ACGT attendees at the first meeting of the BIO-EARN advisory committee in October 2006 (L to R): Dr Sabine Lezar (CSIR), Prof Chrissie Rey (Wits), Dr Jane Morris (ACGT).

ACGT Director, Dr Jane Morris has recently been appointed to the BIO-EARN advisory committee. BIO-EARN is the East African regional programme and research network for biotechnology and is funded by SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

The aim of the BIO-EARN programme is to build capacity in biotechnology in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and promote appropriate research and related policies. The Programme aims to use biotechnology in a sustainable manner in order to help improve livelihoods, ensure food security and safeguard the environment.

The BIO-EARN Programme, has entered a new challenging and exciting chapter of conducting research for development (R4D) in agricultural, environmental and industrial biotechnology. This is after a successful completion of its phase I and II (1998-2005) of building capacity in infrastructure and human capital to equip the East African countries with competence to conduct R4D in the above three thematic areas with an overall goal of building a strong Bio-resource economy in the region.

The Programme has now focused on utilizing the human and infrastructure capacity developed to generate commercial products and processes. BIO-EARN is one of the few Programmes that combine industrial, environmental and agricultural biotechnology and as it embarks on R4D it is going to move towards more integration of these three areas in order to strengthen its strategic relevance.

Now entering Phase III of its development, the programme is seeing a number of qualified East African PhD students returning to their home countries to establish collaborative research programmes in the region.

The Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) consists of 9 members from Africa, Europe, and Australia and provides technical expertise, reviews and provides technical backstopping to the whole Programme and overall technical guidance to the Governing Board.

The other members of the advisory committee are Otim-Nape (Uganda), Karin Sundblad-Tonderski (Sweden), Jamidu. Katima (Tanzania), Workneh Negatu (Ethiopia), Julius Mwangi (Kenya), Andres Binder (Switzerland), Gabrielle Persley (Australia) and Bruno Kubata (BecA, Kenya).