Mar 072014
 
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Women in science

“Women can do advanced agricultural science, and do it well!” Elizabeth Parkes, cassava researcher, Ghana

Being a woman scientist in today’s world (or at any time in history!) is no mean feat, science traditionally having been the domain of men. We are therefore drawn to this sub-theme: Inspiring change, in addition to the global theme Equality for women is progress for all, To mark International Women’s Day tomorrow, UNESCO has developed an interactive tool which collates facts and figures from across the world on women in science. The cold scientific truth displayed in the attractive petri dish design shows that only 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women.

At GCP, we have been fortunate enough to have a cross-generational spectrum of, not only women scientists, but that even rarer species, women science leaders – who head a project or suite of projects and activities, and who actively nurture and mentor future science leaders – to ultimately contribute to the fulfilment of our mission: Using genetic diversity and advanced plant science to improve crops for greater food security in the developing world. The United Nations has designated 2014 as the Year of Family Farming. GCP’s women researchers have contributed to improving the lives of their farming counterparts the world over, especially in the developing world where on average, 43 percent of the agricultural labour force are women, rising to 60 percent and 70 percent in some regions. (FAO)

Please mind the gap…to leap to that all-important initiation into science

UNESCO's Women in Science interactive tool

UNESCO’s Women in Science interactive tool

The UNESCO tool mentioned above and embedded to the left allows users to “explore and visualise gender gaps in the pipeline leading to a research career, from the decision to get a doctorate degree to the fields of science that women pursue and the sectors in which they work” with this affirmation: “Perhaps most importantly, the data tool shows just how important it is to encourage girls to pursue mathematics and science at a young age.”

In our International Women’s Day multimedia expo, we profile the life and work of a selection of our smart scientific sisters through words, pictures and sound, to explain just how they overcame obstacles, from taking that first hurdle to study science at an early age, to mobility up the research rungs to reach the very top of their game, all the while balancing work, life and family.

A blogpost fest to introduce our first special guests

Masdiar Bustamam

Masdiar Bustamam

We begin our show with a blogpost fest, and first up is GCP’s original Mother Nature, renowned scientist and constant gardener of the molecular breeding plot, Masdiar Bustamam. After a virtual world-tour of research institutes early on in her career, Masdiar took the knowledge of molecular breeding back home, to the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development (ICABIOGRAD), where she personally took up the challenge to work with the fledgling world of biotechnology, set up a lab, and helped establish molecular breeding in her country. In an amazing 37-years-odd research career, Masdiar tended not only tender rice shoots, but also budding blossoms in the form of her many students, whom she nurtured and mentored throughout their studies, and who have now seamlessly inherited her mantle to carry on the mission with the same ever-bright spirit. More

Rebecca Nelson

Rebecca Nelson

We now skip continents and oceans  to meet the feisty, continent- and crop-hopping scientist, Rebecca Nelson (Cornell University, USA). “I wanted to get out into the world and try and have a practical impact instead of doing research for the sake of research,” Rebecca says – and that she did, first leaving her native USA to work in the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. There she teamed up with friend and colleague, Masdiar Bustamam, to establish Masdiar’s laboratory at ICABIOGRAD, Indonesia. The American continent then called her back, where she moved countries and institutes, and switched from rice to maize research, marking the launch of her GCP experience – which simultaneously introduced her to her a whole new network of international crop researchers. This rich research tapestry was  woven together by a poignant pain deep in her heart, as a mother herself, of “so many mothers not being able to feed their families.” Rebecca wanted to combat this problem,  and crop science is her weapon. More

Zeba Seraj

Zeba Seraj

Next, we meet another true mother of molecular plant breeding, Zeba Seraj (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh). Zeba, whose mind is perpetually on call in the pursuit of science, has been around the world, and from plants to animals and back again in the course of her multifaceted science career. During her PhD and postdoc experience in the UK, still with fauna, she cultivated her expertise in molecular biology and recombinant DNA technology, but a lack of opportunities in that field back in Bangladesh saw her enter the world of crop science, where she has remained ever since. Back at her alma mater, the University of Dhaka, she founded a molecular biology lab, and has nurtured and inspired generations of young biochemists. Her GCP project, using molecular markers to develop salt-tolerant rice, was a real eye-opener for her, and allowed her to truly ‘see’ how applied science and such a practical project would have a direct impact on her country’s food security, now and in the future. More

