Provention sponsors Grants for Disaster Reduction

The following is taken from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)
newsletter (issue 99, April 2005)  'Disasters - Preparedness and Mitigation
in the Americas ' that I have just received (mid-June). PAHO is a regional
office of the World Health Organisation.

The Provention Consortium ( www.proventionconsortium.org ) periodically
awards modest grants to individuals and/or teams in developing countries to
encourage them to become more involved in disaster risk reduction.

Unfortunately the deadline for the second round was 15 May but the website
may be worth monitoring for possible future rounds. For the second round,
the Consortium invited young professionals to submit proposals in the form
of research projects and professional development programmes. Projects were
to focus on links between disasters, development and the environment and
three general categories were recognised: (i) risk identification and
analysis, (ii) risk reduction, and risk sharing/transfer.

This link may offer future opportunities to members with research interests
in the broad fields of geohazards and environmental geoscience?  It is of
interest to note that, for the second round, Provention teamed up with the
University of Cape Town as well as with the Asian Disaster Preparedness
Centre and the University of Wisconsin 's Disaster Management Centre.

The website once again: www.proventionconsortium.org

Joint science academies' statement:
Science and technology for African development

Article
June 2005

Joint science academies' statement:
Global response to climate change

Article
June 2005

Are your dates out of date?

A new Geological Timescale was officially published in February 2005: A
Geological Timescale (Gradstein et al., 2004, Cambridge University Press).
Wall charts of the new timescale can be purchased at the Commission for the
Geological Map of the World website address.
http://ccgm.free.fr/index_gb .html . A brief explanatory note has already
been posted on the website of the International Commission on Stratigraphy
at www.stratigraphy.org / scale04.pdf

(This information was taken from the Geological Society of London magazine
Geoscientist, v15, no 5 (May 2005).

Books, books, books!?

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLIP) has
established a new website
( http://www.clip.org.uk/enquiry andsearch/enquiries/donatingbo oks.htm )
which lists organisations that accept donated books. This may be of interest
to African schools and colleges seeking to improve and expand their library
facilities. Education Aid ( http://www.educationaid.org.uk ) may also be able
to assist in his way. According to its website the organisation is helping
educational institutions in Bosnia , Kosovo , Pakistan and Somalia by
providing books to schools and colleges.

(This information appeared in Geoscientist, the magazine of the Geological
Society of London, v15, no.6, p23, June 2005. It was designed to assist GSL
members seeking to donate books that they no longer need. But the sites,
which are not endorsed by GSL, may be able to offer books of use to
educational and training establishments in Africa . Check them out!)

John Bennett
June 2005

Recent Developments and News from UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP

Article
February 2005

Geological journals looking for a good home!

Is your department in need of publications? If so, the following note, which was published in the Geological Society of London magazine Geoscientist (May 2004) should be of interest and worthy of follow-up. Ian Walker (ian.walker@conocophillips.com) is offering back issues of the Journal of the Geological Society (v137-157 inclusive) and Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society (v46-54 inclusive).

He is looking to donate them to a deserving educational establishment in the UK or overseas and - this is important! - may be able to arrange for transport.

Don't delay!

John Bennett
May 2004

Scheme to Support Developing World Students Studying in the UK

The UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has announced that the UK Research Councils and commercial companies are funding a scheme supporting developing-world students studying in the UK (NERC magazine Planet Earth , Spring 2004, page 2). The 'Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Awards' are named after the 1964 Nobel Prize laureate who did much to help overseas students. For further information the NERC website is www.nerc.ac.uk . The Editor of Planet Earth can be contacted at editors@nerc.ac.uk .

Researchtogether.com (previously named Doctoralstudents.com) news (April 2004)

Please note the name change and the new website for this organisation. The new name is Researchtogether and the new web address is www.researchtogether.com .

Amongst other activities (see the website), Researchtogether.com maintains a directory of university courses. It also offers rebranded versions of the site free of charge to any organisation or University that requests it.

