IFS eNews No. 9, July 2003
IFS eNews appears quarterly, and we hope that it is an effective way to inform you about recent developments. We would appreciate your comments on the contents of IFS eNews to info@ifs.se.
Developing science
IFS 30 YEARS
Science for development
In this issue
1. Message from the Director: Science in Africa
1.1 A missing generation of scientists?
1.2 Filling the generation gap
1.3 IFS on tour in East Africa
2. IFS Granting Programme
2.1 Targeting the poorest of the poor
2.2 Grants decisions Spring 2003
2.3 Call for grant applications
3. Meetings and Workshops
3.1 Research proposal workshops
3.2 International Meeting: Food Africa
3.3 World Water Week 2003
4. IFS Secretariat
4.1 IFS Annual Report 2002
4.2 Executive Committee Meeting 2003
4.3 IFS Staff news
5. Announcements
5.1 "Agriculture for Peace" fellowships
5.2 IFS-CODESRIA Sustainable Agriculture Initiative
5.3 NUSESA survey on scientific equipment
1. Message from the Director: SCIENCE IN AFRICA
1.1 A MISSING GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS?
In the last issue of IFS eNews I invited readers to comment on the question as to whether there is a missing generation of scientists in Africa. In particular, I enquired about the age structure of scientists in departments and institutions; about the reasons for a lopsided age structure; how the situation could be remedied and what IFS could do.
I received more than 50 replies; wide-ranging status reports as well as many profound analyses of the situation at the respondent's home institution. The following picture emerged from the contributions:
There is a clear shortage of active researchers in the 25-40 age bracket. It is particularly felt in well established academic institutions, where staff positions are held by senior scientists who established themselves in the 1970's - 1980's. In many institutions staff positions have been "frozen" and there are few openings for young degree holders to enter an academic career. However, the young breed of scientists tends to be less under-represented at newly established universities; private as well as public institutions, away from the capital cities.
The lack of funds allocated for scientific research is mentioned throughout. Many feel marginalized because of the constrained access to research tools (laboratories, scientific journals, IT, the Internet).
The age issue is prominent. Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa lack funding schemes for MSc and PhD studies. Consequently, BSc graduates spend years scouting for funding opportunities (generally available only through scholarships abroad). Women scientists are often "handicapped" in their career by family responsibilities. Hence, by the time they qualify to take on qualified research tasks, many are already past the age IFS sets for eligibility.
Many respondents point to the root cause of the situation: the non-existence of a national policy for scientific research. A contributory cause is the lack of support from immediate academic superiors and the university leadership at large. In a number of cases young academics feel that the established professors are monopolising resources and international contacts for themselves.
1.2 FILLING THE GENERATION GAP
What do the African scientists that contributed to this survey propose as measures of improvement?
Efforts should be made to mobilize more funding opportunities and create more research positions so that the young scientists can be gainfully engaged in producing new knowledge for the development of their countries. The essential condition for this is that the policymakers can agree on a national policy for science development. The central theme of such a policy should be the recognition of the fact that a generation shift is imminent and that priority support should be channelled to the young generation.
What could IFS do?
The respondents suggest that IFS should (i) provide more grants to researchers in African countries, (ii) enter into a dialogue with national science policy makers and (iii) reconsider the age requirements for research grant applicants.
As the magnitude of the response does not permit me to answer and thank each and everyone individually, I hereby wish to express my gratitude to all of you for your perceptive comments. Let me now conclude this brief survey report with IFS' initiatives to reverse the situation African scientists are faced with:
* We have already relaxed the age limit criteria for applicants from sub-Saharan Africa: citizens of a sub-Saharan country may still apply even though they are over 40 years old, provided that they took their highest academic degree (minimum MSc or equivalent) less than five years before applying and are at the beginning of their research career.
* We are intensifying capacity enhancing activities to African scientists through courses on how to conceptualise and prepare research proposals (see article 3.3 below)
* Together with African partners, we are planning to arrange a high level workshop about science policy issues to provide a more conducive environment for young scientists.
