Events

EAGLES Hearing on The Global Perspective of Biofuels

Thursday the 15 May 2008, from 10:00-12:00 in The European Parliament

Biofuels has been seen a renewable energy resource which represent a new opportunity for agriculture and industry. In both the industrialized and in the developing countries there is an increasing demand for alternative fuels due to the high prices of oil. Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner responsible for the environment, has requested focus on making “credible and serious choices about biofuels”. He notes that the EU target of 10% of energy from biofuels would require us to divert 72% of our arable land with the current technology. Large scale biofuels production has also been cited as a threat to world food security. Does it make sense scientifically and economically to produce biofuels from agricultural products? What are the longer term perspectives for Europe and the rest of the world concerning this
new source of energy?

Welcome: Britta Thomsen, MEP

Introduction: David McConnell, EAGLES and Trinity College Dublin

Biofuels and Climate: Keith Smith, University of Edinburgh

A perspective on the
Royal Society report:  Richard James Murphy, Imperial College London

Facts and figures about
biofuels feedstock
production: Willy De Greef, D1 Oils Plant Science/EuropaBio

Future perspectives for
sustainable biofuels: Kirsten Birkegaard Stær, Novozymes/EuropaBio

The panel at The EAGLES hearing in the European Parliament 15 May 2008. From left Richard James Murphy, Kirsten Birkegaard Stær, Willy De Greef, David McConnell, Britta Thomsen and Keith Smith.

Download Presentations (PDF):

Britta Thomsen - Welcome Speech.pdf
Keith Smith
Willy de Greef
Kirsten Birkegaard

EAGLES is organising Symbiosis - 6 sessions at the European Congress of Biotechnology

16-19 September 2007

Barcelona, Spain

EAGLES is organising Symbiosis - 6 sessions at the European Congress of Biotechnology

Please see the ECB 13 Congress page here for more details.

See more at: http://www.ecb13.eu/index.php/site/stream/C25/

EAGLES Food Forum Consultative Meeting

18-20 September 2007

Barcelona, Spain

This conference will focus on the European response through research to the global challenges posed by food security, quality and safety, and sustainable agriculture in the developing and emerging countries, DECs.

It brings together opinion leading scientists, industrialists, regulatory specialists, ethicists, representatives of public interest organizations and the media. It will address the political, ethical and global issues posed by food and sustainable agriculture in the DECs. And it will discuss and provide recommendations on how Europe might best develop a strategic policy and research agenda for international cooperation in science and technology with the DECs in food, agriculture and life sciences.

Tuesday 18 September
Opening Plenary Session 15.00 – 16.30
Chair:  Professor Marc van Montagu

Keynote address: Dr. Ismail Serageldin

Wednesday 19 September
Session 1 9.00 – 12.00 Food challenges in the DECs
Chair: Professor E. P. Cunningham

Pierre Gerber Livestock and the Environment
Professor Norman Casey Water, Environmental and other sustainability issues

Tom Arnold The challenge from a nutrition perspective
Coffee break 30 mins
Open discussion with audience participation

Lunch 12.00 – 14.00

Session 2 14.00 – 17.00 How research can help meet the challenges.
Chair: Jim Flanagan

To be announced An overview on role of research
Professor Charles Daly
Research related to nutritional and health needs
Professor Zhangliang Chen
The new Green Revolution

Afternoon tea break 30 mins
Open discussion with audience participation

Forum Dinner 19.00

Thursday 20 September
Session 3 08.30 – 11.00 European response to DECs needs
Chair:  Professor David McConnell

Speaker from the EC How European Union Research Policies meet DEC needs
Dr. Christian Hoste
European Agri-Food Research for Development capacity
Dr Eduardo Trigo What is expected of the European Research Community by DECs?
Dr. Florence Wambugu Can and will Europe deliver an effective response?

Coffee break 30 mins
Open discussion with audience participation

Closing of the Forum 11.30 – 13.00 Discussion and Conclusions
Chair: Professor David McConnell

EAGLES Health Lecturer Tour Grants

European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) Health Programme will award grants of up to 5.000€ to leading biomedical scientists and other health specialists, including commentators and journalists, from the developing countries (DEC) to undertake Lecture Tours around Europe. Such tours may involve scientists from both DEC and Europe.

The EAGLES Lecturers will be chosen for their experience and knowledge of the health challenges faced by the DEC and their ability to communicate the needs of the DEC to the European public and European institutions.  Their remit will be to communicate from their own personal experiences how European health research programmes and policies affect their own countries and regions.

