For further information contact: Edith Hesse

Event Calendar

New Conference Room

The Sinú Conference Room, with a seating capacity of 80 people, was recently inaugurated. This conference room can be easily adapted for workshops and working in small groups.

Contact: Patricia Fajardo

New Web site

Austrian Students at CIAT

CIAT offers a range of opportunities for students from all over the world to collaborate in its numerous research projects. In 2005 over 180 students received training at its headquarters in Cali, Colombia, half of which were from Colombia.

Over the years many students from Europe have participated in the Center's scientific training program; however, up to 2004, none had come from Austria, one of its donors. CIAT decided to reallocate a small residual amount received from the Austrian Ministry of Finance in 2003 to improve the Austrian-CIAT relationship and partially fund students from that country.

Since then, CIAT has hosted 8 Austrian students from various universities at its headquarters, but other students, mainly from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (Universität für Bodenkultur), are involved in CIAT projects in Uganda, Mozambique, and Laos.

See the "Austrian Students at CIAT" Web site

E-Learning Course on Germplasm Conservation

A new multi-institutional distance education course on ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources has proved to be an exciting learning experience, not just for participants, but for the staff conducting the course. Launched in August of this year, the pilot learning venture was developed jointly by CIAT, the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (Bioversity International ), Colombia's National University in Palmira, and REDCAPA, an e-learning provider with over 10 years of experience. The course employs a Web-based method called computer-supported collaborative learning, which allows busy professionals to organize their participation in the course around other activities. Participants log into the work space, download documents related to course assignments, upload the work completed, and communicate with fellow students and tutors via e-mail.

A preliminary report on lessons learned from this experience is available at www.ciat.cgiar.org/inforcom/pdf/ex_situ_report.pdf

Please direct any comments or questions to Edith Hesse (e.hesse@cgiar.org)

Research Opportunities

CIAT offers attractive opportunities for postgraduate students to conduct fieldwork in development-oriented research. The students have a chance to join multidisciplinary teams led by renowned international scientists. In its turn, the Center receives fresh perspectives and up-to-date knowledge for its own research agenda. The students will also benefit from CIAT's secure, multicultural, working environment; and its high-quality infrastructure in terms of information and communications (including library), laboratories, greenhouses, and screenhouses.

See research opportunities