CONTENTS 2EDITORIAL 4INTERACADEMY PANEL 6GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

8SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW ACADEMY 11SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY IN AFRICA 14 CENTRES

OF EXCELLENCE 17TWOWS RECEIVES SIDA-SAREC GRANT 18GOAT BUSTERS

20NEWEST TWAS MEMBERS 22PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS

TWAS NEWSLETTER

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY WITH

THE SUPPORT OF THE KUWAIT

FOUNDATION FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCES (KFAS)

BY THE THIRD WORLD

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS)

C/O THE ABDUS SALAM

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS

STRADA COSTIERA 11

34014 TRIESTE, ITALY

PH: +39 040 2240327

FAX: +39 040 224559

TELEX: 460392 ICTP I

E-MAIL: INFO@TWAS-ONLINE.ORG

WEBSITE: WWW.TWAS-ONLINE.ORG

EDITOR

DANIEL SCHAFFER

ASSISTANT EDITOR/SET UP

GISELA ISTEN

TWAS SUPPORT STAFF

HELEN GRANT, HELEN MARTIN,

LEENA MUNGAPEN,

SANDRA RAVALICO

DESIGN & ART DIRECTION

SANDRA ZORZETTI, RADO JAGODIC

(LINK, TRIESTE)

PRINTING

MOSETTI TECNICHE GRAFICHE

UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED,

THE TEXT OF THIS NEWSLETTER

IS WRITTEN BY ITS EDITOR AND MAY

BE REPRODUCED FREELY WITH DUE

CREDIT TO THE SOURCE

A t the TWAS officers meeting, held in Trieste, Italy, on 7 May 2000, José I. Vargas,

who had been President of TWAS since 1996, read a statement announcing his

resignation. What follows is an extended excerpt from the letter. The TWAS

council accepted his resignation with deep regret and sincere thanks. They wished their

president well in the new challenges he will face as the Brazilian ambassador to the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Dear Colleagues,

I wish to inform you that I have been nominated by the Brazilian government to head

its permanent delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO).

UNESCO and the Italian authorities are presently negotiating provisions for a law to

be submitted to the Italian parliament, similar to the one generously enacted for the

Abdus Salam International Centre for

Theoretical Physics (ICTP). The law shall

hopefully assure the financing of TWAS future

activities on a more sustainable and predictable basis. The new generous Italian com-

mitment was communicated to TWAS by Ambassador Gianfranco Facco Bonetti, director

general for cultural promotion and cooperation of the Italian Foreign Ministry, during

the opening session of our meeting at Trieste in December 1998. The announcement

serves as the basis for the ongoing negotiations.

To ensure the desirable advances in the implementation of this initiative, Academy

members were recently asked to approve amendments to the statutes so that TWAS’s tru-

ly international status could be recognized. This change was deemed indispensable by the

Italian legal advisers to expedite the preparation of the pertinent national legislation.

Despite the generous contributions that the Italian government and UNESCO (as well

as Brazil, China, India, Kuwait, Nigeria, Sweden, and others) have made to TWAS pro-

grammes and administrative activities, the Academy shall only fulfil its high role when

the target set in its endowment fund and a more permanent generous contribution re-

sulting from Italy’s proposed law are attained.

Vargas steps down

EDITORIAL

[CONTINUED PAGE 3]

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0With a view to further contributing to these objectives, I have invited, on your behalf,

a distinguished member of our Academy, President Cardoso of Brazil, to lend his presti-

gious support by addressing, personally and in writing, the former Prime Minister of

Italy, Romano Prodi, and the Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini, on TWAS’s future

needs. Cardoso expressed Brazil’s recognition for the most valuable and generous initia-

tives taken by Italy on TWAS’s behalf and, more generally, for Italy’s support for inter-

national cooperation, which Brazil also pursues.

President Cardoso is also a signatory of the renewed appeal for contributions to the

TWAS endowment fund. With the fund thus far receiving support only from developing

countries, President Cardoso on several occasions expressed the view that it is time for the

industrial countries to generously make their contributions. To assist in reaching these

objectives and in addition to its own past contribution of $500,000, Brazil made a new

contribution of $89,000 in 1998, to help TWAS meet administrative expenses, particu-

larly those arising from efforts made in promoting the fund.

The assistance of Brazilian diplomatic missions, first in Italy and later in France,

Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, was extended in good grace

to the president of TWAS and, at times, to its executive director. Such assistance facili-

tated our contacts, both with high-level national administrations and national acade-

mies, to deal with TWAS programme extensions (Sweden); with institutional and finan-

cial matters (Italy); and with all of them on issues related to fostering the endowment

fund. Some of these activities were reported to you following our Budapest meeting.

In light of the above and in view of the special administrative subordination of TWAS

to UNESCO, the presidency of TWAS is incompatible with that of permanent delegate for

a member state of UNESCO.

In addition to this pressing legal consideration, ongoing bilateral negotiations be-

tween UNESCO and the Italian government on the future status of TWAS should in no

way be affected by the participation of third party — namely, Brazil.

For these reasons, I kindly invite you to accept my resignation as president of TWAS.

Allow me to warmly thank all colleagues of TWAS who so kindly have extended their

trust and friendship to me while I tried, to the best of my limited capacity, to honour the

impossible burden of succeeding our most illustrious founding father, the late Abdus

Salam.

While I remain certain that I have not achieved for TWAS the high aims dreamed of

by our founders — dreams that I myself ardently wished to have been fulfilled — I’m sure

that these noble objectives shall be attained at a much faster pace, thanks to your collec-

tive endeavours under the competent and farsighted leadership of our most distinguished

president-elect, scientist and world science statesman, our friend C.N.R. Rao. ■

> José I. VargasTrieste, Italy

T he Third World Academy ofSciences (TWAS) has beenchosen to host the secretari-

at of the InterAcademy Panel(IAP). The decision was made atthe IAP’s General Assembly on 19May, following the Conference ofthe World’s Scientific Academies,“Transition to Sustainability inthe 21st Century,” held in Tokyo,Japan, from 5-18 May.

The purpose of the IAP, whichwas launched at the UnitedNation’s Population Summit heldin New Delhi, India, in 1993, is“to act as an international forumthat brings together academies ofall nations to discuss prob-lems of global concern.”The panel also pur-sues strategies forpromoting “the roleof science and tech-nology in address-ing these problems.”In effect, the IAPseeks to foster coop-

eration, networking and capaci-ty-building among academiesand to strengthen the voice ofacademies in discussions of sci-ence-related issues in both na-tional and international settings.

IAP membership currentlyconsists of 80 academies world-wide. For the past five years, thesecretariat has been located atThe Royal Society in London.

At the same meeting, the IAPvoted to create the InterAcademyCouncil (IAC), which will be re-sponsible for providing, upon re-quest, expert scientific advice on

issues of global con-

cern to such international organi-zations as the United Nations,the World Bank and the Interna-tional Monetary Fund. Councilexpertise will also be made avail-able to governments, again uponrequest. The IAC will be locatedat the Royal Netherlands Aca-demy of Arts and Sciences inAmsterdam.

A close working relationship isexpected to develop between theIAP and the IAC. One of the twoco-chairs of the IAC, for example,will serve as an ex-officio memberof the IAP General Assembly and

Executive Committee (thetwo chairs may either split

the responsibilities orone chair may serve inboth capacities). TheIAP, in turn, will nom-inate scientists toserve on the IAC’sstudy groups createdto provide expert in-

formation and de-

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INTERACADEMY PANELCOMES TO TRIESTE

IN THE NEWS

TWAS WILL HOST THE SECRETARIAT OF THE INTERACADEMY PANEL (IAP), A GROUP OF

80 SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. GLOBAL INFORMATION

EXCHANGE AND ACADEMY CAPACITY BUILDING ARE AMONG IAP’S MAJOR OBJECTIVES.

tailed reports to international or-ganizations and governments.

