News 2008

Benin to host first e-learning centre for African Virtual Campus

9 July - Benin became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to host the African Virtual Campus on 8 July, with the official opening of the e-learning centre at the University of Abomey-Calavi. Pictured are Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Mustafa El Tayeb, Director of the Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development at UNESCO, Noureini Tijani-Serpos, Assistant Director-General for the Africa Department at UNESCO, the Ministers of Higher Education and Primary Education of Benin and Osman Benchickh, responsible for renewable energies at UNESCO. For details of the African Virtual Campus, see the news item below or contact the project coordinator Mohamed Miloudi.

An introduction to the African Virtual Campus

8 July - UNESCO’s Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development has just published a bilingual brochure in English and French explaining the goals of the African Virtual Campus. This flagship project is developing a network of fully operational e-learning Avicenna Centres across Africa – one per country – by 2012. The network will be used for large-scale student and teacher training. Among the modules produced and translated by each participating institution – most of them universities – will be courses in science policy. The virtual campus is a contribution to the African Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA); the project was endorsed by UNESCO’s General Conference in October last year. The African Virtual Campus will work closely with existing educational institutions around the Mediterranean which belong to the first network within the project, that of the Avicenna Virtual Campus launched by UNESCO in 2002. Read the brochure. For details, contact the coordinator.

Forum launched for groups vulnerable to climate change

13 June - In response to the outcry over the continuing absence of vulnerable groups from international debates on climate change, UNESCO’s Coasts and Small Islands platform and Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems programme launched an Internet-based discussion forum on 12 June. (More in English or French)

WAYS gets name-change

02 June - From now on, the World Academy of Young Scientists will be known as the World Association of Young Scientists. Ever since its inception, WAYS has worked to empower young scientists worldwide under the age of 40. Over time, it had become apparent however that the word ‘Academy’ could be misleading, as it suggested a more select membership. The word ‘Association’ better reflects the network’s social dimension. WAYS was launched by UNESCO in 2004 as follow-up to the World Conference on Science (More En - Fr).

Inauguration of International Centre for South-South Co-operation

20 May - The International Centre for South-South Co-operation in Science, Technology and Innovation is being inaugurated on 22 May in Kuala Lumpur by the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. The Director of UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Sustainable Development, Mustafa El-Tayeb, will attending the event.

More on the International Centre for South-South Co-operation in Science, Technology and Innovation

Caribbean Science Foundation on the cards

7 May - Countries from the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) meeting in Grenada on 9 April have recommended the establishment of the Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) ‘as soon as possible to develop STI … for the region’s development’. A committee will be presenting a proposal for the CSF through the Chair of the CARICOM Steering Committee on S&T to Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada in time for the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in July. This and other recommendations feature in the Final Report of the meeting, which also includes recommendations by Dr Khotso Mokhele, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation of South Africa, under a consultancy commissioned by UNESCO and CARICOM. The April meeting was funded by the Government of Grenada, UNESCO’s office in Jamaica and Cariscience.

Read the Final Report
Click here for background on the meeting
On Cariscence

Launch of website for UN S&T cluster in support of NEPAD

29 April - Since 1999, regional consultative meetings have been held to improve the coherence of the activities of the various United Nations agencies working in the five regions of the world, in the context of the reform agenda of the United Nations Secretary-General and as urged by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council. These consultative meetings come at a time when Africa in particular is a focus of regional development efforts.

The UN S&T Cluster was established in 2005
The meeting started today 29 April, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Website)

UNESCO/Spanish Initiative in favour of Africa launched

28 April - Within the framework of UNESCO/Spanish cooperation, the Division for Science Policy and Sustainable Development launched a science and technology initiative in favour of Africa, the focus of which is to build capacities of the sub-Saharan African Member States in the area of science policy formulation. The immediate objectives are a) to formulate science and technology policies in two African countries and b) to set-up the first phase of an African Virtual campus. (More : Science Technology & Innovation Policy Initiative - African Virtual Campus)

Academies of science in Southeast Europe focus of new publication

16 April - What role do academies of science play today in global science and national policies? A publication released by UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe this week strives to answer this question. It examines the ways in which academies of science are contributing to the development of knowledge societies in Southeast Europe. The report is based on the outcome of an international conference in May last year on the same theme. The conference was organized by UNESCO and the International Council for Science and hosted by the Academy of Sciences of Moldava in Chisinau. (Read the report)

Women and science studied from an Italian perspective

16 April - Which country has the largest number of women employed in S&T? In what country are female researchers paid the most? How many female readers of science periodical are there in Italy Who do women trust when scientific issues are debated? So begins Women and Science: Italy in the International Context, a bilingual publication in Italian and English published by OBSERVA this week with the financial support and technical expertise of UNESCO’s Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, situated in Venice. The publication provides a wealth of information and data on the shifting gender relationships by comparing the situation in Italy with that in other countries around the world. (Read the report)

Prime Minister Mitchell convenes high-level meeting to ‘change the fortunes of the Caribbean’

8 April - Countries from the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) are meeting in Grenada on 9 April to discuss a report on Using Science, Technology and Innovation to change the Fortunes of the Caribbean Region. The report was prepared by Dr Khotso Mokhele, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation of South Africa, under a consultancy commissioned by UNESCO and the CARICOM Steering Committee on Science and Technology. (More)

German National Commission highlights UNESCO’s work in science policy

2 April - The German National Commission has launched new webpages on UNESCO’s science policy programme. Among the information now available in the German language is a summary of UNESCO’s current work in Africa and Southeast Europe, and of the Organization’s role in developing science parks. Go to the website.

UNESCO pays tribute to Sir Arthur C. Clarke

20 March - Famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90. He received the 1962 Kalinga Prize from Rene Maheu, acting Director General of UNESCO. (More)
Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!

Archaeomap committee meets for second time

7 March - The international commmittee for the Archaeomap project has met for the second time, in Girona (Spain) on 6 and 7 March. (More)

Malaysia to host Centre for South-South Cooperation

24 January - An agreement was signed on Monday for the creation of the International Centre for South-South Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. The agreement was signed by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and His Excellency Dato Sri Jamaludin Jarjis, the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 21 January. The new centre will function under the auspices of UNESCO. It will facilitate the integration of a developmental approach into national science and technology and innovation policies, and provide policy advice. In parallel to organizing capacity-building and the exchange of experience and best practices, the centre will conduct research and tackle specific problems in science, technology and innovation policy-making in developing countries. The Centre was approved by UNESCO’s General Conference in October last year.

Technical assistance for Science Parks Development in Egypt

21 January - A workshop on the development of a science and technology park (technopolis) in Egypt is being organized in Alexandria on 23-24 January. The workshop follows up the UNESCO mission to Egypt in July 2007 to assist the Egyptian government in formulating a National strategy for the Development of Science Parks and in establishing a Business Plan for the future Mubarak Science Park in Alexandria. During the two-day workshop, the participants will discuss these two documents, which have been submitted by the UNESCO experts. Once the documents have been finalized after the workshop, they will be published online by UNESCO’s Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development. The Mubarak Science Park will serve as a UNESCO pilot project for the development of other parks in the Arab region. For details, please contact the project coordinator.

Experts to launch template of indicators for mapping national research systems

16 January - The findings of 52 surveys of national research systems in middle and low income countries are to be discussed by policy-makers and other experts at a symposium hosted by the UNESCO Forum for Higher Education, Research and Knowledge in Paris from 16 to 18 January (UNESCO, Room XI).

On the symposium
Go directly to the 52 country reviews
Go directly to the regional reports

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