Sigrid Heuer

Sigrid Heuer

Our next scientist is also truly motivated by putting theory into practice through the application of upstream research all the way down the river, and directly into farmers’ fields. Sigrid Heuer (now with the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics), a German national, has pursued her scientific ventures in Europe, Africa, Asia, and now Oceania, with many challenges along the way. Enter the Generation Challenge Programme, and the chance for Sigrid (then at IRRI)  to lead a major project, the Pup1 rice phosphorus uptake project, which taught Sigrid the A–Z of project management, and gave her ample scope for professional growth. Her team made a major scientific breakthrough, which was not only documented in international journals, but was also widely covered by global media.  From this pinnacle, Sigrid  passed on the baton to other scientists and moved on to new conquests. More

Arllet Portugal

Arllet Portugal

Now, all this research we’ve been celebrating generates a massive amount of data, as you can well imagine. What exactly can our scientists do with all that data, and how can they organise them? GCP’s Arllet Portugal, hailing from The Philippines, gives us the lowdown on smart and SHARP data management whilst also giving us some insights into how she started out on the long and winding road to leading data management for GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform. In particular, Arllet describes the considerable challenge of changing researchers’ mindsets regarding the importance of effective data management in the context of their research, and enthuses over the excitement with which developing-country researchers welcome the GCP-funded electronic tablets they now use to collect and record data directly in the field. More

Armin Bhuiya

Armin Bhuiya

If there were a muse for young women scientists, it might very well be the subject of our next blogpost profile, Armin Bhuiya (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute). After completing her master’s degree on hybrid rice in her native Bangladesh, Armin was already thinking like a true change-catalyst scientist, trying to discover what line of research would be the most useful for her country and the world. After much deliberation, she embarked on a PhD focusing on developing salt- and submergence-tolerant rice. This wise choice would take her to study under the expert eye of Abdelbagi Ismail at IRRI, in The Philippines, with the helping hand of a GCP–DuPont postgraduate fellowship. There, she learnt much in the way of precise and meticulous research, while also taking advantage to self-train in modern molecular plant breeding methods. Our bright resourceful student has now advanced to the patient erudite teacher – as she takes home her knowledge of high-tech research methods to share with her colleagues and students in Bangladesh. More

Elizabeth Parkes

Elizabeth Parkes

Hello Africa! Switching continents and media, we now we move from the written medium to tune in to the melodic tones of Elizabeth Parkes (Crops Research Institute [CRI] of Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR], currently on leave of absence at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture [ IITA]). We’re now at profile number seven in GCP’s gallery of women in science. Elizabeth, who is GCP’s Lead Cassava Researcher in Ghana, narrates an all-inclusive engaging story on the importance to agriculture of women scientists, women farmers, and cassava the wonder crop – all captured on memorable sound waves in this podcast.

If the gravity of words inscribed holds more weight, you can also read in depth about Elizabeth in a blogpost on this outstanding sister of science. Witness the full radiance of Elizabeth’s work in the life-changing world in which she operates; as she characteristically says, “I’ve pushed to make people recognise that women can do advanced agricultural science, and do it well.” And she is no exception to her own rule, as she grew professionally, apparently keeping pace with some of the giant cassava she has helped to develop through the years. But it is her role as nurturer, mentor and teacher that really raises her head-and-shoulders above the rest, from setting up a pioneering biotech lab at CRI–CSIR to conscientiously mentoring her many students and charges in work as in life, because, for Elizabeth, capacity building and cassava are inextricably coupled! More

Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop

Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop

In the wake of some recent high-profile screen awards, we close our multimedia expo with impressions of our science sisterhood through the medium of the seventh art: the magic visual world of the movies!  A good fit for a Friday!

The following tasteful and tasty (you’ll see why!) blogpost takes our film fans right onto the red carpet to rub shoulders with our scientific screen stars!

The first screen star you’ll meet is Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop (Africa Rice Center), Principal Investigator (PI) of GCP’s Rice Research Initiative, who opens the video-viewing session with seven succulent slices of rice research delight. Her movies are set in the rice-growing lands of Africa, where this savoury cereal is fast becoming a staple, and tackles the tricky topics of rice-growing constraints, capacity building, molecular breeding methods, and the colossal capacity of community in collaborative research projects.

