TWAS, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, is an international organization dedicated to promoting scientific excellence for sustainable development in the South and recognizing and rewarding scientists in the South and assisting them in their research efforts. These aims are achieved by a series of programmes, including direct funding through a grant scheme, several fellowship schemes, and a series of annual prizes.
Research grants
TWAS, which changed its name from the Third World Academy of Sciences in 2004, has been operating a competitive grants programme since 1986. To date, more than 1,700 grants have been awarded, with 92 being awarded in 2003 alone. Funds of up to US$10,000 are provided to individual scientists working in developing countries to cover the cost of specialised equipment, essential consumables and scientific literature. Although applications are considered in the fields of biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics, the overwhelming number of applications from biological scientists means that, in practice, some 60 per cent of the grants are awarded to biologists. For additional information, visit: http://www.twas.org/mtm/RG_Form.html
A second grants scheme, launched in 2002, is aimed at research units in the world's least developed countries (LDCs) and forms the core of TWAS's efforts to improve both the standing and infrastructure of science in these countries, many of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa. TWAS Grants for Research Units in LDCs provide up to US$30,000 a year, renewable for up to three years. Among the first groups to be awarded such a grant were the Camel Research Group of the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and the Leishmaniasis Research Group, Institute of Pathobiology, University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For additional information, visit:
http://www.twas.org/mtm/research_units.html
Fellowships
Recently, through a series of agreements with national governmental research agencies, TWAS has expanded its South-South fellowship programme and now offers some 200 places each year for postgraduate, postdoctoral and senior scientists from developing countries to spend time in selected top-class laboratories in another developing country. In particular, TWAS is collaborating with Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); India's Council for Scientific and industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences; and Mexico's National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT), the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). Eligibility criteria for each programme varies, so please check the details on the TWAS website (http://www.twas.org/Exchange.html).
In addition, an associate scheme run in collaboration with UNESCO allows eminent and promising researchers from developing countries to visit selected centres of scientific excellence in another developing country twice for a period of two to three months in a three-year period. Among the selected institutions are 14 dedicated to the agricultural sciences and 28 dedicated to the biological and medical sciences. For additional information, visit: http://www.twas.org/hg/AssocRules.html.
Prizes
The TWAS Prizes, designed to recognize outstanding scientists working in developing countries, are awarded in eight fields: agricultural sciences, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering sciences, mathematics, medical sciences and physics. The annual awards carry a cash prize of US$10,000 and a plaque, inscribed with the awardee's major contributions, which is usually presented at a special ceremony during TWAS's annual general meeting. The closing date for nominations is 31 March each year, and nominations are invited from TWAS fellows, academies of science, national research councils, universities and scientific institutions in both developed and developing countries. Nomination forms can be downloaded from: http://www.twas.org/honor/twas_prizes.html.
TWAS also runs a prize scheme for young researchers, who are usually below the age of 40. Winners of the TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists are selected by host organizations such as ministries of science or national science councils in 36 developing countries and the awards, worth up to US$2,000, are presented by a high-ranking official at a special ceremony. For additional information, visit: http://www.twas.org/hg/YS.html.
In 2004, TWAS, in collaboration with illycafé, launched a new major award, the Trieste Science Prize. Two prizes will be awarded annually to eminent scientists living and working in developing countries who have made significant contributions to global science, with the scientific fields rotating on a four-year basis. Each prize carries a US$50,000 award. Additional details and nomination forms are available at: http://www.twas.org/honor/TSP_info.html.
Other programmes
TWAS also operates a series of other, smaller programmes designed to assist scientists in developing countries.
Two schemes are run in collaboration with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), which hosts TWAS on its campus in Trieste, Italy. An eJournals Delivery Service provides access to subscribers in developing countries to more than 240 journals, while a Provision of Books and Journals programme allows scientists to donate publications to institutions in the South, with ICTP and TWAS covering the mailing costs. TWAS also provides small grants for spare parts for scientific equipment to researchers in the South, and support for scientific meetings. See http://www.twas.org/Activities.html.
Affiliated organizations
At its headquarters in Trieste, Italy, TWAS is at the centre of a cluster of international scientific organizations dedicated to building scientific capacity in developing countries. Two of these organizations, the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO) and the Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) also run grant and fellowship schemes.
• TWNSO grants, provided with financial support from the OPEC Fund for International Development, are designed to encourage and support joint research projects involving two or three competent research and training institutions from different countries in the South. To ensure maximum benefit to LDCs, at least one of the cooperating institutions in a project must be from an LDC. For additional information, visit: http://www.twnso.org/grants.html.
• TWOWS Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries at Centres of Excellence in the South are funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency's (SIDA) Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC). The scheme is designed to assist female students in sub-Saharan Africa or LDCs who wish to train for a doctorate degree at a centre of excellence in the South outside their own country. For additional information, visit: http://www.twows.org/postgrad.html.
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