IFS eNews No. 3, June 2001

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IFS MISSION STATEMENT

At the Board of Trustees Annual Meeting (see below), the IFS Mandate was discussed and reformulated as the IFS Mission Statement to better reflect the overall goals of IFS; three distinct elements of the Statement were identified for the purposes of clarification. The IFS Mission Statement follows:

The need

Scientific research provides an important input for sustainable management of biological resources. Scientific knowledge is central for rural, urban, industrial, and policy development, which will lead to improvement of people's livelihoods.

The mission

IFS shall contribute towards strengthening the capacity of developing countries to conduct relevant and high quality research on the sustainable management of biological resources. This will involve the study of physical, chemical, and biological processes, as well as relevant social and economic aspects, important in the conservation, production, and renewable utilisation of the natural resources base.

The strategy

IFS shall identify, through a careful selection process, promising young scientists from developing countries with potential to become future lead scientists and science leaders. They will receive support in their early careers to pursue high quality research in developing countries on problems relevant to the mission, which will help them to become established and recognised nationally and internationally. Additional supporting services will be provided to researchers in scientifically weaker institutions and countries.

IFS shall act in collaboration with Member Organisations and other national, regional, and international institutions utilising the complementary strengths of such partnerships.

EXTERNAL EVALUATION 2000-2001

The External Evaluation 2000-2001 was presented at the Governance Meetings (see below). The Evaluation was conducted by Ana María Cetto, Thierry Freyvogel, Moctar Touré, and Erik Thulstrup (Leader of the Evaluation Team). In response to the central question in the Terms of Reference, the Team concluded that "IFS has made valuable contributions in its research areas to capacity strengthening in developing countries, and [that] it will be able to meet the present and future challenge: to adapt to scientific and social developments in a way that preserves its efficiency while maintaining its unique and important role." A number of important recommendations were made in their report, "Mobilising Scientists for Development: A Precious Mission in a Changing Context." These were discussed at the Governance Meetings and at the Donors Group (see below) and will, as appropriate, be included in the IFS Mid-Term Strategic Plan for 2002-2004.

The Report will be distributed widely to Member Organisations, Donors, Scientific Advisers, and grantees. To receive a copy of the report, contact eren.zink@ifs.se.

GOVERNANCE MEETINGS

IFS Joint Meeting II

The Joint Meeting II was held in Stockholm on 18 May in conjunction with the other Governance Meetings and was attended by about 30 Trustees, Donors, Scientific Advisers, and Secretariat staff. The Evaluation Report 2000-2001 was presented and discussed.

Board of Trustees Meeting

The IFS Board of Trustees (BOT) held their 27th Meeting in Stockholm on 19-20 May. Part of the Meeting was also attended by the Evaluation Team and Members of the Donors Group. Two new Trustees joined the Board: Pierre Roger, Laboratoire IRD de Microbiologie, Université de Provence, Marseille; and Soon Ting Kueh, School of Arts and Science, Tunku Abdul Rahman College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Unfortunately, two other new Trustees could not attend the meeting; Oumar Niangado, Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, Bamako, Mali; and Ivan Nielsen, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. Marie de Lattre-Gasquet, Chairwoman of the Scientific and Grants Committee, has finished her second term as Trustee.

The Trustees approved the following:

Scientific and Grants Committee Meeting

The Scientific and Grants Committee (SGC) Meeting took place 18-19 May in Stockholm. The SGC's discussions and recommendations to the BOT focused on four main areas: a Mission Statement for IFS; the evolution of the IFS Programme; streamlining granting procedures; and the future role of the SGC.

The SGC was chaired by Marie de Lattre-Gasquet, France, who completed her term as Trustee with the conclusion of the Meeting. Marie was appointed as a Trustee in 1993, when she became the youngest Trustee IFS has ever had and one of the few women serving as a Trustee. She has been the Chairwoman of the SGC since 1997. IFS thanks her very much for the hard work and enthusiasm that she has put into this role and wishes her all the best in the future.

The Meeting also saw the terms of three of the Scientific Advisory Committee representatives on the SGC come to an end: Alain Provost, France; Peter Wood, UK; and Peter Nout, the Netherlands. IFS thanks them for the valuable contributions that each one has made to the discussions in the SGC Meetings over the years. New members of the SGC are listed above, under the section on the Board of Trustees.

