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Announcements
Appointments:
Ren Wang , a Chinese national, has been
appointed Director, CGIAR. Mr. Wang has served
since 2000 as Deputy Director General for Research at the
CGIAR-supported International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), with
headquarters in the Philippines. In that position, he managed the
Institute's research programs and outreach offices in 14
countries, providing leadership in the development of IRRI's
strategic plan and in the creation of new collaborative initiatives
in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. Dr. Wang will take up his
new position in July 2007.
Colin Chartres , who holds joint
Australian/British nationality, has been appointed Director
General of IWMI. Dr. Chartres has most recently been the
Chief Science Adviser at the National Water Commission, Canberra,
Australia. He will join IWMI at the end of September.
Lakshmi Menon has been appointed as
Deputy Director General Research for Development Support,
IITA, and will start in August 2007.
The Genetic Resources Policy Committee recently
completed a strategic renewal of its membership. Five new members
and a new FAO observer have been appointed.
Click
here for the Committee members' resumés.
The CGIAR Private Sector Committee (PSC) was
recently renewed with the appointment of five new members,
completing its membership of eight. The CGIAR Chair appoints PSC
members, in consultation with past PSC members and the CGIAR
Membership.
Click here for the PSC members' bios.
Honors:
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Dr Monty Jones has been voted among the
world's most influential people by the USTime
magazine for his New Rice for Africa (NERICA) breakthrough achieved
during his tenure at the Africa Rice Center (WARDA). Dr Jones is
one of just five Africans on this year's Time list of 100
names.
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Eugenio "Eugene" C. Castro, Jr. , associate
scientist in the Training Center at IRRI, was named the Philippine
Society of Agricultural Engineers (PSAE) Most Outstanding
Agricultural Engineer (Maramba Awardee) 2007, for his
remarkable performance and meritorious contributions to the
advancement of agriculture and industry and promotion of the
agricultural engineering profession in the Philippines.
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Esther Mwangi , a native of Kenya and, a
postdoctoral fellow with the CGIAR system-wide program on
Collective Action and Property Rights ( CAPRi) based at IFPRI, has
been selected as one of the Harvard University Center for
the Environment (HUCE) Environmental Fellows Prior to
joining IFPRI in 2007, Dr. Mwangi was a consultant to the World
Agroforestry Center (ICRAF).
- An Iowa City High School student is among 13 students selected
to conduct eight weeks of research at leading agricultural centers
around the world. Anna Johnson was announced as
one of the students selected for an all-expenses-paid
Borlaug-Ruan International Internship, in which
she will spend time at facilities of the International Rice
Research Institute in Manila, Philippines, and Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
- In Hanoi, Dr. Bui Ba Bong, vice-minister of Vietnam's
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), presented an
award to IRRI
Deputy Director General for
Research Ren Wang in recognition of his contributions to
the Vietnamese agricultural sector.
Fellowships:
The 2007 IFAR grants were awarded to thirteen promising
scientists from 10 countries in Africa, and East, South and Central
Asia. The scientists will be hosted at CIP, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, ILRI,
IITA, Bioversity International, IRRI, IWMI and World Agroforestry
Centre. The 2007 awardees (in alphabetical order) andt their topics
of research are as follows:
Timur Abdurakhmanov
,
Uzbekistan
: Enhancing the resistance of
potato to abiotic stresses, using natural plant stimulators, with
the International Potato Center (CIP).
Muhammad Yusuf Ali, Bangladesh: Strategic
biophysical and soioeconomic assessment of current and future
rice-maize systems in Asia, including an in-depth country
assessment for Bangladesh, with the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
S. Anitha, India: Impact of dietary exposure to
aflatoxins on hepatocellular carcinoma in India, with the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT).
Kassaye Aragaw
, Ethiopia:
Identification of best anthelmintic type for strategic control of
helminthes and evaluation of the economic advantage of strategic
de-worming of sheep owned by smallholders in the central highlands
of Ethiopia, with the International Livestock Research Institute
(ILRI).
Papa Madiallacke Diedhiou, Senegal :
Comparative aflatoxin-producing potential of Aspergillus strains
isolated from maize and sesame in Senegal, with the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Beloved Mensah Dzomeku, Ghana: Measuring the
impact of IARC and NARS development projects for clean seed
multiplication and new cultivars of banana and plantain, with
Bioversity International.
Ana Gulbani, Georgia: Testing potato resistance
to late blight or Phytophtora infestans in Georgia, with
the International Potato Center (CIP).
Enamul Hoque
,
Bangladesh
: Pyramiding of genes for
resistance to bacterial blight and blast in Bangladesh rice
cultivars, using marker-assisted selection, with the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
Madina Khalmirzaeva
,
Uzbekistan
(Wilfried Thalwitz Memorial
Scholarship): Study of the formation and evaluation of
collector-drainage water for re-use in irrigation, with the
International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
Huihui Li, China: Genetic study of quantitative
traits in breeding, with the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
James Kinyua Mutegi, Kenya: Evaluation of the
effects of land use/land-use change on greenhouse gas emissions and
soil nutrient transformation in Western Kenya, with the World
Agroforestry Centre.
Moses Wabomba Nyongesa, Kenya: Integrated
strategies for management of potato late blight in farmers'
fields in Kenya , with the International Potato Center (CIP).
Saidakhon Shadmanova
, Uzbekistan (
Ravi Tadvalkar Memorial Scholarship): Identifying barriers
to ground-water use for irrigation in Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan,with the International Water Management Institute
(IWMI).
Opportunities:
CIMMYT DIRECTOR GENERAL
CIMMYT is seeking a Director General who has a strategic outlook
and can build high performing research teams by creating a culture
that is committed to both research excellence and impact.
Click
here for the details of this vacancy.
Applications for SP2 Leader: Closed call to Consortium
members
GCP invites applications for a Leader for our Subprogramme 2
(SP2) on Comparative genomics for gene discovery. This is not an
open call: the SP2 leader must be from a member institution of the
GCP
Consortium. Closing date for receiving applications is
18 th June 2007.
Job description and application process
Save the Dates for Future CGIAR
Meetings
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ExCo 13 will be held October 16-17 in Rome,
Italy.
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AGM07 will be held on December 3-6 in Beijing,
China.
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