To date, the IAP has focusedits energy on building a forum in which science academies throughout the world could ex-change information and ideas. Tothat end, the IAP has participatedin two United Nations (UN) con-ferences: one devoted to globalpopulation in 1993 and anotherto megacities in 1996. The con-ference in Tokyo, which focusedon scientific issues related to sus-tainability, was IAP’s third inter-national gathering.

The IAP also periodically “is-sues statements on major globalissues.” In Tokyo, for example, astatement signed by representa-tives from 60 science academiescalled for “applying the values ofscientific and technological com-munity to build sustainabilitythrough international under-standing and cooperation.”

In addition to serving as inter-national forum for scientificacademies and as a vehicle forraising the voice of academies indiscussions of critical global is-sues, IAP will also seek to:

• Promote cooperation be-tween academies through the de-velopment of bilateral, regionaland global links forged largelythrough workshops, symposiaand conferences.

• Assist scientific communi-ties, particularly those in devel-oping countries, to create acade-mies where they do not exist andto strengthen them where theydo. A critical function of the IAPwill be academy capacity build-

ing, particularly in the South.In Tokyo, Eduardo Krieger

(TWAS Fellow), president of theBrazilian Academy of Sciencesand Yves Quéré, foreign secre-tary of the French Academy ofSciences, were elected new co-chairs of the IAP. Members of theIAP also agreed to appoint a tem-porary executive committee todraft an IAP constitution and op-erating procedures. The commit-tee consists of the two IAP co-chairs and representatives of theacademies of India, China, theCaribbean, Sweden and theUnited Kingdom. In addition, arepresentative of TWAS and oneof the co-chairs of the IAC weremade ex-officio members of theexecutive committee.

Representatives have put intomotion a strategy for transform-ing the loosely woven organiza-tion into a tightly knit entity witha clearly defined agenda and de-tailed procedures for achievingthe IAP’s goals. The frameworkcreated during the next fewmonths and the energy and re-sources applied to transformingthat framework into a solid andenduring structure over the nextyear or two will likely determinethe IAP’s long-term impact onglobal science and internationaldecision making.

As members of the IAP goabout their business of strength-ening the panel’s internal mecha-nisms and structures, TWAS, asIAP’s host, will be busy at workseeking to create a nurturing en-vironment for its new neighbourand partner. The Italian govern-

ment has generously agreed toprovide both operational moneyand a home for the IAP. We arecurrently negotiating botharrangements through discus-sions with local, regional provin-cial and national authorities, andwe expect the plans to be final-ized in the months ahead.

Refurbishing one of the pro-posed sites for IAP’s and TWAS’spermanent headquarters willtake time. Meanwhile, the AbdusSalam International Centre forTheoretical Physics has agreed toprovide temporary quarters forthe IAP — a gracious gesture onthe part of the ICTP that helps toensure that the panel will get offto a quick start.

It’s only fitting to find TWASand the ICTP working closely to-gether on this project. As many ofyou know, both scientific organi-zations were products of the fer-tile mind of Nobel Laureate AbdusSalam. Indeed it was Salam,founder and then long-term presi-dent of both ICTP and TWAS, whosometimes responded to calls forchanging the name of the ThirdWorld Academy of Sciences withthis refrain: The only namechange that I would seriously con-sider for TWAS is to the “OneWorld Academy of Sciences.”

We still have a long way to goto realize Salam’s vision. But hewould be pleased to know thatorganizations which he createdand nurtured are now playingmajor roles in a larger effort tohelp realize the noble cause towhich he devoted much of hislife. ■

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Beijing, China. The Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) celebrated its 50th anniversary last November.What began as a small organization created soon afterthe Revolution has evolved into China’s largest scien-tific association. Today the Academy oversees the workof 122 institutes employing some 60,000 researcherswho are involved in virtually all fields of scientificinquiry.

The Academy’s most distinguished institutesinclude the Institute of Physics, which has gained aninternational reputation for research in high-tempera-ture superconductivity, nano-metre science and con-densed matter physics; the Institute of Geology andGeophysics, which has acquired prominence in miner-alization theory and quaternary research; and theShanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, which hasmade significant contributions to the fields life organ-isms and computer chemistry.

As Lu Yongxiang, the President of the CAS, noted ina recent interview with the editor of the TWAS

Newsletter: “Ever since its inception, the Academy hasserved as one of the cornerstones of China’s efforts toimprove agricultural and industrial productivity. Morespecifically, CAS has shouldered three major responsi-bilities: to contribute to China’s economic and socialdevelopment; to recognize and honour the nation’sbest scientists and engineers; and to promote thegrowth of cutting-edge high-technology industries. Inshort, the Academy has sought to boost scientific andtechnological innovation in China through the supportthat it has given scientists engaged in basic andapplied research.”

To date, 633 of China’s most distinguished scien-tists have been elected members of the Academy. CASmembers include Zhao Zhongxian (TWAS Fellow1987) who was awarded the 1986 TWAS Prize inPhysics for his research on liquid nitrogen high-tem-perature superconductors; Chen Shupeng (TWASFellow 1992), who received the nation’s 1995 SpecialGold Award for Environmental Science for his work on

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FEATURE

GOLDENANNIVERSARY

THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, LU YONGXIANG, TALKS

ABOUT HIS ORGANIZATION’S STRENGTHS AS WELL AS ITS HOPES FOR THE FUTURE.

remote sensing and geographic information systems(GIS) for use in environmental monitoring, naturaldisaster assessment, biomass estimates and resourcemanagement; and Chen Zhu (TWAS Fellow 1999), aninternationally renowned biologist who has identifiedcellular and molecular mechanisms for the treatmentof acute leukaemia and the characterization of geneexpression profiles in hematopoietic stem/progenitorcells.

As we enter the next millennium, Lu Yongxiangnotes that the Academy faces a host of challenges. Onthe “issue front,” he says that CAS “must continue toembrace effective measures both to promote economicdevelopment and to protect theenvironment. The government andthe public,” he adds, “realize thatlong-term sustainable developmentdepends on avoiding strategies thatachieve growth today at the expenseof the nation’s future environmentalwell-being. The Academy must beattentive to these concerns.”

That is why, Lu Yongxiang observes, the Academyhas stepped up its research on science-based strategiesfor protecting the nation’s habitat and biological diver-sity, improving water quality and management, con-trolling air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,and reducing industrial and household wastes.

Lu Yongxiang acknowledges that “scientificresearch alone cannot advance these goals.” Hedeclares that “the findings of basic scientific researchmust be integrated into technological solutions thatmake sense for industry, commerce and other sectorsof the economy. That requires sufficient funds for the

promotion of researchand development, thetraining of engineers andtechnologists, and thedevelopment of effectivelegal and regulatoryframeworks.”

“The Academy,” LuYongxiang states, “hasfocused its recent efforts on issues of critical impor-tance to China’s economic and ecological future: forexample, strategies for the reduction of carbon dioxidepollution associated with the burning of coal (the

prime source of energy in China forthe generation of electricity andheat); development of biodegrad-able materials for use in manufac-turing processes and consumergoods; fostering of new agriculturaltechniques and hybrid seeds forboosting crop yields in semi-arid andarid lands (with increasing emphasis

on advances in biotechnology); and conservation oftropical rain forests through the development of sus-tainable practices that remain economically viablethrough the sale of forest-related products.”

