Scientific Institutes
All the roles at First Contact: 2035 are designed to ensure every player will have an awesome day. Regardless of what role you play, whether it’s the leader of a country, a scientist attempting to understand the alien’s biology or a member of the press reporting on the day’s chaos, we expect you’ll have a fantastic time.
You can find an outline of the roles in science teams below, and a full list of scientific institutes and their team sizes at the bottom of the page.
Director
Five teams of scientists, each with three players will be played at the game and will represent the world’s regions. The Director is expected to lead the scientific institute’s efforts, lobbying countries, corporations and the world’s media to achieve the team’s goals.
Do you enjoy talking to people and negotiating to get your way, even if the odds are against you? If you can lead a small team to scientific glory, this role could be for you.
Investor Relations
Every great scientific institute always needs income to ensure their research can continue, but where do the scientists think it comes from?
Do you enjoy talking to people and negotiating for resources, likely based on future scientific outcomes? Can you create a great story about what your institute can accomplish, if they can just get some more cash?
Lead Researcher
Focusing on the big issues of the day is what you do. Splitting atoms was so last century - what can you accomplish in the 21st Century? You may be called upon by individual countries or the United Nations to help figure out solutions to the big problems facing the world - and that’s just the way you like it.
If you enjoy coming up with creative solutions to problems this could be just the role for you. What will your next research project be? It’s up to you and the possibilities are endless!
Teams
EUROPEAN INSTITUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THINKING (EIST)
Team Size: 3
Initially developed and funded in the 1970s by the European Union to rival MIT, the European Institution of Scientific Thinking was spun out to an independent organisation in the early 2000s.
Today, EIST is the crown-jewel in the European scientific community and focuses on a wide range of scientific advancements.
SCIENTIFIC COALITION OF THE AMERICAS (SCA)
Team Size: 3
The SCA was spun up out of an unlikely partnership between the US government and a billionaire that wanted to see science practised solely for humanity and not commercial gain.
SCA has been operating for three decades now and continues to focus a large amount of effort and energy on non-profit science.
UNION OF AFRICAN SCIENCES (UAS)
Team Size: 3
The Union of African Sciences works diligently to ensure the continent remains competitive in the scientific world and ensures Africans are able to learn, grow and harness new technologies as they are developed.
The UAS sees itself as part of the global scientific elite and regularly cooperates on global projects spanning borders.
ISLAMIC SCIENTIFIC FUTURES (ISF)
Team Size: 3
Initially the brainchild of an ailing Saudi royal, the ISF has grown to be a self-sufficient scientific behemoth.
Focusing on many industries from energy to the burgeoning Middle Eastern space flight capability, ISF’s primary interest is driven by researching new and improved energy sources.
OCEANIC INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE (OIS)
Team Size: 3
Initially created as a Chinese state owned organisation, the government could see the potential of spinning the institute out completely as its own entity.
From 2013 onwards, OIS is now a self-funded institute that happens to be located in China. Some whispers in the scientific community say its research is an extension of the Chinese government, but this is strenuously denied.