It is generally understood that water and energy are key considerations in global food security given the large demand agriculture places on both. However, one of the G-Science statements says insufficient attention is being paid to the links between energy and water or, in other words, to the fact that energy requires water and water requires energy. Without considering water and energy together, inefficiencies will occur, increasing shortages of both, the statement warns. It recommends that policy-makers recognise the direct interaction between water and energy by pursuing policies that integrate the two, and emphasise conservation and efficiency. Regional and global cooperation also will be required. 

The costs of disasters have been increasing in recent years, in part because more people live in vulnerable areas with poor infrastructure and an inadequate institutional capacity to warn of or respond to disasters. Furthermore, the earthquake in Japan last year was a reminder that even developed nations are susceptible to the cascading effects of disasters. Although recent disasters offer useful lessons, a second G-Science statement emphasises that systematically assessing future risks and reducing exposure to them is a more effective guide to developing disaster resilience regardless of the cause. In addition to regular risk surveillance, the G-Science statement recommends building resilience to catastrophic events by improving public health systems and building standards, integrating resilience capacity into development assistance programmes, and employing information technologies for quicker warning and response. 

More accurate and standardised methods for estimating human and natural sources and sinks of greenhouse gases are needed as a prerequisite for an international climate treaty and to determine the effectiveness of national emission-reduction programmes, according to the third G-Science statement. It recommends steps that can be taken to fill key gaps in knowledge within a few years. Annual reports by all countries of their greenhouse gas emissions and sinks, international cooperation to share new technologies and data, wider deployment of measurement instruments, and standardised assessment methods will be needed for emissions to be accurately monitored at a national level. International research programmes should also be established to study the potential for large scale or rapid releases of greenhouse gas emissions, the statement adds. 

The G-Science statements were signed by the leaders of the national science academies of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which is hosting this year’s G8 Summit. For the past seven years, science academies representing countries attending the summit have issued statements in advance to inform delegates to the summit of important science and technology matters. This year, for the first time, the academies used the term G-Science to describe their statements because they are intended to inform not just leaders attending the G8 summit but also the G20, the Rio+20 environmental summit, and other important events.  

ASSAf, as the official national academy of South Africa, is committed to collaborating with other national science academies to inform policy-making not only at a national level but also at a global level through its participation in groups such as the Global Network of Science Academies, the InterAcademy Council, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and the International Council for Science. 

The full statements are available on http://www.assaf.org.za/statements/

and THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA http://www.assaf.org.za        

INVITE YOU TO A PUBLIC LECTURE BY: 

Professor Ed Rybicki FRSSAf
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Cape Town 

 entitled 

‘Influenza vaccines’ 

Influenza vaccines were one of the big successes of the mid-twentieth century, when fertilized chicken eggs were first used to produce them.  Unfortunately, most flu vaccines are still produced this way, which puts a severe constraint on our capacity to respond to influenza pandemics – including not only the most recent one in 2009, but also earlier outbreaks in 1957 and 1968.  The talk will describe new technology being used to “stretch” vaccine delivery, as well as new ways of producing flu vaccines – including the possibility of “universal vaccines”, which could protect against all human influenza virus variants. 

Date:     Wednesday 16^th May 2012

Time:    17h00 (Tea will be served from 16h30)

Place:    South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Auditorium, Observatory Road, Observatory* 

*Directions to SAAO Auditorium : Coming from the N2,turn off to the M57 – Liesbeek Parkway; turning in the direction of Cape Town and continue to the traffic lights with Hartleyvale (hockey and football) on your left. Turn right at traffic lights into Observatory Road, pass the River Club; the S A Astronomical Observatory is next on the left. Once through the security gates bear left following the SALT signs to the last building on the left (white with stoep & ramp).

Submissions for candidates for the 2013 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards in Physical Sciences are requested. This relates to the proposal of outstanding women scientists from any continent. The five US$100,000 Awards will be presented in March 2013 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France to five women scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to scientific advancement. 

 The L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards Jury in Physical Sciences is presided by Professor Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1999, in the presence of Professor Christian de Duve, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1974 and Founding President of the Awards.

In 2011, the Jury designated the following Laureates in Physical Sciences:

• Professor Faiza Al-Kharafi (Kuwait) for AFRICA & the ARAB STATES
• Professor Vivian Wing-Wah Yam (Hong Kong) for ASIA-PACIFIC
• Professor Anne L’Huillier (Sweden) for EUROPE
• Professor Silvia Torres-Peimbert (Mexico) for LATIN AMERICA
• Professor Jillian Banfield (USA) for NORTH AMERICA

Since its inception in 1998, the For Women in Science partnership expands each year. To date, the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards have distinguished 72 eminent women scientists at the height of their career and the International Fellowships have supported 180 promising young women scientists to pursue doctoral and postdoctoral research projects. In addition, a network of National and Regional Fellowship programs at the doctoral level, now in 64 countries with new programs launching each year, has encouraged over 1200 young women to continue their scientific research within their country of origin.

