Annual Report 2006/07 - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

An introduction to ZILIn 2007, the traditional ZIL Annual Conference was replacedby the inaugural event of the North-South Centre on June 29.Since the North-South Centre represents the entire disciplinaryscope of the ETH Zurich, the topic of “Relevance andimpact of research for development” was chosen for thisbroad target group. The three key speakers addressed thetopic from a macro-economic, socio-cultural, and engineeringperspective. Rolf Kappel (ETH Zurich) highlighted theimpact of science-based economic policy measures in LatinAmerica, Ruth Meinzen-Dick (IFPRI) presented a number ofcase studies on the impact of agricultural research at thehousehold level, and Eiman Karar (Water Research Council inSouth Africa) showed the links between water research andpolicy in her country. The session on examples fromSwitzerland included the impact study of the ZIL livestockresearch programme (p. 16). The conference was very wellattendedby about 180 participants and received muchpositive feedback.In addition to the organisation of these conferences, ZIL waspresent with a stand at the cinfoForum in Biel in September2006, and at the Open Door Event of the ETH Plant ResearchStation in Eschikon (together with Agridea and Strickhof) onthe same weekend. The ZIL programme and its transition tothe North-South Centre was presented at the AnnualConference of the Swiss Society of Plant Sciences (SGPW) inMarch 2007. In the bi-annual SVIAL lecture series on futureemployment options for agricultural and food engineers, theZIL management presented career opportunities in internationalagricultural research.As in the years before, ZIL participated in the AnnualConference on Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural andNatural Resource Management (Tropentag) in Bonn,Germany. Eight ZIL representatives took part with two oralpresentations, six posters and a stand. This event is not onlya useful platform for the ZIL doctoral candidates to presenttheir research, but has also developed into a means for interactionof the ZIL groups and the creation of increased knowledgeof and identification with the ZIL programme. Underthe umbrella of the North-South Centre, such activities willcontinue as before with a “ZIL” delegation travelling to theTropentag in Germany in October 2007.Networking within the ETH ZurichThe chapter on the institutional integration of ZIL with NIDE-CO demonstrates ZIL’s strong networking base within theETH Zurich, including its close ties with NADEL and S-ENETH.The strong support of the three Departments of theS-ENETH, Agriculture and Food Sciences, Environment andEarth Sciences, was instrumental in bringing about the institutionalchanges and the commitment of the School Board.In April 2007, the Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED)was inaugurated. This new institute of the ETH Zurich is animportant partner for ZIL and will be a strong player in theNorth-South Centre, of which the IED head, Renate Schubert,is one of its Vice-Presidents. The IED pursues an innovative,interdisciplinary approach by integrating scientists from theagricultural, environmental and social sciences. It works atthe interface of ecology and economy with a number ofactivities in developing countries. It is expected that the ETHZurich will contribute relevant research to policy decisionmakersin this important emerging field.Parallel to the integration of ZIL and NIDECO into the North-South Centre, the ETH Zurich has prepared a new institutionalbasis for ETHsustainability, which will remain a relevant,complementary ETH partner of the new Centre.11The key speakers at the North-South Centre inagural event,Rolf Kappel, Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Eiman Karar