DONORS GROUP MEETING

The Donors Group Meeting took place in Stockholm on 18-19 May. The following Donor countries and organisations were represented at the meeting: Denmark, Klaus Winkel (Danida); France, Pierre Roger (IFS Trustee); Norway, Reidun Sandvold (NORAD); Germany, Frank Grünhagen (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft); Sweden, Bo Göhl (Sida SAREC); France, Philippe Barré (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères DGCID/DCSUR); Anwar Nasim (COMSTECH). IFS Trustee Eva Selin Lindgren was re-elected to a second, four-year term as Chairwoman of the DG.

FUTURE GOVERNANCE MEETINGS 2001

Board of Trustees: 3-4 November 2001, Washington, DC.

IFS GRANTS

A total of 384 applications for IFS grants were reviewed by Scientific Advisers this spring as follows: Africa, 139; Latin America and the Caribbean, 107; Asia and the Pacific, 138. The total of 79 grants were awarded as follows: Africa, 26; Latin America and the Caribbean, 28; Asia and the Pacific, 25.

IFS AWARDS

The BOT gave IFS Awards to grantees for outstanding accomplishments associated with their IFS-supported research as follows:

Sven Brohult Award 2001               (about the award)

Philippe Rasaonaivo, Institut Malgache de Recherches Appliquées, Antananarivo, Madagascar
Isolation of the active substances from "Lycopodium cernum"

IFS/Danida Awards 2001                (about the award)

IFS Silver Jubilee Awards 2001                (about the award)

NEW DONORS

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the National Academy of Sciences, USA, have both announced their support for IFS as of 2001.

MEMBER ORGANISATIONS (MOs)

IFS would like to welcome 9 new Member Organisations (MOs)-3 national organisations and 6 international organisations-which brings the number to 125 in 82 countries. The new Members are:

National Organisations

International Organisations

"A Revisited and Revitalised Role for the IFS Member Organisations"

A paper entitled "A Revisited and Revitalised Role for the Member Organisations" of IFS has been prepared and presented at the BOT by Jacques Gaillard. It will be circulated shortly to all MOs for their critical input and comments.

Visits to MOs

Jacques Gaillard was invited to participate to the annual meeting of the International Organization for Chemistry for Development (IOCD), 17-18 March, at the Collège de France in Paris. A presentation of IFS activities was made and a few areas of co-operation were discussed and agreed upon including web links, a more extensive use of IOCD members and networks to recruit potential applicants, involving more IOCD members as Scientific Advisers, increased participation at each other's workshops and seminars, and collaboration in establishing or strengthening regional workshops.

Thomas Rosswall and Jacques Gaillard gave a presentation on IFS activities in Brussels, 19 March, at the invitation of the three MOs in Belgium: the Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, the Académie Royale des Sciences des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, and the Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België. A representative of the Ministry of Cooperation as well as a large number of IFS Scientific Advisers from Belgium also participated. Following the very constructive and positive discussions which took place during the meeting, IFS is expecting a contribution from Belgium next year.

After Brussels, Thomas Rosswall visited the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen in the Netherlands and Jacques Gaillard, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in France.

Per Ekman visited the Centro Agronónomico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICIT) in Costa Rica in April for discussions on future collaboration.

Thomas Rosswall visited South Africa at the end of May and paid a visit to the National Research Foundation (NRF). It is hoped that NRF can play an important role in strengthened collaboration in the SADC region (see below). He also paid a visit to the Agricultural Research Council.

SUB-REGIONAL PROGRAMME FOR AFRICA

IFS intends to establish sub-regional programmes for Africa. It is envisioned that the programmes will include the awarding of research grants, strengthening of capacity in the service and maintenance of scientific equipment, the co-ordination of a mentor system through which grantees will be put in touch with IFS Scientific Advisers, better access to scientific literature databases for grantees, and training courses in writing grant applications and scientific papers.

In order to establish this programme, close collaboration with regional and national organisations will be important. Jacques Gaillard attended the African Agricultural Research Week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April, where the main objective was the transformation of SPAAR (Special Programme for African Agricultural Research) into FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa). Jacques Gaillard presented his ideas on how IFS might collaborate in the future with not only FARA but also with ASARECA, CORAF, and SACCAR-all of which are sub-regional agricultural research organisations (SROs) in Africa.