Jonaliza Lanceras-Siangliw

Jonaliza Lanceras-Siangliw

The following feature introduces the talented GCP PI Jonaliza Lanceras-Siangliw (BIOTEC, Thailand), whose community-minded project, set in the Mekong region, focused on strengthening rice breeding programmes by using a genotyping building strategy and improving phenotyping capacity for biotic and abiotic stresses. Though this title is something of a spoiler alert, we hope you tune in to this comprehensive reel to see the reality of molecular rice breeding in the Mekong. More

Soraya Leal-Bertioli

Soraya Leal-Bertioli

Last, and by no means least, is a captivating collage of clips featuring GCP researcher, Soraya Leal-Bertioli (EMBRAPA, Brazil) waxing lyrical about that hard genetic nut to crack: the groundnut, and how GCP’s Tropical Legumes I (TLI) project was crucial in getting the crop breeding community to share genetic resources, molecular markers, knowledge, and tools on a cross-continental initiative breaking boundaries in multiple ways. Video collage

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Nov 122013
 
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Participants at the 2013 GRM. High-resolution version on Flickr: http://bit.ly/1fxhkmQ

Participants at the 2013 GRM. High-resolution version on our Flickr account.

The General Research Meeting (GRM) is by far the largest and most important event on our calendar. This year’s GRM was held on September 27‒30 2013, with 135 people from 35 countries attending (see list).

Various presentations were made on progress and next steps on research in GCP projects, including for GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP). Focus was on GCP’s nine focus crops in Phase II – beans, cassava, chickpeas, cowpeas, groundnuts, maize, rice, sorghum and wheat, with the poster sessions adding a couple more (see ‘sixty posters’ below). You can view the presentations made on our website  (to see them in the context of the overall agenda), or on SlideShare (all gathered in one place).  We have uploaded all but one presentation, where we’re still waiting for the presenter’s permission to publish. A comprehensive update on all GCP projects is here (PDF). The meeting was a blend of plenary sessions on core topics and research updates, and ‘drill-down’ breakouts on crops, data management and capacity building (the last two, in the context of IBP’s proposed Phase II, which had its own dedicated one-day stakeholder meeting after GRM, on 1st October).DSC07162_w

Social were we…but we also did some heavy lifting
We didn’t just talk to ourselves: we made a bit of noise on social media to also bring in other voices into the GRM discourse and chit-chat, using the hashtag #GRM13, creating a good buzz of conversations. Also linking in to GRM were our LinkedIn followers. And neither was it all business, science and rigid structure: there was free-flow too, with an open afternoon where participants could take a relaxing break, organise their own meetings, or take a tour to Lisbon. Some of the scenes from the tour are posted on Flickr, as are other snapshots from the meeting. We’ve since gathered up some of the social media posts on Storify.

GRM was far from its grim-sounding  abbreviation and hashtag on social media:  exemplifying the best of the ‘GCP spirit’,  the sessions were engaging, relaxed, conversational and spiced with humour and a light touch, despite the ‘heavy’ topics under discussion (see agenda). But the topic at hand was grim, since the situation is dire – drought affects almost all crops and all regions worldwide. As drought tolerance is our key focus since inception, most of the discussions naturally centred on this topic. Equally important is the scourge wrought by pests and disease, which afflict some crops more than others. For example, under most circumstance, cassava is naturally very drought-tolerant, but what good will this do if cassava survives drought only to succumb to the deadly pests and diseases that stalk this drought champion?

Sunset and ‘moon-rise’
GRM was also a time for both stocktaking and mapping the future  given GCP’s sunset in 2014.  A central and recurring theme was GCP’s transition strategy, and how – and where – to embed GCP-initiated projects that will extend beyond the Programme’s lifetime. For this, the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) are a natural first choice. GRM enjoyed a very good representation of the CRPs, with all six crop CRPs represented, some at the highest level.

A few members of our Executive Board also attended. Board Chair, Andrew Bennett, set the right tone for the meeting. In his remarks at the opening session, he emphasised that this was not a time for sadness, swan songs and moping as GCP approaches sunset.  Rather, it was a time to appreciate the beauty of sunsets, in the sure knowledge that sunsets give rise to  moon-rise!

A section of Poster Session II presenters. IN the foreground, Andrew Bennett, Chair, GCP Excecutive Board.

A section of Poster Session II presenters. In the foreground, Andrew Bennett, Chair, GCP Executive Board.

