Capacity Building through International Research Collaboration

1
Capacity Building through International Research
Collaboration

• Professor Thomas Rosswall
• Executive Director
• ICSU, Paris

2
The World Rising Inequities

• Inequities are rising within countries and
  between countries
• Assets of worlds 3 richest people exceed
  combined GDP of poorest 48 countries
• Worlds 15 richest people have assets that exceed
  total GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa
• I. Serageldin, IAC

3
The Knowledge Divide

• OECD countries spend more on RD than economic
  output of the 61 poorest nations
• High income countries earn 42 time that of low
  income countries but spend 218 times more on
  research
• IBM was granted 2756 patents in the US (1999),
  while 134 countries together were granted 2643
• World Bank ST Strategy

4
Status of Science in Africa

• Public budget cuts
• Higher education and research systems in decline
• National coordination bodies dissolved or with no
  political influence
• Nearly no recruitment during the 1990s
• Poor salaries staff often go unpaid
• Brain drain
• J. Gaillard, IFS and IRD, Johannesburg 2002

5
Bending the Curves
The Gap
2003
Time
6
Bending the Curves

• Support of individuals
• Support of institutions
• Support of national science policies
• Change of attitudes

7
Support of Individuals - Recurring Difficulties

• Equipment repairs
• Purchasing equipment
• Access to equipment
• Access to scientific documentation
• Access to vehicle
• Access to supplies
• Lack of technicians
• Data processing
• Field work difficulties
• Lack of time
• 
  IFS MESIA Report 2 (2001)

8
Action

• Expand small comptetitive grant schemes to young
  scientists (IFS-TWAS model)
• Training courses for repair and mentainenace of
  equipment (e.g.,IFS, TWAS)
• Strengthen efforts to provide scientific
  literature (e.g., INASP)
• Training courses in writing grant applications
  and scientific papers (e.g., IFS)
• Networking S-S and N-S through collaboration in
  international coordinated research

9
Coordinated Research

• The four global
• change programmes,
• especially IGBP and WCRP,
• provide the framework for the science
• on which IPCC assessments are built.

10
Earth System Science Partnership

• an integrated study of the Earth System,
• the changes occurring to the System, and
• the implications for global sustainability.

11
Bellagio Report, 1990
START Mission

• To conduct research through regional networks of
  collaborating scientists and institutions
• To enhance scientific capacity in developing
  countries
• To mobilize the resources for activities in
  developing countries

12
Portfolio of START Activities

• Capacity Building
• Regional Research
• Cross-cutting, Integrative activities

13
Capacity Building Activities

• Types of START Capacity Building
  Programs To-date
• Regional Science Planning and Research
  Workshops 75
• Collaborative Research Networks 50
• Short Term Fellowships 175
• Visiting Scientists and Lecturers 121
• Dissertation/PhD fellowships 25
• Small Grants Program 100
• Young Scientists Awards 163
• Advanced Institutes 30
• Training Institutes/Courses 150

• 1500 scholars from developing countries
  involved in START
• activities in 2003-2004
• 150 young scientists currently conducting
  research under START support

14
Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Studies
Sustainable development of the region
Natural Forcing
Tibet
Solar Radiation
Land/ Ocean
15
Assessments of Impacts Adaptation to Climate
Change (AIACC)

• Objectives
• Build capacity in developing countries for
  research in support of climate change adaptation
• Advance scientific understanding of climate
  change impacts, adaptations and vulnerabilities
• Link the research community with the policy
  community to support national communications and
  adaptation planning

16
No size fits all

• The regions are different
• The countries are different
• Inequalities within countries (top 100 US
  Universities account for 80 of federal RD
  funding the remaining 2350 for 20)
• All the capacity building components are
  essential They reinforce each other
• The whole is more than the sum of the parts

17
We have identified the problems. There are
solutions
Make it Happen!