Lu Yongxiang also was recently elected a vice pres-ident of TWAS. In this capacity, he hopes “to promoteinternational exchanges and co-operation among sci-entists from the developing world, particularly thoseliving and working in northeast and southeast Asia.”

As a first step in advancing these goals, CAS, in co-operation with TWAS, organized an international con-ference on dryland grass ecosystem management. The

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The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

oversees the work of122 institutes and some

60,000 researchers.

[CONTINUED PAGE 8]

A STRONG FRAMEWORK FOR CO-OPERATION BETWEEN

THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND TWAS IS

ALREADY IN PLACE: 64 MEMBERS OF TWAS ARE FROM

MAINLAND CHINA. THAT IS MORE THAN 10 PERCENT

OF TWAS’S MEMBERSHIP.

Lu Yongxiang

conference, which took place in August 1999 inXilinholt, Inner Mongolia, China, drew nearly 100 par-ticipants from six countries (Australia, China, Japan,Mongolia, Russia, and the United States). Discussionsfocused on improving science-basedmanagement practices for drylandecosystems that cover vast expansesof the developing world. In China,for example, dryland grass ecosys-tems stretch over nearly 20 percentof the land mass. Among the issuesdiscussed at the conference wereglobal change and sustainable grass-land management, conservation ofgrassland biodiversity, grazing management tech-niques and the role of women in pasture development.

In addition, the Academy, again in co-operationwith TWAS, held a symposium in Beijing, China, inNovember 1999, on the impact of digital technology.More than 500 participants from 27 countries exam-ined the ways in which digital technology has radical-

ly altered global communications in general and scien-tific research more specifically. Moreover, theyexplored what measures developing countries — bothindividually and collectively — should pursue to take

full advantage of the “digital revolu-tion.”

In the near future, CAS plans toorganize a workshop examining sci-ence-based strategies for the protection of habitat and biodiversity in tropical rain forests andanother workshop exploring currentresearch initiatives designed toensure adequate quantities of clean

drinking water in the developing world. “All of these activities,” notes Lu Yongxiang, “are driven by our desire to promote South-South co-ope-ration.”

In the final analysis, Lu Yongxiang believes that themost important step that developing nations can taketo close the science and technology gap existing

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SOUTH AFRICA’S NEW ACADEMY Cape Town, South Africa. Whilethe Chinese Academy of Sciencesdraws on 50 years of experience tohelp China’s scientific institutionsmeet new challenges, the Academyof Science of South Africa, which isjust 5 years old, is seeking to estab-lish an identity for both itself andSouth Africa’s scientific communityin a nation that has recently experi-enced an inspiring revolution inracial relations and democracy. AsWieland Gevers, the Academy’s pres-ident, explains: “We are in ourinfancy and there is still quite a wayto go before our infrastructure iswell established.”Gevers, who was educated in SouthAfrica, Great Britain and the UnitedStates and has enjoyed a long and

distinguished career as a scientificresearcher and administrator inSouth Africa, faces a host of down-to-earth logistical problems as heand the Academy’s council seek tobuild a strong foundation for hisfledgling institution.“The Academy, which currently hassome 140 members, can play amajor role in promoting social equi-ty and economic development,”Gevers notes, “particularly throughits international connections andpartnerships.” But he acknowledgesthat “the Academy has been plaguedby a weak infrastructure and anunresolved place in the SouthAfrican science system. We are hop-ing that these weaknesses can beaddressed over the course of the nextfew years.”

Such problems should come as nosurprise. The Academy was estab-lished in 1996 after public officialsin the newly created democracy real-ized that neither of the nation’slong-standing academies, the RoyalSociety of South Africa or the SouthAfrican Academy for Science andArts, “could inclusively represent thewhole of the South African scientificcommunity.”The nation’s new post-apartheidsociety, they concluded, would needa new science academy as part of alarger effort to build credibility andconfidence among institutions inSouth Africa and throughout therest of the world.During the post World War II era,South Africa developed a strongfoundation in scientific research in

The Academy hasfocused its recent efforts

on issues of criticalimportance to China’s

economic and ecological future.

between the North and South is to put more moneyinto scientific research and development.

“Today,” he observes, “China invests about 0.7 per-cent of its gross domestic product on science and tech-nology. That commitment has already had a positiveimpact on our economy, which has grown at an aver-age rate of nearly 10 percent over the past 10 years.I’m not suggesting that our investment in science andtechnology has been the only factor in our progress,but it is one of the underlying reasons for the sustainedperiod of development that China has recently experi-enced.”

At the same time, Lu Yongxiang acknowledges thatadequate funding for research and development is notenough. “Many forces must come into play for a sci-ence-based economic development to succeed,” henotes. “Educational reforms, initiatives boosting publicsupport for science, adequate financial backing forinnovation, and international scientific exchanges areall essential elements of a broad-based, comprehensivestrategy.”

“International scientific exchanges,” Lu Yongxiangasserts, “could prove productive in several areas criti-cal to our global well-being. Such areas include envi-ronmental protection, public health and the efficientuse of resources.” But for these exchange efforts to suc-ceed, he adds, “the North must provide assistance tothe South for improving training and research pro-grammes, particularly for young scientists, which givethem the skills and tools they need to pursue innova-tive research projects in the future.”

“As we enter the next millennium, a nation’s long-term economic and social well-being depends less andless on its ability to provide conventional goods andservices, and more and more on its ability to innovate.The innovation gap, in fact, may be the largest gapthat exists between the North and the South. As aresult, helping to close that gap through internationalassistance and co-operation, particularly in areas ofscientific research and technological development,may be the most valuable help that developed nationscan provide to developing nations.” ■

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[CONTINUED PAGE 10]

several fields, including palaeontol-ogy, clinical medicine and ornitholo-gy. These efforts nurtured the devel-opment of several internationallyrecognized experts, including ana-tomist Raymond Dart of the Uni-versity of the Witwatersrand inJohannesburg and anthropologistPhillip Tobias, who succeeded him,and Len Eales of the University ofCape Town. However, like everything else underSouth Africa’s oppressive apartheidsystem, opportunities for scientificresearch and development, not tomention the tangible benefitsderived from these efforts, were con-fined to the nation’s white minority.“The South African Academy ofSciences will promote both excel-lence and opportunity for all of our

nation’s scientists,” Gevers observes.“Our membership includes suchworld-renowned scientists as Ma-legapuru Makgobae (immunolo-gy), Kanti Bhoola (pharmacology),and Daya Reddy (applied mathe-matics).”While continuing to honour thework of these accomplished scien-tists, Gevers hopes that the Academycan also help broaden the pool ofscientific talent in South Africathrough programmatic initiatives —for example, the granting of fellow-ships, travel stipends and awards —that have become characteristic ofscientific academies throughout theworld. He also hopes that theAcademy can serve as a valuablesource of information and insightfor addressing science-related issues

of critical importance to SouthAfrica’s future economic and socialwell-being.As Gevers notes, “the scientific fieldsviewed as most critical to SouthAfrica’s future are those linked tosuch national needs as informationtechnologies to improve education,biotechnology to enhance the pro-ductivity and safety of food supplies,health research to combat infectiousdiseases, and hydrology research toimprove both the quantity and qual-ity of the nation’s limited supplies ofwater.”“The value of scientific research inour democracy,” Gevers adds, “willdepend on our ability to addressissues of public concern. That’s whyI think the Academy’s broad view ofscience, ranging from the natural to

