The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and the International Foundation for Science (IFS) have been in discussions throughout 2015. This has culminated in an agreement to co-host the next IFS collaborative research pilot. Expressions of interest will be sought in due course from five countries in SE Asia.
The approach will use the IFS social networking platform, following the system twice piloted by IFS in sub-Saharan Africa. A capacity building workshop will be hosted by SEARCA in Los Banos, Philippines, for those who progress past the pre-screening stage of the review process. Both organisations will contribute to the grant funding of successful teams.
As in previous years teams will have around 14 weeks to develop their applications, which will then undergo detailed review in the usual way.
Dr Ghezae the IFS director said `We are really looking forward to working closely with our friends in SEARCA on this important next step in the evolution of our Collaborative Research Approach´.