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Our Mission

A three-fold mandate committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Governance

The mission of ICTP rests on three equally important foundational pillars:

ICTP conducts world-class research in frontier areas of science and strives to maintain a conducive environment of scientific enquiry for the entire ICTP community.
ICTP is dedicated to fostering growth of advanced studies and research in physical and mathematical sciences through high-level scientific programmes especially in support of excellence in the developing world to help bridge the knowledge divide.
ICTP is committed to science advocacy and international cooperation through science by providing an international forum of scientific contact for scientists from all countries.

This three-fold mandate with a commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals is what makes ICTP unique among the finest scientific institutions around the globe.

Our mission is even more relevant and urgent today. Solving the crises faced by our world, including climate change, nuclear security, pandemics, and ensuring our food supply, requires a global response that transcends national borders. Science – and more broadly a culture of open-mindedness and fact-based enquiry – are essential to create informed policies and the international cooperation needed to meet these challenges, encompassed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As ICTP founder Abdus Salam believed and the world has seen repeatedly, today’s science is tomorrow’s technology. A broad and strong base of both fundamental and interdisciplinary science is an essential precondition for social and economic development. This makes ICTP's mission particularly relevant to the well-being of humanity.