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the social and human sciences, close-ly linked to technology and engi-neering, will allow us to make majorcontributions to our nation’s pro-gress.”The success of the Academy’s effortswill depend in part on its ability toaddress issues related to its internaladministration and its primaryfunctions and responsibilities withinSouth Africa’s scientific communityand larger society. Yet there is another dimension to theAcademy’s work that Gevers main-tains could prove equally importantto the institution’s future: its rela-

tionship with scientists and scientif-ic academies in the rest of the world,particularly in Africa. He points outthat “for many years, South Africadid not fully participate in interna-tional scientific research activitiesand programmes, and it had virtu-ally no interaction with its neigh-bours to the North.” Such isolation is dangerous for mostendeavours, but it is especially wor-risome for science, whose universalvalues are advanced by a continualexchange of information and ideasfree of political, social and racialbarriers.To address these potentially paralyz-ing shortcomings, Gevers says thatthe Academy recently has forgedpromising relations with such lead-ing scientific institutions in thedeveloped world as the U.S. NationalAcademy of Sciences and the RoyalSociety in the United Kingdom. “We also have signed protocol agree-ments for co-operation and exchangewith the Royal Swedish Academyand French Academy. A memoran-dum of understanding has beenreached with the Russian Academy ofSciences and discussions for futureco-operation have taken place withrepresentatives from scientific acade-mies in Brazil, China and India aswell.” Gevers hopes that “these efforts willallow the Academy of Science inSouth Africa to become a fully par-ticipating member of the interna-tional community of scientific acade-mies.”

Centuries of racism and apartheidhave made the Academy’s relation-ship with scientific communities inAfrica particularly sensitive. YetGevers anticipates rapid progress onthis front as well.“We expect that members of ourAcademy will soon be able to becomemembers of the African Academy ofSciences too. In addition, we hopethat as our Academy gains strengthand focus, we will be in a position todevelop co-operative pan-Africanprogrammes that examine scientificissues of common concern to thecontinent. We believe that ourexpanding relationship with TWAScould prove particularly helpful inour efforts to forge individual andinstitutional partnerships with col-leagues and research centresthroughout Africa.”The challenges facing the SouthAfrican Academy of Science may bedaunting. Yet, they pale in compari-son to the challenges South Africaitself faced when putting an end toapartheid. The successful resolutionto what seemed intractable racialand political problems, hardened bydeep-seated hatred and violence,offers hope for the future of theAcademy as its seeks to find a placefor itself both in South Africa’s newsociety and the international scien-tific community.That hope is driving Gevers’ strategyto make the Academy a respectedplayer in his nation’s and the world’soverall efforts to create a more equi-table and prosperous society. ■

Wieland Gevers

Malegapuru Makgoba

Kanti Bhoola

The newly created Science Institutes Group (SIG) recent-ly met at the TWNSO secretariat in Trieste, Italy, to dis-cuss ways to increase scientific knowledge in Africa. SIG’sultimate goal is to build centres of excellence for researchand training throughout the South.

A planning meeting to explore the possibility ofextending the Millennium Science Initiative (MSI) toAfrica was held in Trieste, Italy, on 5-6 May. The meet-ing, organized by the Science Institutes Group (SIG),was hosted by the Third World Network of ScientificOrganizations (TWNSO).

“The purpose of the meeting” explains C.N.R. Rao,president of the Third World Academy of Sciences(TWAS) and SIG board member, “was to examine

options for strengthening science and technology inAfrica through the MSI.”

MSI, launched in 1998 with help from the WorldBank, is seeking to promote world-class science andscientific talent, especially in the developing world,through programmes that “foster innovative researchand applications of value to the host country orregion.” Specifically, MSI hopes to help train futuregenerations of scientists and spur efforts to build insti-tutional networks of excellence.

SIG was created in 1999 with assistance from theDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation. The grant con-stituted the foundation’s first foray into internationalscience programmes. SIG’s purpose is to provide“strategic direction” and guidance for MSI.

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FEATURE

SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY BUILDING

IN AFRICAPARTICIPANTS AT A MEETING IN TRIESTE EXPLORE NEW OPTIONS FOR

GETTING AFRICA’S SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH EFFORTS BACK ON TRACK.

[CONTINUED PAGE 12]

In addition to Rao, who serves as president of theJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced ScientificResearch in India, other SIG board of directors includePhillip A. Griffiths, chair and director of the Institutefor Advanced Studies, USA; Arlen K. Hastings, SIG sec-retary; François Gros, secrétaire perpétuel (permanentsecretary), Académie des Sciences,France; Jacob Palis, TWAS fellow(1991) and director of the Instituteof Pure and Applied Mathematics(IMPA), Brazil; and Chung W. Kim,president of the Korea Institute forAdvanced Studies (KIAS). Each oftheir institutions are charter mem-bers of the SIG.

“The Millennium Science Initiative,” notes MichaelF. Crawford, who represented the World Bank at SIG’sTrieste meeting, “began in the late 1990s when JimWolfensohn, president of the World Bank and an IAStrustee, was seeking ways for the Bank to becomemore involved in science and technology capacitybuilding in developing countries.” This new approachwas signalled by the publication of the Bank’s 1998-

1999 World Development report, which strongly sug-gested that the Bank was redirecting its corporatestrategy from one based on ‘bricks and mortar’ to onebased on ‘knowledge.’

“The MSI idea,” notes Crawford, “took off at a 1998meeting in Chile, where both the Chilean president

and the minister of science and tech-nology suggested their nation wouldbe interested in receiving WorldBank assistance for programmesdesigned to increase the scientificknowledge and technical capacity inChile. The three Mercosur countries— Chile, Brazil and Argentina, with

Chile in the lead — had been discussing how to devel-op innovative new strategies for advancing science andtechnology in their countries for some time.

Chile, in fact, became the first nation to join theMSI when it received a small loan from the World Bank“to get the ball rolling.” A larger loan is expected to beissued in the near future. Meanwhile, Venezuela,Argentina, Brazil and Romania have expressed interestin participating in the programme. “The goal,” notes

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”Each country, no matter how poor,needs to develop its

own science.“

Crawford, “is to enable countries to reap the benefitsof science and technology.

Under the umbrella of SIG, proponents of theMillennium Science Initiative have now turned theirattention to Africa. “Each country, no matter howpoor,” notes SIG board member Rao, “needs to devel-op its own science.” SIG, he adds, “hopes to serve as acatalyst for building such capacity and knowledgethroughout Africa.”

All participants at the Trieste meeting agreed thatscience in Africa over the past two decades has beenbattered by political turmoil, paltry funding, deterio-rating working environments both in universities andresearch institutes, and the migration of talentedAfrican scientists to institutions in theNorth.

“Yet,” as G.B.A. Okelo, secre-tary-general and executive act-ing director of the AfricanAcademy of Sciences inNairobi, Kenya, observes,“pockets of scientific excel-lence exist in Africa despitethese trying conditions.” Hecites the International Li-vestock Research Institute in Kenya (funded by the Con-sultative Group for InternationalAgricultural Research), and theInternational Institute of TropicalAgriculture in Nigeria, as prime examples ofinstitutions that are conducting excellent — and, in afew cases, internationally recognized — research. Acritical aspect of the problem, he says, is that thesecentres remain isolated within Africa. “In fact, they areoften more closely tied to institutions beyond Africa’sborders.”

