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Science & Innovation Policy: R&D

Editorials

Here is a list of the latest articles

Protests for Egypt

Promise for science after the Arab Spring

Governments in the Middle East and North Africa are recognising the links between the uprisings and science for development, says Bothina Osama.

13 December 2012 | EN | 中文

Is the world ready for scientific diplomacy?

Progressive scientific diplomacy focused on building research capacity is in everybody's political interests, but significant challenges remain.

12 October 2012 | EN | ES | 中文

Focus group, Thailand

Global priorities, local context: a governance challenge

A consultation with science policy stakeholders in Asia–Pacific throws up tensions between research priorities that link to science governance.

19 September 2012 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Delivering vaccines, India

Scientific disciplines must link up to serve development

A greater commitment to multidisciplinary research, and to local problem solving, is essential to achieving future development goals.

13 August 2012 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

WHO director general Margaret Chan, World Health Assembly 2011

We need a global treaty on health research for the poor

It's time to move from debate to action with new mechanisms for funding research into diseases faced by developing countries.

20 April 2012 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Bird flu surveillance, Indonesia

Tackling bird flu effectively needs scientific openness

Efforts to limit publication of controversial bird flu research could end up doing more harm than good.

2 March 2012 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Mother and child under malaria bednet, Ghana

Eradicating disease: an ambitious but energising goal

Focussing on the steps needed to eradicate malaria, not just control it, can broaden and stimulate support for health research agendas.

14 October 2011 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Girl selling bananas, Uganda

Uganda should rethink its decision on World Bank funding

Millennium Science Initiative funding has produced an impressive range of projects in Uganda. The government is wrong to bring it to an end.

16 September 2011 | EN | FR | 中文

Vilasrao Deshmukh

Science ministers must take their job seriously

Crucial development opportunities may be lost without committed science ministers.

5 August 2011 | EN | ES | 中文

Agriculture specialist talking with officer and farmer in Zimbabwe

How to get the best out of research collaboration

An OECD report outlines good practice for effective international research collaboration — but success can never be guaranteed.

13 May 2011 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Egypt protest 2011

Egypt's turmoil: a wake-up call for Arab science

The discontent behind recent protests in Egypt carries lessons for how both science and journalism are handled across the Arab world.

11 February 2011 | EN | ES

Time to make agricultural research a top priority

Recent protests over food prices underline a key message from a new report about the potential dangers of neglecting agricultural research.

28 January 2011 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Rainforest

Biodiversity loss: now for the hard part

Last month's Nagoya summit on biodiversity reached some important agreements. The challenge is to ensure that they are fully implemented.

12 November 2010 | EN | ES | 中文

Children in Cuban forest

More research needed into biodiversity–poverty links

Politicians won't act to conserve biodiversity unless they have strong evidence that it is an effective strategy for combating global poverty.

21 May 2010 | EN | ES | 中文

Farmer holding pomegranate

Research alone won't drive agricultural development

Even focused research will not deliver agricultural progress unless donors also help join up links in the development chain.

9 April 2010 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

A good decade – but much more to do

There have been notable successes in science for development over the past decade but still insufficient follow-through for key commitments.

22 December 2009 | EN | ES | 中文

Good, and bad, news on the 'science gap'

New figures on research spending show that the gap between rich and poor countries is closing — but not fast enough.

9 October 2009 | EN | ES | 中文

Rhetoric and instability stunt Latin American science

A majority of Latin American countries suffer from worthy talk but little stable R&D funding. Long-term strategies should be a priority.

3 September 2009 | EN | ES

Long-term solutions needed to feed the world's poor

More agricultural research funding and a farmer-centred approach to boosting food production are needed to prevent future food emergencies.

17 April 2009 | EN | 中文

Airing unequal health research partnerships

A meeting in Berlin brought unequal health research partnerships into the open — but will its framework kick-start progress or gather dust?

27 March 2009 | EN | 中文