1.3 IFS ON TOUR IN EAST AFRICA
For ten days in February Richard Hall (IFS Deputy Director and Scientific Programme Coordinator in Crop Science) and I visited Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Our tour was efficiently arranged by the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA). The purpose was to provide information about IFS research support and update ourselves on current research issues in the region. Meetings were held in Morogoro, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Eldoret, Kampala, Entebbe and Mbarara. Altogether, 465 persons from 13 universities and research institutions attended - young scientists as well as science leaders and university administrators.
Some of the observations we noted:
- The "age issue": many African academics are still in their "early career" at the age of 40. This is particularly the case for women scientists.
- The fact that an IFS grant does not include a salary component for the grantee can discourage researchers to apply.
- Team grants are widely requested.
- The recently launched Social Sciences initiative at IFS received considerable appreciation.
- Information and communication technologies (ICT) are not globally available. Younger scientists generally have limited access to the Internet and e-mail facilities, and connections are slow and expensive. In the smaller institutions, only the vice-chancellor and heads of department have access to e-mail.
- The smaller universities far away from capital cities feel isolated. A few IFS grants to researchers there would do much to boost the interest in scientific research.
There is a great enthusiasm for science among new graduates and postgraduate
students. Their passion is matched only by their frustration with the very
limited possibilities for conducting research. The great challenge for science
and development policy makers is to provide opportunities for these young
people to channel their talent and energy into scientific projects.
Michael Ståhl
IFS Director
2. IFS Granting Programme
2.1 TARGETING THE POOREST OF THE POOR
IFS follows up its commitment to young scientists in poor countries with vulnerable research infrastructure. By 2005, two thirds of all IFS research grants will go to low income and lower middle income countries.
The Executive Committee of the IFS Board of Trustees has endorsed a policy proposal to allocate 50% of all IFS research grants to scientists in low income and lower middle income countries by next year. By 2005, the proportion is to have risen to 70%.
The target shall be achieved without sacrificing scientific quality. How the policy is to be implemented will be described in the next issue of IFS eNews.
2.2 GRANTS DECISIONS SPRING 2003
The total number of applications for a First Research grant in Spring 2003 was close to 500. After pre-screening at the IFS Secretariat, 425 applications were assessed by IFS Advisers. Thereafter, the Scientific Advisory Committees (SACs) evaluated and ranked the 425 and recommended 119 of them for funding. More than 550 Advisers and 40 SAC members from all over the world contributed to the evaluation process.
The Director approved all applications that were recommended by the SACs in the Spring 2003 session. More than 50% of the new grantees work in low income and lower middle income countries.
All applicants - successful as well as unsuccessful - will be informed by the end of July. The IFS Secretariat cannot answer individual enquiries on results before that date.
A list of the new grantees will be available on www.ifs.se at the beginning of August.
2.3 CALL FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS
** Deadline for the Winter 2003 session: July 15, 2003 **
Project proposals are welcome at the IFS Secretariat throughout the year. However, the evaluation process works in six-month cycles. It follows that there are two "unofficial" deadlines per year.
This year the deadline for applications to be processed in autumn-winter 2003 has been extended to July 15 (normally June 30). All applications go through a careful evaluation (as described above in 2.2). The next decisions on approved grants will be taken at the end of the year.
Applications that arrive at the IFS Secretariat after July 15, but before the end of the year, will be processed in the Spring 2004 session, with final granting decisions taken in May 2004.
To get an application form, click here or e-mail applications@ifs.se
3. Meetings and Workshops
3.1 RESEARCH PROPOSAL CONCEPTUALISATION WORKSHOPS
Increasing the quality of research proposals from developing countries has always been a heartfelt concern of IFS. In the early 1990's IFS organised a series of proposal writing workshops, mainly in West Africa. The workshops are now back in concrete terms on the IFS agenda thanks to sponsoring from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
The Sida-funded proposal writing workshops have implemented the "train the trainers" -strategy: participants have been encouraged to give IFS-supported follow-up courses at their home institutions.