Keto E. Mshigeni, pro-vice-chancellor of AcademicAffairs and Research at the University of Namibia, con-curs with this assessment. He notes, for example, thatAfrican researchers working in domestic universitiesand research centres have gained “a great deal ofknowledge in the cultivation of mushrooms. If fundingfor additional research were made available, thisknowledge could be shared” and put to use “to devel-op a valuable agricultural commodity that would boost

the economy while simultaneously enhancing theregion’s scientific capacity.” Mshigeni asserts that “asimilar strategy could be successfully applied to sea-weed, berries and algae — all of which have a poten-tial market value of millions of dollars if developed ina scientifically sound way.”

A.P. Nanyaro, Director-General of the TanzaniaIndustrial Research and Development Organization,pointed to his organization’s modest track record ofsuccess in the application of science and technology asproof that Africa has the potential to “build a strongframework for S&T” if additional assistance is given“to those institutions that are having an impact today

despite their limited resources.” He cited the workof Tanzanian research centres in such

areas as the production of naturaldyes and tannin-based wood

adhesives, the conservation ofmarine resource, and the effi-cient use of energy as encour-aging initiatives worthy ofadditional financial support(see “Towards Centres ofExcellence in Africa,” p. 14).

V.P.K. Titanji, professor ofchemistry and deputy vice-

chancellor of the University ofBuea in Cameroon, expressed a

similar sentiment when he observedthat the biotechnology initiative in his

country, launched in 1986, has made modestprogress on the research front since then. The effort,he added, has been handicapped “by inadequate fund-ing and an isolated environment that makes it difficultfor researchers to keep abreast of the latest advancesin the field.” Titanji noted that additional funding forCameroon’s biotechnology centres “would help placethe effort on more solid ground and increase itschances for sustained success.”

Despite examples of modest progress, all partici-pants at the conference agreed that the basic sciencesin Africa are in desperate trouble and that efforts tobuild on existing institutions “may not work” becauseof the poor state of institutional research and trainingthroughout the continent. As Titanji noted, “virtuallyall assessments indicate that the state of the basic sci-

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TOWARDS CENTRES OFEXCELLENCE IN AFRICAby A.P. Nanyaro

The Tanzania Industrial Develop-ment Organization (TIRDO), creat-ed in 1979, is a government-spon-sored industrial research facilitywhose modest success has often beenobscured by the chronic wave of badnews associated with science andtechnology in Africa. Today, TIRDO, with an 80-personstaff that includes some 40 scientistsand engineers, runs on an annualbudget of US$500,000. Its mainareas of activity have been industri-al research and technology develop-

ment. Specifically, TIRDO promotes“the use of indigenous raw materialsthat can be processed with equip-ment built by local machinists inlocal workshops.” Research projects sponsored byTIRDO include the production ofnatural dyes from mangrove trees;the manufacture of caustic sodafrom lime deposits; the creation oftannin-based wood adhesives; andthe development of blackboard chalkfrom gypsum deposits.In addition, TIRDO, working undercontract with the Tanzania ElectricSupply Company (TANESCO), hassurveyed industries throughout the

nation to (1) assess the cost of elec-tricity use in relation to overall pro-duction costs, and (2) to revisestrategies for improving energy effi-ciency. TIRDO also provides services to localindustries on instrumentation main-tenance and repair (assistanceinvolves calibration and diagnosis ofgenerators, oscilloscopes and semi-conductors); chemical analyses ofwater, minerals, foodstuffs and soils(assistance involves use of spec-trophotometres and calorimetres);and material testing (assistanceinvolves radiography, ultrasonic,tensile and magnetic testing).

ences in Africa is worse today than it was 30 years ago— there are declining numbers of professors produc-ing fewer publications for international journals;abysmal pay and working conditions; and a dearth oftop-quality students who often choose to pursue med-icine and engineering, instead of math or physics,because the rewards are more substantial and immedi-ate.”

For these reasons, participants agreed it may benecessary to build new centres of excellence in thebasic sciences or at least “virtual centres” with inde-pendent oversight boards that would monitor theprogress of the existing centres as they seek to improvethe state of their research and teaching. These insti-tutes, Palis claims, “could stand out like big towers ineach country or region.”

But the participants acknowledge that such a strat-egy won’t be easy. Crawford notes that the WorldBank, under its “knowledge capacity” initiatives, has“moved away from such complicated, expensiveefforts.”

That’s why Palis suggests SIG and the participantsat the Trieste meeting “consider a two-step strategy,

which, in the near term, would devise a blueprint forupgrading Africa’s best research centres, and in thelong term would provide support for a few new centresdedicated to basic science.” The latter, Palis maintains,“could ultimately make a big difference for the wholecontinent.”

The conversation, initiated in Trieste, Italy, willcontinue in Nairobi, Kenya, this fall when SIG plans tohold a follow-up meeting hosted by the AfricanAcademy of Sciences that will seek to turn the con-cepts outlined during the May planning session into ablueprint for action. ■

For additional information about the Sciences Institutes Group, contact > Arlen K. Hastings, Secretary of the SIG Board, SIG at the Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ08540, USA, e-mail: sig@ias.edu; fax: +609 683 7605; phone: +609 734 8202, or visit the SIG homepage: www.msi-sig.org.

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0Despite the success of these worth-while endeavours, TIRDO’s progresshas been handicapped by a lack ofresources and an insufficient num-ber of trained personnel. In a 1998proposal that T.K. Mahuly and I pre-pared, calling for the creation of theInternational Centre for IndustrialTechnology and Marine Sciences(ICITEMS), we noted that “althoughmany scientists, engineers, and tech-nologists have been trained inTanzania since independence, thecritical mass needed to spearheadeffective scientific and technologicaldevelopment in the country has notyet been realized.”We went on to note that this criticalshortfall could be overcome in partby allowing “interrelated institutesto be developed as satellites, whichcould then be interlinked throughphysical, computer and telecommu-nications networks.” The networks,in turn, could then “be developed asmultidisciplinary centres of excel-lence.”To advance the strategy outlined inthe 1998 report, the Tanzania gov-ernment has formed theInternational Centre for IndustrialTechnology and Marine Sciences(ICITEMS) comprised of TIRDO andthe Institute for Marine Studies(IMS). The effort is designed to“establish a focal point for industri-al technology and marine researchin the country and neighbouringregions,” and to build “a nationalframework for undertaking jointresearch” that would take fulladvantage of “the nation’s meagreresources.”ICITEMS concentrates on researchareas of vital importance to thenation’s future well-being, including

energy and the environment, foodand biotechnology, informationtechnology and instrumentation,chemical and environmental marinesciences, and marine education andextension development.In addition to carrying out long-standing responsibilities in industri-al research and the marine sciences,ICITEMS has helped co-ordinate theactivities of a dozen affiliated cen-tres housed in research facilities anduniversities throughout Tanzania.Among the centre’s most noteworthyaccomplishments are the develop-ment of the Marine Park on MafiaIsland and the completion of a com-prehensive survey of the coastalresources around Zanzibar island.The centre has also continued tostrengthen its ties with universitiesin Sweden and Canada, includingUppsala University, MemorialUniversity of Newfoundland andGuelph University, and such inter-national organizations as theSwedish Agency for Research Co-operation (SAREC), the NorwegianAgency for Development Co-opera-tion (NORAD), the CanadianInternational Development Agency(CIDA), the German TechnicalAgency (GTZ) and the UnitedNations Environment Programme(UNEP), International DevelopmentResearch Centre (IDRC), WorldAssociation of Industrial Techno-logical Research Organizations(WAITRO), and the United NationsIndustrial Development Organiza-tion (UNIDO). Moreover, ICITEM’sindustrial research initiatives haveattracted interest — and limitedfunding — from private industry.Despite such efforts and enthusiasticgovernmental support, funding

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0 remains sparse (US$150,000 ofICITEMS’ annual US$500,000 isderived from the government; therest is generated from internationalaid agencies, foundations and con-sultancy work). As a result, facilitiesare ill-equipped, salaries chronicallylow; and the prospects for futureimprovement suspect at best.To bring ICITEMS’ infrastructure upto international standards, in our1998 proposal we estimated that itwould cost several million dollarsfor equipment upgrades and replace-ments and several million dollarsmore for building construction andmaintenance.

