Blog – Page 32 – Next Einstein Forum

July 21, 2014

New vaccine against five livestock diseases in progress

Scientists in South Africa are developing a combination vaccine with the potential to offer protection against five major livestock diseases. Read more […]

July 17, 2014

Gender equality for the environment: An unfinished agenda

The first-ever United Nations Environment Assembly, that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, last month (23-27 June), came at a historic conjunction of events, as the international community discusses a new generation of Sustainable Development Goals and a post-2015 development agenda that will build on earlier successes and address gaps left over from the Millennium Development […]

July 16, 2014

UN to unveil panel for ‘breakthrough’ Technology Bank

A “breakthrough” UN initiative for transferring technology and building scientific capacity in the least developed countries (LDCs) will move closer in “a matter of weeks” when a panel to flesh out the proposals is announced, says an official close to the process. The high-level panel will consist of around a dozen experts from various backgrounds, […]

July 15, 2014

Opening up development ‘Without Borders’

Balthazar Sieders and Mike Martel spend their days cycling along the coast of Africa, stopping here and there to offer free advice on computer coding to people who need it. The duo have called themselves Coders Without Borders, and they’re part of a trend. More than four decades after Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was formed, […]

July 14, 2014

Focus on Poverty: More nutrition science or political will?

The second Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) has just been launched, providing detailed evidence on efforts to reduce hunger (ten indicators) and undernutrition (12 indicators) in 45 developing countries. [1] The data show that the richer among these countries often do better — more resources should, after all, mean better outcomes. They also show […]

July 11, 2014

Local communities ‘sidelined’ in development research

Development research remains far too academic and disconnected, with a “minuscule fraction” ever reaching local communities in a useable form, experts say. The research community rarely succeeds in transmitting knowledge to the people their work is supposed to help, said speakers at the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes’ meeting in Bonn, Germany, […]

July 10, 2014

How to build research partnerships that benefit farmers

Agricultural research for development spans a broad spectrum of activities — from ‘upstream’ research, generally at universities or advanced research institutes, to much more ‘downstream’ research by plant breeders to put better crops in farmers’ hands. As a result of this spread, activities can become fragmented, with little communication between specialised teams along the research […]

July 9, 2014

NCRST Awards Research Grants to the University of Namibia

The National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) has awarded grants to researchers at the University of Namibia (UNAM) under the Namibia/South Africa Joint Bilateral Collaboration Research Programme. NCRST, as the authority responsible for coordination and development of research, science, technology and innovation in Namibia has given researchers from the University of Namibia grants […]

July 8, 2014

Q&A: Science policy lessons from Latin America

Latin American teams have been achieving strong results at the World Cup in Brazil. But science in the region has been performing well too. With Argentina, Brazil and Mexico leading the way over the past decade in regional research and development (R&D), Latin America is currently the second fastest growing region in the world for […]