News Release

Leopoldina advising Namibia in founding an Academy of Sciences

Business Announcement

Leopoldina

Along with the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is advising Namibia in founding its own Academy of Sciences. The Namibian academy is to provide scientifically founded advice for society and policymakers and represent the country in the international community of academies. A meeting with a delegation from Namibia and South Africa was held at the Leopoldina in Halle and Berlin from 12 to 15 July.

In keeping with the "Strategy for the Internationalisation of Science and Research" approved by the German federal government in 2008, the Leopoldina has resolved to increase its activities in southern Africa. Leopoldina's President, Professor Jörg Hacker, explained the academy's choice of Namibia as follows: "We decided on Namibia because the political will to found an academy was clearly in evidence and the country has the necessary political stability."

At the meeting, the guests spoke with members of the Leopoldina presidium and the heads of the academy's departments; the main topics of discussion were the development of academy structures and working methods, with a particular focus on policy advice. In the presence of Namibian ambassador Neville Melvin Gertze, the guests from Africa also visited the academy's offices in Berlin's government quarter, where they met with representatives of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Society for Technical Co-operation, or GTZ), and the Junge Akademie, an organisation founded by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and the Leopoldina to promote outstanding young scientists and scholars.

The Namibian academy will be set up in three phases, a preparation phase, a foundation phase and a phase of scientific and academic cooperation between the newly founded academy and its partner academies. In the preparation phase, seven experts from Namibia, three experts each from Germany and South Africa and one expert from NASAC will convent for four meetings to define the goals, functions and structures for the future Namibian academy. The involvement of outstanding Namibian scientists and scholars, initial communications activities and the actual founding of the academy are scheduled to take place in 2011. The last phase will involve the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Namibian, South African and German academies with the aim of developing and implementing joint scientific projects.

The current preparation phase is being supported by the International Office of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

###

For more information, please contact:
Dr. habil. Hans-Jochen Marquardt
Head of International Relations
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Tel.: + 49 345 / 472 39 830
E-mail: hans-jochen.marquardt@leopoldina.org


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.