ICITEMS has clearly come a longway since its inception in 1994. But,just as clearly, it still has a long wayto go — and it will need a great ofdeal of help from both domestic andexternal sources — to reach its ulti-mate destination.In many ways, the centre’s experi-ence offers hope that Africa will beable to build its own science andtechnology infrastructure. But, asthe ICITEMS experience also shows,transforming that hope into realitywill require patience, resources andpolitical determination from allthose concerned about Africa’sfuture.

For additional information about TIRDO, contact > A.P. Nanyaro,Director-General, TIRDO, PO Box 23235, Osterbay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; phone: +225 51 666034 or 668822;fax: +225 51 602339; e-mail: tirdo@intafrica.com; website: www.sdnp.undp.org/tirdo

T he Department of Research Cooperation(SAREC) of the Swedish International Deve-lopment Cooperation Agency (Sida) has

awarded the Third World Organization for Womenin Science (TWOWS) a three-year, US$285,000grant designed to assist young women scientists insub-Saharan Africa and the world’s least developednations to pursue post-graduate training at univer-sities and research centres in the developing world.The “fellowship” grant is a follow-up to the$150,000 grant awarded to TWOWS in 1998-1999.

“We are delighted that Sida-SAREC has agreedboth to extend and expand funding for this pro-gramme,” notes Lydia Makhubu, President ofTWOWS. “We can think of no better confirmation ofthe positive impacts that the previous grant has hadon higher education and scientific research in thesub-Saharan Africa.”

“More importantly,” Makhubu says, “the grantwill allow us to continue to provide critical help toyoung African women scientists seeking doctoratedegrees under trying conditions. In fact, the grantwill enable many of the recipients to complete theireducation and receive doctorate degrees instead ofhaving to cut their education short after earningtheir masters.”

“Sida-SAREC is pleased with the initial progressof the programme,” says Cecila Scharp, who is re-sponsible for overseeing the programme for theSwedish development assistance and capacity build-ing organization. “Attaining a doctorate takes time.

That’s why a portion of the additional funding willbe used to continue grants already in place and aportion will be used to fund new applicants.”

“The two features of this programme that makeit particularly valuable,” Scharp adds, “are its long-term investment strategy and the fact that the train-ing will take place in the South. The first factormakes it more likely that students will completetheir educational training; the second makes itmore likely that they will remain in a developingcountry after receiving their degree, hopefully intheir native countries.”

In the initial grant cycle between 1998 and1999, some 25 students received grants. In the nextgrant cycle, to take place between 2000 and 2001,an additional 29 students have been added to theawards’ list. The grants cover travel expenses to thehost country and provide stipends for daily livingexpenses during the time of study, which can con-tinue for up to three years. Meanwhile, host insti-tutions agree to waive tuition and research fees,and, if possible, to provide free accommodation.Only female students from sub-Saharan Africa andthe least developed countries (LDCs) are eligible toapply.

“An applicant,” Scharp notes, “can either be afull-time student at an institution outside her coun-try or register as a Ph.D. student in a university inher country and then pursue a portion of her re-search at another institution in the South under a‘sandwich programme.’ In the latter case, a student

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TWOWS

ADDITIONAL FUNDING WILL ALLOW TWOWS TO EXPAND ITS EFFORTS TO ASSIST

YOUNG WOMEN SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD’S POOREST NATIONS.

TWOWS RECEIVES SIDA-SAREC GRANT

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0 will ultimately be required to receive her doctoratedegree from her home-country institution.”

Institutions that hosted students in 1998-1999include the University of Witwatersrand, De-partment of Physiology in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica (which hosted a student from Cameroon);the India Institute of Technology, Department ofChemistry (which hosted a student from Nigeria);the University of Karachi, H.E.J. Institute ofChemistry (which hosted a student from SierraLeone); and Rhodes University, Department ofIchthyology and Fisheries Science, South Africa(which hosted a student from Uganda).

Institutions invited to host the next round ofgrants include the International Rice ResearchInstitute, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, andthe University of Philippines, Plant Breeding,Genetics and Biochemistry Division, Los Banos,Philippines (which will jointly host a student fromBangladesh); the International Center for Agri-cultural Research in Dry Areas, Aleppo, Syria (whichwill host a student from Ethiopia); the InternationalLivestock Research Institute in Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia (which will host a student from Kenya);and the Institute of Computer Technology, Sri Lanka(which will host a student from Myanmar).

“The primary goal of the grant programme,”notes Scharp, “is to help women scientists fromsome of the world’s poorest nations attain their doc-torates and pursue productive careers in science intheir home countries. The programme, however, hasthe added benefit of increasing the diversity of uni-versities and research institutes in the South. Bothgoals will help strengthen the foundation for sci-ence-based development throughout the developingworld.” ■

For additional information about the programme,contact > Leena MungapenThird World Organization for Women in Science(TWOWS), c/o ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste,Italy; phone: +39 040 2240321; fax: +39 040 224559; e-mail: info@twows.org. The deadline for the next round of applications is 15 September 2000.

GOAT BUSTERSTWOWS FELLOWSHIP STUDENT HOPES SCIENCE CAN BOOST

VALUE OF KEY COMMODITIES IN HER NATIVE ZIMBABWE

I n 1996, Zimbabwe-born Langelihle Simela re-ceived her masters degree from the Universityof Zimbabwe in the nation’s capital city Harare.

Although she was a top student in her universityand wanted to continue her education to attain adoctorate in animal science, the prospects for reach-ing that goal were bleak. “I simply didn’t haveenough money to pursue my education. I thoughtmy master’s degree could well be my final degreeand that I would find work in a university or con-

sultancy firm — perhaps as an assistant researcheror project coordinator. In fact, that’s exactly the kindof work I did at the University of Zimbabwe and anagricultural consultant company for two years afterreceiving my undergraduate degree.”Today, Simela is on her way to earning a doctorateat the University of Pretoria in South Africa, whereshe is a Third World Organization for Women inScience (TWOWS) “fellowship” student in theDepartment of Animal and Wildlife Sciences. The

Langelihle Simela

focus of her research is the development of tech-nologies designed to improve the quality and mar-ketability of goat meat.“My studies,” she recently observed, “combine sci-ence and economics in ways that I hope will in-crease the value of a commodity that is plentiful buthistorically undervalued in the marketplace. The re-sults could have implications not only for Zimbabwebut many other developing nations with large pop-ulations of goats.”Her dissertation, which Simela plans to completeover the next two years, examines the scientific para-meters that may be used in determining chilling andstorage regimes for goat carcasses. The ultimate goalis to make goat meat more marketable by improvingits appearance and extending its shelf life throughagreed-upon mechanisms that enable livestock farm-ers, meat processors and retailers to rely on qualityscience-based standards that the public can trust.“Many of the research initiatives being pursued byour fellowship recipients have been applied in their

orientation,” says Lydia Makhubu “One student, forexample, is investigating the causes of hypertension— both genetic and environmental — amongwomen in South Africa. Another is exploring waysto improve water resource management in LakeChilwa in Malawi. Still another is examining theprospects for applications of solar energy inTanzania.”“Yet, what’s important about these research exercis-es is not whether they lead to technological break-throughs,” declares Makhubu, “but the growth in in-tellectual capacity and problem-solving ability thattakes place among students during their studies andlaboratory experiments. The legacies created bysuch experiences will not only help the youngwomen who participate in the programme; it willalso enhance the learning environment of the insti-tutions hosting these efforts and boost the technicalexpertise of the villages, regions and nations inwhich these young women choose to live fordecades to come.” ■

