Science diplomacy (SD) is increasingly used to encourage international collaboration and produce knowledge for global challenges. This study explores how a 12-year SD campaign helped shape a scientific community around the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus – a framework linking resource systems for sustainability. By analyzing events, recruitment efforts, and over 1,600 scientific publications, we trace how this community formed, evolved, and interacted with policy agendas. The results show both progress and challenges: growing collaboration and new research directions, but also delays between diplomatic goals and scientific output. The findings offer insights into how SD can support long-term sustainability through knowledge and institutional networks.

Global sustainability challenges have increased reliance on SD to mobilize research communities and align scientific production with policy goals. A central mechanism in these efforts is the formation of scientific epistemic communities (ECs), yet evidence on how SD contributes to durable communities and actionable knowledge remains limited. This study examines a 12-year SD campaign promoting the WEF Nexus, a framework encouraging integrated governance of interdependent resource systems. We combine qualitative coding of 143 SD events and 107 scientific recruitment activities with bibliometric analysis of 1,643 WEF publications (2011–2022). This mixed-methods approach traces the temporal and structural evolution of the WEF EC, focusing on recruitment patterns, thematic consolidation, and co-authorship network resilience. Findings show that SD efforts broadened participation, supported the emergence of a recurring group of authors, diversified journal outlets, and expanded global collaboration networks. Network simulations reveal that by 2022 the EC was moderately resilient but remained dependent on a small subset of strategically connected researchers. The analysis also identifies a temporal lag between SD agenda-setting and scientific response, raising considerations about the alignment of science and policy cycles. Overall, the results clarify conditions under which SD can catalyze scientific community formation and support sustainability-oriented knowledge infrastructures.

How does SD shape global research? Our new study on the WEF Nexus reveals key mechanisms and insights.

Researchers increasingly work where science, public policy, and international relations meet, especially on climate and sustainability challenges. Yet they receive little practical guidance on the capabilities needed to translate evidence, use digital tools responsibly, and collaborate across cultures and institutions. This article proposes a three-layer model covering Mission Literacy, Digital and AI Capabilities, and Science Diplomacy Capabilities. It explains how these competencies can support credible evidence, policy relevance, trust, and cooperation without compromising academic freedom. The framework can guide researcher training in Europe and EU-linked international settings, while requiring adaptation to local contexts.

European science diplomacy has become more prominent in research and external-action policy, but existing frameworks do not specify an integrated competency architecture for researchers at the science-policy-diplomacy interface. Using a conceptual framework-building approach, this paper synthesises EU policy instruments, GreenComp, DigComp 2.2, and scholarship on boundary spanning, knowledge brokerage and competence-in-action. It develops a three-layer model comprising Mission Literacy, Digital and AI Capabilities, and Science Diplomacy Capabilities. The model links each layer to mechanisms and proximal contributions: contextualisation and reflexive role awareness support policy relevance and legitimacy; evidence stewardship, transparency and interoperability support credibility and trust; and translation, relationship brokerage, process design and negotiation support stakeholder alignment and cooperation. Transformation capacity connects the layers through reflexive integration and adaptation. The framework distinguishes core, supporting, and context-dependent competencies and relates capacity building to SDGs 4, 9, 13, 16, and 17. An illustrative application to UNFCCC COP processes demonstrates analytical utility without claiming empirical validation. The model is intended for EU-linked and multilateral settings and requires context-sensitive adaptation beyond Europe. Future research should empirically test the hierarchy, mechanisms, and role-specific proficiency levels.

A three-layer model links green, digital, and diplomatic competencies for researchers in science diplomacy.