Grants for Scientific Meetings

Third World Academy of Sciences

Are you looking for a grant to help you to attend a geological conference? The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), based in Trieste, Italy, may be able to help. Contact:

Mrs M T Mahadvi
Office of the Executive Director
Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)
c/o The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
P O Box 586
Via Beirut 6
I-34100 Trieste
Italy
Fax: +39 40 22 45 59 / 22 41 63
E-mail: mahdavi@ictp.trieste.it

Commonwealth Science Council

Are you aware that the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC for short) awards travel grants to a maximum value of £1000 sterling to scientists seeking support to attend scientific meetings or training courses. The awards cover international return travel and registration fees. Recipients will need to identify their own co-funding for local travel and accommodation and subsistence. For further information visit the CSC website: www.comsci.org . Good luck!

UK Department for International Development KaR Programme

Earthworks (Issue 17, November 2003)

The latest issue of 'Earthworks' (Issue 17, November 2003) features articles on 3 projects that are relevant to Africa:

1. Project R8035. Metadata dissemination workshop, Kuala Lumpur. Workshops were scheduled to take place also in Senegal and South Africa in late 2003. Contact John Laxton at the British Geological Survey (BGS), jll@bgs.ac.uk , for further information about the project.
2. Project R7115. Best practice in small-scale gemstone mining. Contact Heather Mackay at Intermediate Technology Consultants, UK, heatherm@itdg.org.uk , and see www.itcdltd.com .
3. Project CNTR 02 3908A. Vulnerability of artisanal and small-scale mining to commodity price fluctuations. Contact Stephen Yeo at Bannock Consulting Ltd, UK, consult@bannock.co.uk .

To receive copies of 'Earthworks', the newsletter of the KaR Geoscience programme, contact the Editor, Dr David Greenbaum at BGS ( dgree@bgs.ac.uk ).

Completed geoscience projects

The following KaR geoscience projects have recently been completed:

1. Project R7410. FarmLime: low-cost lime for small-scale farming. Reports available, contact Clive Mitchell at BGS, cjmi@bgs.ac.uk .
2. Project R7814. Effective development of river mining. Reports available, contact David Harrison at djha@bgs.ac.uk . Dissemination Workshop planned for southern Africa in January 2004.
3. Project R7416. Minerals from waste. Reports available, contact David Harrison at djha@bgs.ac.uk .

Environmental and Medical Geology

Are you interested in environmental and medical geology? Eating soil may not be your choice but, as part of the DFID KaR Programme, geochemists are helping people across the world to find ways to deal with too much or too little of vital minerals in their diet.

Short articles on this topic appeared in the Autumn 2002 issue of the UK Natural Environment Research Council magazine 'Planet Earth'. To find out more about some of the work being done you may wish to visit the website of the British Geological Survey .

Water

The November 2002 issue of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Knowledge and Research (KaR) programme newsletter 'Water' contains articles of interest to hydrogeologists, including 'Water Resources at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development', 'Sustaining handpumps in Africa: lessons from Zambia and Ghana' and 'Groundwater from low permeability rocks, Africa'. The last is with particular reference to Tanzania, Eritrea and Zambia. The hand pumps and groundwater articles report on research being carried out under the KaR programme.
There is also an article on the newly formed OASIS Resource Centre ( ww.oasis-water.net , e-mail oasis@ceh.ac.uk ), established to provide multi-disciplinary skills ... to tackle issues related to water resources. It aims to network with partner resource centres in developing countries.
The editor of the KaR newsletter 'Water' can be contacted at g-pearce@hrwallingford.co.uk .

DFID has also published (December 2001) a catalogue of research outputs of the KaR programme under the theme of Water for Food. Further information can be obtained at http://www.dfid-kar-water.net/w5outputs.html or, by post from International Development Group, HR Wallingford,Howberry Park, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8BA, UK.