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TWAS FELLOWS 1999

• Samir F. Atweh, Chairman, Department ofInternal Medicine, American University of Beirut,Lebanon

• Francisco Bolívar-Zapata, Instituto deBiotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma deMexico (UNAM), Morelos, Mexico

• Ana Maria Cetto Kramis, Consultant, UNESCO,Paris, France and Instituto de Fisica, UniversidadNacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), MexicoCity, Mexico

• Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, Chairman,Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Instituteof Science, Bangalore, India

• Eduardo H. Charreau, Instituto de Biología yMedicina Experimental, Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Chen Yun-tai, Director, Institute of Geophysics,China Seismological Bureau, Beijing, China

• Chen Zhu, Shanghai, China

• Shashikumar M. Chitre, Department ofAstronomy & Astrophysics, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, Mumbai, India

• Sushanta Dattagupta, Director, S.N. BoseNational Centre for Basic Sciences, Calcutta, India

• Koussay Dellagi, Director General, InstitutPasteur de Tunis, Tunisia

• Carlos Augusto Di Prisco, Instituto Venezolano deInvestigaciones Cientificas, Departamento deMatematicas, Caracas, Venezuela

• Dong Shaojun, Changchun Institute of AppliedChemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Changchun, China

• René Favaloro, Fundacion Favaloro, BuenosAires, Argentina

• Avílio A. Franco, EMBRAPA-Agrobiologia,Seropédica RJ, Brazil

• Otto Richard Gottlieb, Departmento de Fisiologiae Farmacodinâmica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz,FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil

• Guo Jing Kun, Director, Shanghai ResearchCenter on Advanced Materials, Shanghai, China

• Mashooda Hasan, Department of Chemistry,Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

• Seyed E. Hasnain, Director, Centre for DNAFingerprinting & Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad,India

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TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 12 No. 2, Apr-Jun 2000

TWAS

IN 1999, 31 FELLOWS AND 4 ASSOCIATE FELLOWS HAVE BEEN ELECTED AS MEMBERS OF THE

THIRD WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS). THAT BRINGS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF TWAS

MEMBERS TO 546. BELOW ARE NAMES AND INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION OF THE ACADEMY’S

NEWEST MEMBERS.

THE ACADEMY’S NEWEST MEMBERS

[CONTINUED PAGE 21]

• Reuben Jih-Ru Hwu, Institute of Chemistry,Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

• M. Shamim Jairajpuri, Vice-Chancellor, MaulanaAzad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India

• Sudhanshu S. Jha, Director, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India

• Ricardo M. Lantican, Department of Agronomy,UPLB College, Laguna, Philippines

• Li Yiyi, Institute of Metal Research, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, Shenyang, China

• Lin Qun, Institute of Systems Science, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, Beijing, China

• Ahmadou L. Ndiaye, Rector, Université GastonBerger, Saint-Louis, Senegal

• Nguyen Van Dao, President, Vietnam NationalUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam

• Thavamani J. Pandian, School of BiologicalSciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai,India

• Palle Rama Rao, Chairman, Atomic EnergyRegulatory Board (AERB), Mumbai, India

• Maurice Tchuente, Rector, Université de Dschang,Faculté des Sciences, Département d’Informatique,Dschang, Cameroon

• Marcelo M. Viana da Silva, Instituto deMatematica Pura e Aplicada (IMPA), Rio de JaneiroRJ, Brazil

• Wang Zhi-Xin, Institute of Biophysics, AcademiaSinica, Beijing, China

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TWAS Newsletter, Vol. 12 No. 2, Apr-Jun 2000

For a detailed description of their scientific accomplishments and contributions, see> http://www.twas-online.org/Elected99.html

TWAS ASSOCIATE FELLOWS 1999

• Louise N. Johnson, Head, Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford,United Kingdom

• David A. King, Department of Chemistry,University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UnitedKingdom

• David D. Sabatini, New York University School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, New York NY, USA

• Daniel C. Tsui, Department of ElectricalEngineering, Princeton University, Princeton NJ,USA

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0CARLOS CHAGAS 1919-2000• TWAS Founding Fellow CarlosChagas Filho died earlier this yearafter a long illness. Chagas, one ofLatin America’s most accomplishedand honoured scientists, was bornin Rio de Janeiro and educated inBrazil and France. In 1945, soonafter receiving his doctorate, hefounded the Institute of Biophysicsat the Federal University of Rio diJaneiro, and then served as theinstitute’s director for the next 20years. Under Chagas’s leadership,the institute emerged as one of themost respected scientific researchfacilities in the developing world —a centre of excellence that served asa model for others. In appreciationof his endless contributions, the

institute has been named in hishonour. Chagas served as Presidentof the Brazilian Academy ofSciences from 1964-1966; Brazil’sAmbassador to the United NationsEducational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) from1966-1970; President of the Pon-tifical Academy of Sciences from1972-1988; and President of theLatin American Academy ofSciences from 1982-1991. Hismany awards included honoursfrom Belgium, Canada, Chile,France, Portugal, Spain, the UnitedStates, and, of course, his nativecountry, Brazil. Chagas was alsoVice President of TWAS from 1985-

1991. In addition to biophysics, hismajor research fields encompassedcytology, pharmaco-chemistry andpharmaco-physics. In 1997, Chagaswas bestowed the honour of Patronof TWAS’ 9th General Meeting, heldin Rio de Janeiro. In what was to behis final appearance beforeAcademy members. Chagas obser-ved that “TWAS’ role in stimulatingscientific research knows nobounds.” Yet, he also noted, “theAcademy must now shoulder anadded responsibility... to preservethe cultures of individual nations inlight of the levelling power of tech-nology and global communication.”He urged “each nation in the devel-oping world to continue to build itsown national scientific infrastruc-ture... in ways that not onlyenhance science but protect eachnation’s historic identity and cul-ture.” With the vigorous participa-tion of TWAS, Chagas expressedconfidence “that scientific progressand cultural preservation wouldemerge as compatible — indeedcomplementary — goals in the 21stcentury.” It was a fitting descriptionnot only of the Academy he helpedto create, but of his own uniquecontributions to science and society.

NEW HEALTH AWARDS • The Rockefeller Foundation hasannounced that it is sponsoring anew international awards schemeto support cooperation in healthresearch development. The schemewill provide 10 grants, eachtotalling about US$250,000, toregional and national partnershipsthat seek to strengthen healthresearch agendas, increase aware-ness of the importance of healthresearch among stakeholders, pro-mote ethical practices, improve

communication and disseminationof research results, refine methodsfor evaluating the impact ofresearch, or enhance managementcapacities for research. Applica-tions are invited from institutionsin Africa, Latin America, theCaribbean, south and southeastAsia, China, the Pacific islands,Middle East, and eastern and cen-tral Europe. Award winners will beannounced at the InternationalConference on Health Researchfor Development to be held inBangkok, Thailand, in October. Foradditional information, contact theAwards Selection Council Secreta-riat, c/o the College of PublicHealth, Chulalongkorn University,Phya Thai Road, Bangkok, 10332Thailand; fax: 4122 7914169; e-mail: ihrareach@hotmail.com; in-ternet: www.rreach.ch.

