TWAS/BioVisionAlexandria.NXT

The TWAS/BioVisionAlexandria.NXT(BVA.NXT) initiative was launched in BioVisionAlexandria 2008, where the Bibliotheca Alexandrina hosted 99 young scientists from 27 developing countries to discuss the problems these scientists face when conducting research in their respective countries.

TWAS/BVA.NXT 2010 will be the second BioVisionAlexandira.NXT to be organized in Alexandria. It will revolve around one of the main concerns of every researcher in developing countries Publishing Scientific Papers in the Developing World. One hundred young researchers (below the age of 35 and holding a Masters or PhD) will be selected to participate in the event, of which 15% will be NXT alumni from both developed and developing countries to promote networking and to ensure the stability and continuity of the program.

The event will start on 10 April 2010, and will include various panels and roundtable discussions where the young scientists will be offered the opportunity to meet distinguished scientists, as well as editors and reviewers from several prestigious scientific journals with whom they will share their views regarding the obstacles they face when publishing their research, and explore ways in which they could overcome them. Moreover, each young researcher will demonstrate his/her project/research in the poster session. Furthermore, the young scientists will be invited to participate in the 5-day BioVisionAlexandria Conference program.

TWAS will contribute partially to the air tickets.

Priority will be given to applied research and research meeting society's needs.

Registration will be closed upon reaching 120 applicants.

N.B. Limited places are available.

http://www.bibalex.org/bva2010/Home/StaticPage.aspx?page=61&m=7

Doing good research

Under this heading, I am going to talk about what makes a good researcher and doing good research including research ethics

8-SLE plus: Berlin Training for International Development Cooperation

The SLE (Centre for Advanced Training in Rural Development) launched - in addition to its postgraduate development cooperation programme, in 2005 also the short-term training programme SLEplus: Berlin Training for International Development Cooperation.

SLEplus: is designed to meet the needs of professionals working in the area of development cooperation in government and non-government organizations. It is financed by DAAD with funds from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation, the German Federal Foreign Office and the Berlin Senate.

SLEplus: is once again offering three short-term training courses at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the summer of 2010:

- Decentralized Management of Regional Development (9 – 20 August 2010)

- Management of Development Projects (23 August – 3 September 2010)

- Conflict Transformation and Peace Building (6 – 17 September 2010)

A framework programme provides participants with the opportunity to become familiar with scholarly discussions in the field of development cooperation and to meet representatives of the relevant German government and non-government organizations and institutions.

Course language:  English

Scholarships will be available to qualified foreign alumni of German institutions of higher education and to alumni of universities who received a German sur-place-scholarship in their home country or a third country. A limited number of scholarships for the "Conflict Transfor­mation and Peace Building" course can be offered as well to non-alumni.

In case of interest for other courses, there is a possibility for non-alumni to participate as self-payers or being funded by their (partner-) organisation. In this case, the fee per course (10 days) will be 500€.

Online application: from 28 February 2010 - Deadline: 2 May 2010

For further information please check SLE plus: Berlin Training at: www.sle-berlin.de

We would highly appreciate your support in spreading information about this SLEplus-training-programme and kindly ask you to send the e-mail and flyer attached to everyone who might be interested in these courses.

Yours sincerely, 

Anja Kühn / Anja-Katrin Fleig

SLE plus: Berlin Training for International Development Cooperation

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Hessische Strasse 1-2

10115 Berlin

Tel.: +49+30+2093 69 12

Fax: +40+30+2093 69 12

E-Mail: sle-plus@agrar.hu-berlin.de

www.sle-berlin.de/sleplus

Global Warming: What is real?

We have been living for quite some time with the belief that climate change is happening due to the emission of greenhouse gases from different sources. The globe is getting wormer day by day.

But there are some twists which has created a sort of confusion among the general people. For instance, emails stolen by hackers from leading climate change research centres accuse scietists of manipulating data and the phenomenon of climate change is being exagerrated.

Add to this irony,a picture story that appeared in the Times of India yesterday reports one Janardan Negi, a distinguished theoretical geophysicist from India claims that the globe is infact cooling in contrary to the common belief of the occurence of global worming.

Now, the question is which opinion to believe?

So, the debate over authenticity of climate change data specially the melting of the Himalayan glacier seems to have geared up.

Whatever may be the case with the data. But it is sure that something is wrong which is evident from the frequent occurrence of disasters. So, I feel, it is the responsibly all and one concerned to do their bit.

I will be posting in my views about the steps that needs to be taken to reduce the burden on earth, creating less pressure on it or at the most allowing the earth as much time as possible to replenish its resources.