Spurred by the third African regional workshop in Maputo, Mozambique, in November 2002, follow-up workshops have been held during spring 2003 in Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. Madagascar is in line for October 2003. Moreover, the workshop held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in February 2002 produced yet another follow-up in June 2003 in Mali.
Alongside the follow-up workshops and as an outcome of Michael Ståhl's and Richard Hall's visit to East Africa in February (see above 1.3), research proposal conceptualisation courses have been held also in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in May and June.
Instructors have been Prof Alice Kaudia (Kenya Forestry Research Institute, KEFRI), IFS Adviser Peter Wood (UK) and Richard Hall (IFS). Local arrangements were secured by former IFS grantee Dr Joseph Obua (Makerere University, Uganda) and IFS Adviser Dr Esron Munyanziza (Sokoine University, Tanzania).
The proposal writing manual on which the courses have been based was provided by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).
A positive secondary effect of the IFS proposal writing initiative is the increased awareness of the need for training in proposal writing. Several universities are now considering including it as a recurrent course at Master's level.
3.2 CONFERENCE ON SUB-SAHARAN FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
** Food Africa: Improving food systems in sub-Saharan Africa - responding to a changing environment, May 5-9, 2003, Yaounde, Cameroon **
During one week in May, 140 scientists from 30 countries, mainly African, met in Yaounde to review the current state of research and development activities that affect food systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and to develop strategies to meet the challenges of the future.
Co-organisers with IFS were the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at Greenwich University, UK, and Institut de recherches Médicales et d'études des Plantes Médicinales (IMPM/MINREST), Cameroon. Funding was provided by the Organisation of Islamic Conference Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH), the European Union, Helen Keller International, International Science Programme (ISP), Micronutrient Initiative, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Rockefeller Foundation and IFS.
Food Africa dealt with five themes, the groundwork of which was laid in Internet-based
discussion fora prior to the Yaounde meeting:
1) Nutrition and Health,
2) Food safety and quality management,
3) Impact of urbanisation on food systems,
4) Agrofood enterprises adding value and meeting consumers demand, and
5) Food security and access.
Conference proceedings are being produced. Meanwhile the Food Africa website (with summaries of the web discussions, titles of presented papers, etc) is available at http://foodafrica.nri.org
3.3 UPCOMING: WORLD WATER WEEK IN STOCKHOLM AUGUST 10-16
** IFS Seminar on "Strengthening Capacity in Developing Countries for Water Resources", August 10, 2003, Stockholm, Sweden **
To set off a water-borne week, IFS will host a seminar on pollution abatement
in water resources. The subject will be approached from a developing country
perspective. The purpose is to present and discuss
- the current status of water resources research in developing countries,
- factors which developing countries researchers perceive as important for
enhancing scientific capacity,
- how various organisations addressing scientific capacity building deal with
the constraining factors as defined by the seminar,
and to draw conclusions on
- how to strengthen partnerships between organisations engaged in scientific
capacity building.
** The 13th Stockholm Water Symposium "Drainage Basin Security: Balancing
Production, Trade and Water Use", August 11-14, 2003, Stockholm, Sweden
**
The 2003 Stockholm Water Symposium introduces "Drainage Basin Security - Prospects for Trade offs and Benefit Sharing in a Globalised World" as the scope for the symposium in the following years. This year's theme is "Balancing Production, Trade and Water Use" and focus is set on the challenge of multipurpose use of water and land in drainage basin ecosystems. Special attention will be paid on finding ways to better cope with the effects of climate variability on food production, flood risks and inundations.
For more information, and to register for the IFS Seminar, go to the World
Water Week webpages on the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
website http://www.siwi.org/waterweek2003
4. IFS Secretariat
4.1 IFS ANNUAL REPORT 2002
The IFS Annual Report 2002 is now published and is being distributed. It is also available in pdf-format on the IFS website (click here)
4.2 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 2003
The Executive Committee (EC) of the IFS Board of Trustees (BOT) held its annual meeting on May 24 in Stockholm. On the agenda was fundraising efforts, recruitment of applicants, travel grant policy, the future of the Monitoring and Evaluation System for Impact Assessment (MESIA) and a revised country eligibility policy.