ATTA-UR-RAHMAN MINISTER• Atta-ur-Rahman (TWAS Fellow1985) has been appointed Ministerof Science and Technology inPakistan, with lead responsibilityfor designing and overseeing thenation’s science and technologypolicies. During his decade-longtenure as director of the H.E.J.Research Institute of Chemistry inKarachi, Pakistan, the institutebecame one of the most prestigiousin the developing world. During hisfive-year tenure as coordinator gen-eral of COMSTECH (ministerialstanding committee on scientificand technical cooperation for theOrganization of Islamic Conference{OIC}), the committee emerged asone of the most influential voicesfor the advancement of science andtechnology in the Islamic world.Atta-ur-Rahman was educated atthe University of Karachi in

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oPEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS

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Pakistan and King’s College in theUnited Kingdom. He serves onnumerous editorial boards, includ-ing Current Medicinal Chemistry,Studies in Natural Chemistry, andCombinatorial Chemistry and HighThroughput Screening, and he is therecipient of many awards, includ-ing the UNESCO Science Prize,TWAS Medal Lecture, KuwaitFoundation for the Advancement ofSciences’ Islamic OrganizationPrize for Science, and PakistanAcademy of Sciences Gold Medaland Award. Atta-ur-Rahman’smajor fields of research includesynthesis of bioactive natural prod-ucts, studies of marine and terres-trial natural products, and nuclearmagnetic resonance spectroscopy.

IFS GRANTS• The International Foundation forScience (IFS), a non-governmentalorganization founded in 1972 andheadquartered in Stockholm, Swe-den, supports young scientists indeveloping countries by awardingresearch grants and providinggrantees with additional servicessuch as travel grants. Researchgrants are awarded to a maximumof US$12,000 for 1 to 3 years andmay be renewed twice. Thesegrants are intended to be used forthe purchase of equipment, ex-pendable supplies and literature.

Applicants must be citizens of andcarry out research in a developingcountry. They also should work at auniversity or national researchinstitution in a developing country(countries in Europe, includingTurkey and Cyprus, or the formerSoviet Union, as well as Argentinaand Uruguay do not qualify for sup-port). In addition to being under 40(under 30 for applicants fromChina) and at the start of theirresearch careers, candidates musthave an academic degree thatshould be at least an MSc or equiv-alent. IFS supports projects dealingwith the management, use and con-servation of biological resources.The foundation organizes its activi-ties into six research areas: animalproduction, aquatic resources, cropscience, food science, forestry/agroforestry and natural products.For additional information and anapplication form in English andFrench write to — IFS, GrevTuregatan 19, S-114 38 Stockholm,Sweden, fax: + 46 8 54581801; e-mail: info@ifs.se; web address:www.ifs.se.

C.N. RAO HONOURED• C.N. Rao (TWAS FoundingFellow), Holder of the EberlyFamily Chair in Statistics andDirector of the Center for Multi-variate Analysis at PennsylvaniaState University (USA), has beenhonoured by the government ofIndia as the namesake of a nationalaward to be presented to the coun-try’s most outstanding young statis-ticians. India’s Department ofStatistics and Program Implemen-tation, under the federal Ministry ofPlanning, created the awards inmemory of P.V. Sukhatme and inhonour of C.R. Rao, two of India’s

most renowned statisticians. TheNational Award in honour of C.R.Rao, given every other year, recog-nizes outstanding work conductedduring the preceding three years inany field of statistics. Rao, who wasborn in India and educated in Indiaand the United Kingdom, is one of

the world’s foremost mathemati-cians and statisticians. His contri-butions to mathematics and to sta-tistical theory and applicationshave become part of graduatecourses in statistics, econometricsand electrical engineering through-out the world. He is a fellow of theRoyal Society (U.K.) and IndianNational Science Academy, IndianAcademy of Sciences and NationalAcademy of Sciences, India; amember of the U.S. NationalAcademy; foreign member of theLithuanian Academy of Sciences;and honorary fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts andSciences. Rao’s major fields ofresearch include linear algebra,theory of estimation and multivari-ate analysis.

C.N.

Rao

PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS

Atta

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W H A T ’ S T W A S ?

THE THIRD WORLD ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (TWAS) IS AN AUTONOMOUS INTER-

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION THAT PROMOTES SCIENTIFIC CAPACITY AND EXCELLENCE

IN THE SOUTH. FOUNDED IN 1983 BY A GROUP OF EMINENT SCIENTISTS UNDER

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LATE NOBEL LAUREATE ABDUS SALAM OF PAKISTAN,

TWAS WAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN TRIESTE, ITALY, IN 1985 BY THE

SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS.

At present, TWAS has 545 members from 77 countries, 63 of which are devel-

oping countries. A Council of 13 members is responsible for supervising all

Academy affairs. It is assisted in the administration and coordination of pro-

grammes by a small secretariat of 9 persons, headed by the Executive Director.

The secretariat is located on the premises of the Abdus Salam International

Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. UNESCO is responsible for

the administration of TWAS funds and staff. A major portion of TWAS funding is

provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.

The main objectives of TWAS are to:

• Recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the South.

• Provide promising scientists in the South with research facilities necessary for

the advancement of their work.

• Facilitate contacts between individual scientists and institutions in the South.

• Encourage South-North cooperation between individuals and centres of schol-

arship.

TWAS was instrumental in the establishment in 1988 of the Third World Network

of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO), a non-governmental alliance of 155 scien-

tific organizations from Third World countries, whose goal is to assist in build-

ing political and scientific leadership for science-based economic development

in the South and to promote sustainable development through broad-based

partnerships in science and technology.

TWAS also played a key role in the establishment of the Third World Organiza-

tion for Women in Science (TWOWS), which was officially launched in Cairo in

1993. TWOWS has a membership of more than 2000 women scientists from 87

Third World countries. Its main objectives are to promote the research efforts

and training opportunities of women scientists in the Third World and to

strengthen their role in the decision-making and development processes. The

secretariat of TWOWS is currently hosted and assisted by TWAS.

TWAS offers scientists in the Third World

a variety of grants and fellowships. To find out

more about these opportunities, check out

the TWAS web-pages! Our main page is at:

www.twas-online.org

Want to spend some time at a research

institution in another developing country?

Investigate the South-South Fellowships:

www.twas-online.org/SS-fellowships_form.html

Need funding for your research project?

Take a look at the TWAS Research Grants:

www.twas-online.org/RG_form.html

TWNSO runs a similar scheme, for projects

carried out in collaboration with institutions

in other countries in the South:

www.twnso.org

But that’s not all TWAS has to offer.

For instance, do you need a minor spare

part for some of your laboratory equipment,

no big deal, really, but you just can’t get it

anywhere locally? Well, TWAS can help:

www.twas-online.org/SP_form.html

Would you like to invite an eminent scholar

to your institution, but need funding for

his/her travel? Examine these pages, then:

www.twas-online.org/Lect_form.html

www.twas-online.org/Prof.html

You’re organizing a scientific conference

and would like to involve young scientists

from the region? You may find what you

are looking for here:

www.twas-online.org/SM_form.html

CONFERENCES

TRAVEL

EQUIPMENT

GRANTS

FELLOWSHIPS

WANT TO KNOW MORE?