taking place.” – Nicholas Dirks, President & CEO, The New York Academy of Sciences, in an interview with Fortune.