The EC further endorsed a policy proposal with a timetable for increasing the allocation of research grants to low income and lower middle income countries (see article above 2.1).
The annual meeting of the IFS Board of Trustees, the IFS Donors Group meeting and a Joint Meeting will be held in Stockholm November 2-5, 2003.
4.3 IFS STAFF NEWS
Jacques Gaillard's term of secondment to IFS from Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD), France, came to an end in June. He served IFS as Deputy Director and Head of International Relations and was Acting Director for the period January - June 2002.
Richard Hall (Scientific Programme Coordinator for Crop Science) has been appointed new Deputy Director of IFS from April 1st, 2003.
Richard Fuchs, Head of Programme at IFS, has returned to his home institution, the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at Greenwich University, UK. Richard Fuchs' secondment to IFS was sponsored by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as of January 1994 and extended up through January 2003.
Per Ekman, Scientific Programme Coordinator for Forestry/Agroforestry has left IFS to take up a position at the Swedish Council for the Renewal of Higher Education. Per Ekman came to IFS in April 1999 and was employed under a project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
5. Announcements
5.1 "AGRICULTURE FOR PEACE" FELLOWSHIPS
The International Foundation for Science (IFS) and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS) are pleased to announce a new joint initiative offering fellowships for research on the theme of "Agriculture for Peace". The deadline for applications is August 15, 2003.
The fellowship consists of a grant of up to USD 12,000 for a one-year research period, an invitation to participate in a mentorship programme that includes a one-month research stay at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan, and a range of other supporting services provided by IFS and UNU/IAS.
Agriculture for Peace Fellowships are available to scientists that are citizens of a sub-Saharan African country, under 45 years of age, holders of at minimum an MA degree or the equivalent, and at the beginning of their research career.
For more information about eligibility criteria, research topics and application guidelines, please visit http://www.ifs.se/Special_Programmes/AgPeace.htm
For more information about the UNU/IAS please refer to http://www.ias.unu.edu
5.2 IFS-CODESRIA SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE INITIATIVE
IFS and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative: a new joint research grants programme for young researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Research grants will be awarded to multidisciplinary teams for research on the topic of sustainable agriculture for food production in Africa. The next deadline for research grant applications is September 15, 2003.
Research projects should specifically address sustainable food production
in terms of:
* agricultural/agroforestry production systems,
* post-harvest and handling systems,
* services provision,
* institutions (ie rules and norms), and/or
* biotechnology
Each of these themes can be addressed from economic, ecological, social, health, gender, and technological perspectives.
For more details, e-mail Eren Zink, IFS Programme Coordinator in Social Sciences,
at eren.zink@ifs.se
Information on the programme is available on the IFS website here.
For further information about CODESRIA, please refer to www.codesria.org
5.3 NUSESA SURVEY ON THE USAGE OF SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT
The Network of Users of Scientific Equipment in Eastern and Southern Africa (NUSESA) is conducting a survey to map the progress made in the use of scientific equipment. Technicians, teachers, medical practitioners (nurses, doctors, dentists, veterinarians), researchers etc, your participation is highly appreciated.
Get the form by sending a request to info@nusesa.org
IFS eNews comes from the International Foundation for Science (IFS) in Stockholm, Sweden. Subscribe to IFS eNews by sending an email to: listserv@listserv.ifs.se with the following message: subscribe IFS-NEWSLETTER (first name) (last name). Use one line only and insert your name but omit the parentheses. You may also subscribe by contacting IFS at info@ifs.se and informing us of your email address. For more information about IFS visit our web at www.ifs.se.
The IFS eNews and the IFS email discussion groups are sponsored by L-SOFT, the manufacturer of LISTSERV Software: www.lsoft.com.
| top | IFS Newsletters | IFS home page |
