Sustainability experts receive travel grants to provide training in developing countries

New Elsevier Foundation-TWAS program sends Visiting Experts to train researchers in sustainability science

By 2030, we will live in a better world. We’ll achieve universal access to safe drinking water. Housing will be safe and affordable, and waste will be recycled and reused. Energy and technology will be clean and renewable. Or we can let our planet continue to wrestle with an exploding population, food security, climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, poor sanitation and unsustainable energy resources.

Sustainability Science involves better understanding these challenges and finding new ways to do business, and it underlies the UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted a year ago. Promoting research in the field means a better understanding of these challenges, and helps find new ways to do business and reduce inequalities.

To support these goals and the science that will help achieve them, The Elsevier Foundation and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries have joined forces to support sustainability expertise in developing countries and further knowledge exchange. Through the new Sustainability Visiting Expert Programme, distinguished professors in sustainability sciences will be able to give lectures and seminars, supervise students and conduct research in host institutions in the developing countries. The aim is to establish long-term links with world leaders in sustainability and boost capacity-building, especially in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The program will provide up to $4,000 to cover the cost of travel, visas, accommodations and other expenses related to the visit.

Starting in January, four candidates will spend at least two weeks in host institutions in Liberia, South Africa, Cambodia and Lesotho, teaching classes and giving workshops on sustainability science. The candidates have been chosen for their expertise and commitment to knowledge exchange in sustainability.

• Read the full article on Elsevier Connect: “Sustainability experts receive travel grants to provide training in developing countries“, Domiziana Francescon, 15 December 2016