“Say it succinctly in sixty seconds!”
The poster session was as lively as always, with a record of… (hold your breath!) 60 posters presented, surpassing the previous GRM in 2011 which attracted 53 posters.

Perfection!  Sixty posters for sixty seconds
Sixty was a PERFECT number for the 60-second sizzle, where each poster presenter had a maximum of 60 seconds (and not a second more!) to present at plenary, devising whichever means necessary to attract the audience to their poster. It was easy to discern the brash ‘old hands’ who had perfected their art after several GRMs; the tricksters and various reincarnations of The Artful Dodger amongst them, trying to beat the clock; new and slightly jittery presenters who were more than just a little bewildered but still proved their mettle; and the new, sassy and confident. This beautiful blend apart, the poster session brought in not only new faces to add to the familiar ones, but also refreshing new tastes to diversify and sweeten our Staple of Nine crops. To our diet of cereals, legumes and tubers, poster presenters from The Philippines added eggplants, rounded off with bananas for dessert.

"Definitely time for dessert, and do not disturb!" they seem to be saying. Jean-Christophe Glaszmann (left) and Hei Leung (right), who played ace roles on a multi-partner GCP project on bananas.

“Definitely time for dessert, and do not disturb!” they seem to be saying. Jean-Christophe Glaszmann (left) and Hei Leung (right), who played ace roles on a multi-partner GCP project on bananas.

♫ Welcome to the Hotel California! ♫…
As always, GRM was a mingling of old and new friends, a time for some paths to meet and for new forks to branch out, a season to reflectively look back and progressively face forwards. In keeping with Andrew’s continuity of sunsets giving way to moonrise, we said a group goodbye to Rajeev Varshney, former Genomics Theme Leader, who left the GCP Management Team in August. And we were happy to once again welcome, embrace and recognise two old friends – Jean Christophe Glaszmann (CIRAD) and Hei Leung (IRRI), who were, respectively ex-Subprogramme Leaders for genetic diversity and genomics in GCP Phase I, and continue to be involved with GCP as researchers, as will Rajeev.

In this picture, we caught up with them at a very appropriate moment: dessert during the Gala Dinner. Take it from us, these two guys are well versed in matters dessert, with a dash of science, as this blast from the past on bananas attests, also summarised in a Facebook photo-story here.

We are indeed a Hotel California of sorts – always open for check-in and checkout. As for leaving…we’re still working on the modalities of that!

And despite the fond farewell, truth is Rajeev is not going anywhere either, as far as GCP is concerned. You only needed to have been at GRM or following the conversations on Facebook and Twitter, especially the photos, to witness this. He was (delightfully!) all over the place, passing on his ‘positive epidemic’ of highly infectious enthusiasm and incredible energy. Here he is in action at the Gala Dinner in the photos below, which really need no caption. We’re sure you’ll be able to easily spot Rajeev, ‘high-fivin’ and ‘rapping’, eclipsing the GCP Director, who however appears quite pleased in his lower perch with Rajeev on the platform. But if you’re truly lost and can’t spot the super-charged high-energy guy in the photos, no worries! Here are some handy clues.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

In distinguished company
Rajeev’s energy goes beyond GRM and GCP; this year as in previous ones, he received several awards, among them, the Young Crop Scientist Award by Crop Science Society of America, and the Illumina Agriculture Greater Good Initiative Award.

Hari Upadhyaya

Hari Upadhyaya

Prior to these recognitions during the Gala Dinner, Jean-Marcel formally honoured ICRISAT’s Hari Upadhyaya (pictured) during plenary for two awards Hari had received in the course of the year, also from the Crop Science Society of America. These awards were for Hari’s notable contributions – at international level – to crop science, and to plant genetic resources.

Hari is a long-term GCP Principal Investigator, working primarily on sorghum. But that is not the only crop he works on. Hari was the lead author of the joint chickpea and pigeonpea chapter in our book on drought phenotyping.

Evaluation
Unlike other GRMs where we’ve requested participants to evaluate the meeting, we did not do so this year, since this is very likely the last meeting of its kind, and the goal of the evaluation is to use participant feedback to improve future meetings. With the help of our participants, we’ve applied the lessons we’ve learnt from them through the years to arrive at what we believe to be a winning combination, balancing the diverse interests of our participants for overall improvement of their GRM experience.

 

 

 

 

 

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