The discussions were followed-up during the Mid-Term Meeting of CGIAR in Durban, South Africa, in May. Thomas Rosswall participated in this meeting.

Collaboration with INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) is foreseen as well, as this organisation is in a good position to help IFS develop ways to assist African grantees and applicants with access to scientific literature, as well as the organisation of courses for training trainers in the writing of grant applications and scientific papers.

SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND VISITS

Aquatic Resources: The Aquatic Resources Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Meeting took place at the University of Bergen, Norway. Whilst there, Richard Fuchs held an IFS information seminar for academic staff and overseas post-graduates.

In Oslo, a meeting was held at the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD) to discuss IFS with staff of the Technical Department, which has recently assumed responsibility for funding IFS. A meeting was also held at the Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine to discuss a proposal for South-South training in the field of biotechnology.

Forestry/Agroforestry: In connection with the IFS Forestry/Agroforestry SAC Meeting in Vienna, 4-6 May, the Scientific Advisers and Per Ekman and Monica Dahlberg visited the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture located at the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Headquarters. Discussions on possible areas of collaboration took place. The IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) Secretariat was also visited and plans for future collaboration were drawn up.

Food Science: IFS was invited to organise a session entitled "Food science and technology research in developing countries-contributed papers from researchers supported by IFS" at the 11th World Food Science and Technology Congress, which took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in April. The session was chaired by Scientific Advisers Robert Nout and Amaret Bhumiratana. Nine grantees presented papers at the session and an additional three grantees presented posters during the Congress. Cherl-Ho Lee, IFS grantee and Scientific Adviser, was Secretary General of the Congress. The event provided a useful opportunity to discuss collaboration with a number of other organisations and networks, including the International Union of Food Science and Technology, under whose auspices the Congress was organised. Scientific Adviser Alan Reilly organised and chaired a session on food-borne pathogens. The Food Science SAC Meeting was held in Seoul following the Congress.

Following Richard Fuchs' meeting in Seoul, he and Jenny Lidholm visited Shanghai, China. There they visited four institutions at which scientists have received IFS grants: Shanghai Fisheries University; Institute of Genetics, Fu Dan University; Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academia Sinica; and Shanghai Institute of Animal Parasitology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. They were shown around laboratories and facilities at the institutions and met and talked with researchers and management.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) has a website http://www.inasp.org.uk/ where African journals can be accessed: "African Journals Online (AJOL)." This includes tables of contents and abstracts, with document delivery service for scientific, technical, agricultural, and social science journals published in Sub-Saharan Africa. Where available, links are also provided to full text on-line and to journals focussing on Africa but published outside the continent. A programme is now underway to support a further 10 African journals to move into an all-electronic environment. If anyone knows of any other African journals, not currently included, please contact INASP or IFS at richard.hall@ifs.se.

GRANTEES IN AFRICA

Grantees are requested to fill out the questionnaire recently sent to them either by electronic mail or regular post regarding scientific equipment. If you have not received this questionnaire, please contact eren.zink@ifs.se. We look forward to receiving your responses. Your response will provide important information for IFS in its attempts to raise funding for support and maintenance of scientific equipment. Grantees in other geographic regions will be receiving the equipment questionnaire in the near future.

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

Grantee Emmanuel Kaunda was awarded a PhD by Rhodes University, in Grahamstown, South Africa, for his work on the feeding ecology of "Bathyclarias nyasensis" (Siluroidei: Clariidae) from Lake Malawi. He was also awarded the best PhD seminar award in the Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries.

Grantee Claudia Etchebehere was awarded a PhD by the Universidad de la Republíca, Montevideo, Uruguay, for her work on the characterization of anaerobic nitrate reducing ecosystems.

Grantee Jovin Mugula, Tanzania, was awarded a PhD by the Agricultural University of Norway for his work on the microbiology, fermentation and shelf-life extension of togwa, a Tanzanian indigenous food.

Grantee Dongo Etienne, Cameroon, has received the highest distinction when defending his Doctorat d'Etat in April 2001. He has performed phytochemical and pharmacological investigations in the area of natural products.

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