Applications should be sent before 11 June 2007 to

More information: EAGLES_Health_Lecturer_Tour_Grants.pdf

Journalists workshop on Avian Flu

29 –31 January 2007
Kampala, Uganda

The workshop, supported by the EAGLES Health Project and the Commonwealth Media Developmennt Fund, aimed to sensitise the media to the threat of avian flu, and also to broaden understanding and access to useful information.

• The media and avian influenza preparedness in Africa
• Recommendations From The UM4H Workshop on Avian Flu and the Media

EAGLES Workshop

An EAGLES Workshop was held in Hangzhou, China from the 4th to the 5th of December 2006. The report from this meeting can be downloaded here.

See more at: Conference Website

EAGLES meeting with Parliamentarians

11 October 2006

An EAGLES meeting for Members of the European Parliament (MEP) and other stakeholders in Brussels gave very good response from the MEP’s and the Commission. A mechanism for measuring how much the developing world is participating in the 7th Framework Programme is being suggested. The MEP’s are now well aware of the EAGLES target line of 5% research money to developing world about 2.850.000.000 € in the 7th Framework Programme budget.

Download: http://efb-central.org/eagles/EAGLES_in_Brussels.pdf

6th INDEPTH AGM

17 - 22 September 2006

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Theme: Developing Scientific Capacity for Health Surveillance and Response in the Developing World

After the workshop key participants sat together to discuss what are the major problems in Africa concerning research and development of a vaccine against HIV/AIDS. The recording was made by Robert Walgate.

Download the discussion in mp3 format.

Download information: Conference Program

The EAGLES/WDF Diabetes Symposium and Workshop

26-29 April 2006

BioVision Alexandria 2006, New Library of Alexandria, EGYPT

An impressive symposium programme with very high quality speakers was put together at a very short notice. The Symposium exceded the expectations by having more than 300 participants. Press releases were taken up and referred to widely by the international press. A press release through AlphaGalileo’s online services with a direct outreach to 2797 journalists, and 87 responded by login to the links. The calendar announcement was sent to 1748 journalists and it had 54 clicks. This press release was taken up and further distributed by a Health news service (Medical-news-today) to 70.000 users. The impact which we only could measure on the internet was massive! More than 480 links on the internet referred directly to the headline of the press release “Obesity spreading all over the Globe” in the days during the conference. Many other references did not use the same headline but the message was coming through. In the following days, there were 10 articles published in Egyptian news outlets on the diabetes issue. Jamal Butt (WDF) was able to conduct a 4 minutes Live TV Interview with the National Egyptian Television and Satellite Channels. The interview was translated into Arabic and key messages from the press release were supported by comments on the WDF/EAGLES initiative, promoting advocacy on diabetes in the EMMA Region. 

Momentum 2004

1st September 2004, 11.15 - 12.30

Title: European Action on Global Life Sciences - Bridging the North-South Gap
Date: 1st September 2004, 11.15 - 12.30

Chairman:
Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Speakers:
Prof. Huanming Yang, Director, Beijing Genomics Institute Prof. David McConnell, Trinity College Dublin Dr. Cynthia Schneider, Georgetown University Prof. Marc van Montagu, Gent University
Biotechnology too often seems to be the property of the developed countries - until recently this may not have been surprising for most of the discoveries which led to the new technology were made in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia, and the first products were aimed at solving problems in these countries. As a result the OECD countries have dominated the development and application of biotechnology over the last 25 years - they have defined the economic, commercial, legal and ethical frameworks for biotechnology. Unfortunately these frameworks were not designed to take account of the needs or the opinions of those who live and work in the emerging and developing countries.

Third World problems which could have been addressed by biotechnology have been more or less ignored, and Third World science, industry and agriculture have been inhibited by regulations and customs made to suit the requirements and sensitivities of the developed economies. Now it is clear that this situation is no longer acceptable, due to two main reasons. Third World problems pose huge humanitarian challenges for life scientists, and distinguished Third World scientists, who are making very significant contributions to international science, are in a position to give powerful advice on the development of the biotechnology agenda in OECD countries.

A new dialogue is required in which the needs, the voices and the opinions of the emerging and developing countries be clearly identified, heard and heeded. This Parallel Session, organised by European Action on Global Life Sciences (EAGLES) will provide a platform on which leading scientists and humanists will explore and discuss new relationships in biotechnology which need to be established between North and South.