Welcome to TWAS

TWOWS awarded Elsevier Foundation grant

18 January. The Third World Organization for Women in Science has received a grant from the Elsevier Foundation that enables it to expand its recently launched prize scheme for young women scientists from the developing world.

TWAS-DFG collaboration

15 January. TWAS and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) announce a new collaborative programme for scientists in sub-Saharan Africa. Deadline for applications: 31 March 2010.

Increasing the role of science in natural disaster management

14 January. Guo Huadong, director general of the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discussed the valuable role that science and technology can play in disaster forecasting and management. Guo, who based his remarks on a recent IAP report, 'Natural Disaster Mitigation – A Scientific and Practical Approach', spoke at the IAP General Assembly in London.

Science and diplomacy

12 January. Science and diplomacy are closer than we think, argues David Miliband, UK foreign secretary, at the IAP General Assembly taking place at The Royal Society in London. TWAS editor Daniel Schaffer is reporting.

Giving nature's capital its due

12 January. Economics professor Partha Dasgupta, speaking at the opening session of the IAP International Conference on Biodiversity in London, says we need new economic indicators that take into account the value of ecological systems.

African computer scientists recognized

7 December. Microsoft Research, TWAS and AAS reward three African computer scientists showing potential to accelerate economic development in Africa.

Teach the teachers well

4 December. IMPA's long-standing programme to improve the teaching of highschool mathematics in Brazil has turned to the internet to help advance its goals.

Access China

3 December. TWAS editor Daniel Schaffer is in Paris at 'Berlin7', an international open access conference held at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonnes, where he spoke to Zhang Xiaolin, executive director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Science Library.

Footprints in the 21st century

23 November. Assessments on ecological footprints are blurring the distinctions between developed and developing countries, says Mathis Wackernagel, president of the Global Footprint Network.

Lagging indicators in Arab region

16 November. Despite small strides in advancing research and development, the Arab region still lags far behind other regions in investments in science, technology and innovation.

A new age for science communications

10 November. The world of science communications is changing at an unprecedented pace, says Nature’s editor-in-chief Philip Campbell, "making it hard to predict what the future will hold."

Changing world of science in the South

5 November. Big changes are taking place in science in the developing world. But not all countries are sharing in the growth of scientific knowledge, says Mohamed H.A. Hassan, executive director of TWAS. He spoke at a ministerial roundtable at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences held prior to the World Science Forum.

COSTIS launched

4 November. TWAS joins the Group of 77 and UNESCO in announcing the launch of an international organization designed to bring policymakers and scientists closer together to improve the prospects for sustainable economic growth in the developing world.

2010 Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research

Pre-registration is now open for the second "Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research" that will be taking place at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 3 February 2010.

Flamingos, microbes and more in Africa's Great Rift Valley

29 October. It's not the African pink flamingos – strutting gracefully in the shallows of Kenya's Lake Nakuru – that capture the attention of Hamadi Iddi Boga. It's what's beneath their feet.

African Penguin populations in decline

21 October. Speaking at a symposium on science and technology in South Africa held on the first day of the TWAS 11th General Conference in Durban, Phil Hockey of the University of Cape Town warned that without effective conservation measures the African Penguin could be facing extinction within thirty or forty years.

Science and change in South Africa

On the eve of TWAS's 11th General Conference in Durban, Daniel Schaffer, the Academy's public information officer, explores the current state of science in South Africa.

Minister Pandor on science

Naledi Pandor was appointed minister of science and technology of South Africa by president Jacob Zuma in May 2009. She has been a member of South Africa's parliament since 1994 and has previously served as minister of education.