The latest newsletter issued by NRI's Agriculture, Health and Environment Group focuses on partnership approaches to research projects in Africa and Asia, with a short essay on the subject by Prof. George Rothschild and articles on five successful partnership projects, as well as news of PAHHG staff and associates, completed PhD studies, and a new short course on GM biosafety.
Dr Glyn Vale, a long-time collaborator with NRI's vector management scientists and a finalist in the World Technology Awards 2003 for his contribution to tsetse control in Africa, has recently been appointed by the University of Greenwich as a Visiting Professor to NRI.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Martin at Rothamsted Research
PAHHG's Dr Don Reynolds participated in a research study of the 'waggle dance' of honey bees, the results of which – published in the journal Nature in May – have verified the hypothesis of Karl von Frisch that bees recruited by the 'waggle dance' use its encoded information to locate the source of nectar. At the start of this year, PAHHG's Dr Gabriella Gibson became co-editor of the Royal Entomological Society's journal Medical and Veterinary Entomology.
Nepalese chickpea project farmer Mrs K Shrestha wins district agricultural prize for achieving chickpea yield of over 4 t/ha
In his 'Opinion Piece', Prof. George Rothschild summarizes the changing role and definition of partnerships in renewable natural resources research, and illustrates this by reference to the five partnership projects described in the newsletter. He concludes that the achievements of partnership research projects have been significant, in spite of the lack of resources available for capacity building, dissemination and uptake, and he highlights strategic challenges for the long-term success of the approach. The five partnership research projects featured in the newsletter are:
- impact and spread of banana streak virus disease in Uganda;
- integrated crop management strategy for chickpea in Nepal;
- diagnostic tests for fish-borne trematode infections in Asia;
- combatting tomato leaf curl virus disease with resistant varieties in India;
- prospects for integrated control of malaria and trypanosomiasis in Ethiopia.
To obtain printed copies of the Newsletter, or for more information about PAHHG, contact Tim Chancellor. The newsletter can be viewed on-line, or downloaded in its printed format, here.