Nomination requirements (nomination forms and guidelines)

1- Nomination Form, completed and signed by the nominator (please submit only one nomination per form)
2- Curriculum vitae of the candidate (2 pages maximum)
3- Copies of her 5 most important publications
4- A complete list of the candidate’s main publications, in order of importance (please do not include the full publications)
5- Nomination Summary form
6- A maximum of 2 letters of recommendation from people at other institutions (one in another country)

The TWAS-International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation (ISTIC) project is divided into three phases:

1. PHASE 1: Scientists, entrepreneurs and others are invited to submit abstracts of their experience by completing Document A and mailing it to exchanges@twas.org by Tuesday 15 May 2012.

2. PHASE 2: Authors of the best 10-15 case studies, as judged by a panel of experts, will be invited to present full-length reports (based on the guidelines in Document B) at a workshop in Penang, Malaysia scheduled for 15-19 October 2012. The workshop will be followed by a ISTIC-TWAS competition on “Successful Innovation in Science and Technology in Developing Countries” (20-21 October 2012): the best three presentations given at the workshop will be rewarded with cash prizes of USD 5,000, USD 3,000 and USD 2,000, respectively.

3. PHASE 3: TWAS and ISTIC will edit the case studies of the 10-15 finalists for publication and make them freely available throughout the South. Documents can be downloaded on the following link: http://twas.ictp.it/prog/meetings/innovations-in-science-and-technology-in-developing-countries

and THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA http://www.assaf.org.za        

INVITE YOU TO A PUBLIC LECTURE BY: 

Dr Melané A. Vivier

Professor in Grapevine Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Institute for Wine Biotechnology, Department of Viticulture and Oenology,

Stellenbosch University 

entitled 

“The art and science of wine-making: What lies ahead?” 

Wine has a long association with humans and is integrated in many of the world’s diverse cultures, traditions and religions. Most probably due to our long association with wine; winemaking is traditionally regarded more as an art than a science. Descriptors for quality are generally subjective and very difficult to translate into objective measurements. Unlike most modern beverages; wine quality is more dependent on a subtle array of sensations than on a single consistent flavour and/or aroma. These factors make research into grape and wine quality particularly difficult. The sequencing of the grapevine genome has propelled grapevine research into a new era. There is currently a concerted drive to understand how a grapevine adapts on a molecular level to its ever changing environment, and how these molecular processes ultimately affect the plant and the grapes. Grapevine and wine researchers currently have the tools to begin to understand the genetic basis of quality and are moving closer to study wine-making as an integrated system. This overview will attempt to show how the modern wine sciences are changing and improving the “art of wine-making.

Date:     Wednesday 25^th April 2012

Time:    17h00 (Tea will be served from 16h30)

Place:    South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Auditorium, Observatory Road, Observatory* 

*Directions to SAAO Auditorium : Coming from the N2,turn off to the M57 – Liesbeek Parkway; turning in the direction of Cape Town and continue to the traffic lights with Hartleyvale (hockey and football) on your left. Turn right at traffic lights into Observatory Road, pass the River Club; the S A Astronomical Observatory is next on the left. Once through the security gates bear left following the SALT signs to the last building on the left (white with stoep & ramp). 

ALL WELCOME

This programme is offered in open competition and only candidates with the necessary qualifications , who meet the criteria stipulated in the attachments will have a chance to be selected.

Announcement

Annexure

Applications are being accepted for the OWSD Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at Centres of Excellence in the South. The OWSD fellowship is awarded to women scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to pursue a PhD at a centre of excellence in the South in a field of the natural sciences.

Applications are accepted from female scientists in all branches of the natural sciences. See http://owsdw.ictp.it/activities/postgraduate-training-fellowships-for-women-scientists-in-sub-saharan-africa-and-least-developed-countries-ldc-at-centres-of-excellence-in-the-south

for more information on the application procedure, eligibility criteria and to download the application form.

The fellowships are offered to scientists from developing countries and are tenable at centres of excellence in various countries in the South, including Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand. 

Two new programmes with Iran and Pakistan are launched this year, with the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST) and the National Centre for Physics (NCP). 

Eligible fields of the different programmes include one or more of the following: agricultural and biological sciences, medical and health sciences, chemistry, engineering, astronomy, space and earth sciences, mathematics and physics. 

Please see http://twas.ictp.it/prog/exchange/fells/fells-overview for the latest information regarding all these programmes, including eligibility criteria, deadlines, etc, and to download the application forms and guidelines. 

Women scientists are especially encouraged to apply.

Last year, the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health was presented to William E. Bunney and Ellen Frank for their complementary achievements in enhancing treatment and understanding of mood disorders. A full list of past recipients is also available. Nominations will be accepted through May 7, 2012. If you have submitted a nomination in the past and are interested in re-nominating the same individual, please email SarnatPrize@nas.edu to have your account reset to provide you with access to your previous nomination. Please forward information to Fellows of your Academy to nominate a deserving academy member or colleague for the award.