September (2009)

Contents

30 September 2009 - Commissioner Potočnik on FP7 Africa Call

25 September 2009 - Call for Applications for Advanced Training in Biomedicine and Development

The Poverty-Related Diseases College has announced its first call for applications for the International Advanced Training Programme in Biomedicine and Development. "The programme bridges the gap between the biological sciences, health and development in Africa by training scientists to peform research on diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and applying it to sustainable development," the call fiche says. The course programme will be taught in different national settings, in both Europe and Africa. The deadline for applications is 15 November 2009.

Links
PRD College website - click here.
Call for Applications - click here (pdf 104KB).

17 September 2009 - Agricultural Research for Development

The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development will take place between 28 and 31 March 2010, in Montepellier, France. GCARD 2010 is the first of the GCARD conferences, which will be held every two years. The aim of the conference is to bring together stakeholders in agricultural development for exchange and dialogue. This includes: farmers, agricultural extension workers, agri-business entrepreneurs, funders of agricultural development, rural- and community-based organisations, and researchers. To download the GCARD 2010 brochure, click here (pdf 99KB).

Links
GCARD 2010 website - click here.

14 September 2009 - South Africa and EU Conclude 2009 Summit

The second South Africa-European Union Summit took place near Cape Town, South Africa last week. To read the European Union's press release on the outcome of the summit, click here. To read the South African press release, click here.

14 September 2009 - African Science to Business Challenge

The African Science to Business Challenge is a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa initiative aimed at strengthening links between scientific research and business development. "The major aim of the African Science to Business Challenge is to generate productive impact of research through translation into sustainable products, processes and services.

"In so doing, this initiative also aims to provide awareness amongst African researchers as a means of equipping them with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to bring research-based ideas, inventions and innovations to market," says the ASBC website.

Applications for its call (Research Activities with Commercialization Potential in Biomedical and Water) have been extended to 30 October 2009. For more information contact Thierry H. Amoussougbo.

Links
African Science to Business Challenge website - click here.

10 September 2009 - CAAST-Net Announces Stakeholder Conference 2009

The leaders of CAAST-Net Work Package 3, Kenya's Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MoHEST) and the International Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (IB-BMBF), have announced that a Stakeholders Conference on Africa-Europe Science and Technology Cooperation will take place in Mombasa on 10 and 11 November, 2009. To register your interest fill out the Expression of Interest form and return it to the conference secretariat.

Links
Conference announcement - click here.

8 September 2009 - HIV Drug Resistance and Treatment Monitoring Workshop

The Free State Initiative on Resistance and Treatment (FIRST) project and its funders, the European Union and the Centers for Disease Control and President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), invite participants for the 4th South African HIV Drug Resistance and Treatment Monitoring Workshop. The workshop will take place from 29 to 31 October 2009 at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

The workshop will include theoretical lectures and practical sessions on the management of antiretroviral treatment failure and the usage and interpretation of HIV-1 drug resistance genotyping for the management of HIV patients on anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. It is targeted at clinicians, clinical virologists, nurses, medical students and researchers working in the public and private sector who are currently involved in the treatment of patients with ARVs in Southern Africa.

The deadline for the submission of applications to attend is 9 October 2009. To inquire, contact Anthea van Blerk.

Links
Event website - click here.

7 September 2009 - New Initiative to Encourage Europe-Africa Exchange

Action 4 of the Erasmus Mundus Project, Access to Success: Fostering Trust and Exchange Between Europe and Africa, aims to "address identified obstacles to EU-African higher education cooperation by providing structured opportunities for mutual exchange and discussion between the higher education communities in the two continents."

"The goal of the project is not only to map institutional and national good practices and identify case studies, but also establish a better understanding among the participating institutions and people on how institutions shape their missions in response to specific socio-economic contexts and environments. By doing so, it aims at enhancing institution's capability to cooperate and exchange, in particular with regards to student and staff mobility schemes and capacity building partnerships.

"The project is expected to develop a catalogue of good practices and recommendations on access and mobility, which should be of interest to institutions as well as government agencies and donor organisations."

Links
More information - click here.

7 September 2009 - Aeronautics and Air Transport Cooperation

On 3 September the AeroAfrica-EU project engaged the transport and aeronautics research community in an information session and workshop on the current FP7 transport call. AeroAfrica-EU is a FP7-funded project seeking to promote European-South African research cooperation in aeronautics and air transport.

The information session sought to explain the FP7 process, outline the Department of Science and Technology's mechanisms to support South African participation in FP7, provide an analysis of the call, to propose areas of collaboration, and to provide an overview of the AeroAfrica-EU project. For more information on the project and this workshop go to AeroAfrica-EU.

7 September 2009 - Science in Society Brokerage Event

EUROSIS (the National Contact Point Network for Science in Society) is co-organising a brokerage event with the EC's Directorate-General for Research ahead of proposal submission deadlines. The event will take place in Brussels on 2 October 2009. The event will focus on the recently published FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2010-1, which is a call for proposals under the Science in Society Work Programme of the Capacities Specific Programme.

Links
More information - click here.
What is FP7?

3 September 2009 - Poverty-Related Diseases Opportunities

The Poverty Related Diseases College - an international programme in biomedicine and development - aims to educate African and European scientists to perform research on poverty-related diseases. On 17 July 2009 the college was launched at the University of Yaoundé. It is co-financed by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.

Advanced PhD students and postdoctoral fellows from Africa and Europe are invited to participate in three intensive training courses to be organized at PRD centres in Uganda, South Africa and Cameroon. The PRD College also funds exchange and internship programmes at European and African research and development institutions. A call for applications will be published in September 2009.

Links
PRD College website - click here.

1 September 2009 - High Performance Computing Symposium

The Centre for High Performance Computing and BELIEF-Phase II (Bringing Europe's eLectronic Infrastructure to Expanding Frontiers) are jointly hosting the CHPC National Meeting 2009 and the 5th BELIEF Symposium in South Africa between 7 and 9 December.

This joint event is aimed at advancing research collaboration and competitiveness through an integrated South African national cyberinfrastructure, and intends to explore the contributions and expectations from policy makers, research communities, ICT vendors, industries, academia and EU funded projects. Through a series of presentations and open discussion fora, both local and international stakeholders and key players will have the opportunity to jointly harness synergies, in an attempt to promote existing cyberinfrastructure activities. The event will showcase some of the recent progress in the South African (SAn) cyberinfrastructure and its role in SA and developments in Africa. Keynote research and application results utilising the cyberinfrastructure will be illustrated, and the latest international developments will be discussed.

Links
More information - click here.