IDRC at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
16/02/2012, Vancouver, British Columbia
February 16 – 20, 2012
Canada is hosting the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in Vancouver, BC. This is the first time in 30 years that Canada has hosted this meeting, one of the most widely recognized global science events.
More than 50 countries will be represented. Speakers alone will come from more than half of the world's top 200 universities, colleges, and research institutes. More than 170 Canadians will participate as speakers and lecturers. Hundreds of delegates from Canadian governments, academe, and non-governmental organizations will also attend.
IDRC @ AAAS
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is Canada’s platform for science cooperation with developing countries. For more than 40 years, IDRC has been supporting the innovative capacity that resides in the developing world. It responds to the needs identified by the countries themselves, by supporting local researchers working to improve people’s lives through science.
IDRC is accountable to Canada’s Parliament through the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is governed by an international Board that includes members from other G8 countries and developing countries. This ensures that the Centre’s strategic directions respond to global priorities.
IDRC’s research program focuses on development problems, many of which cross international borders and require solutions that cross borders. IDRC therefore cooperates with many institutions, in Canada and abroad, that seek to advance international development. We also encourage science cooperation across disciplines, countries, and regions. We help turn ideas into innovations that provide solutions to environmental, health, economic, and social challenges.
IDRC works closely with a variety of government departments, Canada’s research granting agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and donors, all of which will be represented at this conference.
During the conference, the IDRC team will engage researchers, private sector and donor organizations that fund research, and the academic community.
Our presence includes two symposia and two workshops:
- Global Knowledge Collaborations: The Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation
- Comprehensive Approaches for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control
- Creating Sustainable Career Paths in Global Health Research: Challenges and Solutions
- Lecturing and Tutoring at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
You can also visit us at:
- Booth 304 where we will promote IDRC’s programs and projects, e_books, and awards.
- The Canadian pavilion, booth 400.
IDRC symposia and workshops
Explore science in the developing world with those who are on the frontlines. Researchers supported by IDRC will share their research and findings during these sessions:
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Room 211 (VCC West Building)
Our ability to address interconnected and complex global problems depends on our ability to collaborate globally, with peoples and in places where there are often striking differences in education, research, innovation systems, politics, language, and culture. The Atlas of Islamic World Science and Innovation is a unique collaborative project that explores the changing landscape of science and innovation across diverse countries with large Muslim populations in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Working closely with partners in each of these regions, the project explores new opportunities for partnership and exchange with the wider world, particularly on shared global challenges. The Arab Spring, which began after the project launch, offers both opportunities and challenges for the way that science can be harnessed in pursuit of openness and democracy within the Muslim World. Learn more by reading Naser Faruqui’s opinion piece.
Chaired by Naser Faruqui, Director of IDRC’s Science and Innovation program area, and co-organized by Tracey Elliott, Head of International Science Policy Centre at The Royal Society (UK), this symposium will explore some of the recurrent themes in three country studies: Egypt, Pakistan, and Malaysia.
Panelists:
 Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt), will discuss how science and innovation is at the heart of Egypt’s transition to democracy.
 Dr Zahoor Hassan, Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan), will present the challenges faced by Pakistan in realizing the benefits of science.
 K. Thiruchelvam, retired Associate Professor of the University of Malaya (Malaysia), will discuss how Malaysia can play a vital role in the global knowledge society.
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Addressing the root causes of the spread of HIV/AIDS is a key challenge in tackling the global epidemic. This symposium will review the evolution of national and international efforts to prevent and control HIV/AIDS over the last three decades, highlighting research and practical experiences that can inform the development of future research and programs.
Yiming Shao, National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention (China) and Jianhong Wu, York University (Canada), will discuss the history and future directions of China's HIV/AIDS strategy. Learn more about their IRCI research.
Saturday, February 18, 2012, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Room 111-112 (VCC West Building)
All countries are interested in attracting and retaining talented scientists. Global, social, economic, and technological forces affect labour mobility and challenge institutions to support researchers who will tackle difficult problems such as health and social inequities, the crippling effects of HIV on health systems, and climate change and chronic diseases.
The Global Health Research Initiative and Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research are committed to sustainable career paths. By drawing on lessons from programs to enhance capacity, the workshop will outline challenges and solutions for sustainable careers focused on global health competencies, innovative funding, mentoring programs, and reciprocal learning mechanisms.
 Dr Donald Cole, Co-Chair of CCGHR Capacity Development Task Group; Associate Professor, Interim Division Head of Global Health and Director of the Collaborative Program in Global Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
Experts:
 Dr Slim Haddad, GHRI grant holder; Professor and Director, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal.
 Dr Nancy Edwards, Scientific Director, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Population and Public Health; GHRI grant holder and Steering Committee member; Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa.
 Erica Di Ruggiero, Associate Director, CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health; member, GHRI Steering Committee.
Friday, February 17, 2012: 12:45 PM-2:15 PM
Room 111-112 (VCC West Building)
 Nearly one million students graduate from African universities each year, yet high-level training in scientific and technical fields is generally unavailable. AIMS-NEI is beginning to change that. Launched in 2003 in Cape Town, the original AIMS centre has been putting African students through a rigorous course in mathematics that prepares them to earn advanced degrees in the sciences.
AIMS-NEI grew out of a wish first expressed by AIMS founder Professor Neil Turok, now Director of Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, to unlock and nurture scientific talent across Africa, so that within our lifetimes we celebrate an African Einstein. To make that vision a reality, AIMS-NEI plans to establish 15 centres across Africa, by 2020. Canada was the first major donor to help. In 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed $20 million, provided through IDRC, to help AIMS expand across Africa. A big first step took place last September, when AIMS-NEI opened a centre near Dakar, Senegal, to serve West and Central Africa.
From the beginning, AIMS has been about excellence. The best students from across Africa are accepted exclusively on merit, and pay no tuition fees. And the teaching staff is made up of volunteers, drawn from some of the world’s best universities, who are attracted by the talent and the passion of AIMS students. Among the professors are four Nobel Prize winners as well as several recipients of the Field Medal, often considered the highest award in mathematics. AIMS-NEI is now looking to recruit lecturers and tutors for its centers.
Coordinated by Thierry Zomahoun, the Executive Director at AIMS-NEI (South Africa), this workshop will be moderated by Morgan Pascal, AIMS-Senegal.
Panelists:
- Neil Turok, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
- Douw Steyn, University of British Columbia
- James Ferguson, University of British Columbia
FOLLOW US on twitter and facebook during the meeting.
They’re brilliant. They’re changing the world. And they’re talking to IDRC.
Ideas @ IDRC gives voice to some of the best minds in international development on a wide variety of pressing issues.
 IDRC’s Naser Faruqui explains how to harness science and innovation to contribute to sustainable and equitable development. Faruqui, director of IDRC’s Science and Innovation program area, oversees research on the impacts of widespread access to cellphones and the Internet in developing countries, as well as research on how innovation in the informal sector can improve livelihoods and contribute to inclusive development.
 IDRC’s Laurent Elder discusses the impact of open science on the future of international development. Elder, program leader for IDRC’s Information and Networks program initiative, leads research on information and networks which aim to better understand how information networks can be used to promote open, inclusive and rights based information societies in the South.
 IDRC’s David O’Brien tells us why funding agencies have an important role to play in international scientific collaboration. O’Brien, a senior program specialist with IDRC’s Science and Innovation program area, develops large-scale research programs that catalyze research groups to tackle development challenges – on both a national and international level.
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