Generation Challenge Programme

This year’s General Research Meeting (GRM) will be held in Rayong, Thailand (about a 2-hour drive from Bangkok). 

Initially, the GRM was to be in Senegal, West Africa. Unfortunately, due to growing concern on the Ebola epidemic in the region, we have regretfully had to change the venue.

We apologise for the inconvenience this late confirmation of the venue may cause.

Dates remain unchanged, ie,  7^th–10^th October 2014.

More details on the GRM will be posted to this page.

 

Partnerships in research for development

Jean-Marcel Ribaut

Read all about the nexus in agricultural research for development (R4D) where ‘upstream’ innovation meets ‘downstream’ applications – the place where GCP operates, as Jean-Marcel Ribaut, GCP’s Director, explains in his opinion piece.

Published on SciDev.Net on 9th July 2014, the piece is entitled How to build research partnerships that benefit farmers. It begins by describing the nature of agricultural R4D, and possible problems and pitfalls, such as fragmented activities or poor communication resulting from research being stretched the length and breadth of the research river, where ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ research do not traditionally (or necessarily) mix.

Enter the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme, a clear example of an initiative that has forged effective research partnerships throughout its 10-year lifetime. Jean-Marcel sketches GCP’s two phases which kept partnerships at the forefront: Phase I’s predominantly ‘competitive’ nature where ‘integrative partnerships’ were a necessary feature of the open calls; and Phase II’s commissioned research which similarly encouraged strong partnerships, taking no ‘alibi’ partnerships in the process. He also recognises failures along the way – providing valuable lessons learnt.

Jean-Marcel describes the ‘model pupil’ that is GCP, a Programme that excels in more subjects than genetics, genomics and informatics. It turns out that GCP is also adept at:

• chemistry – successfully combining elements to produce effective and enduring partnerships over the years
• geology – having found the precious gem described by Jean-Marcel as “an intangible spirit and culture based on mutual trust, respect and a genuine desire to complement the work – and to tap the skills – of other partners”
• gastronomy – blending gourmet ingredients such as a constant desire to help and passing leadership on to the next player in the delivery chain to build promising projects into focused commissioned work.

Jean-Marcel ends with a cautionary note about the GCP model, and offers advice on how to strike the right management balance to nurture a network spirit. Access the full article

Below: Nurturing a network sprirt at GCP's 2013 General Research Meeting

 

 

The CGIAR Research Programme on wheat is calling for proposals. The work will be implemented through the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium – HeDWIC, a Consortium to be facilitated by our host, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). CIMMYT also leads the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN).

In order to launch HeDWIC and to frame the discussion around the best ideas worldwide in plant stress technology, research ideas are to be presented at a conference in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (1^st–4^th December 2014) at which other stakeholders will be present, including funders who have expressed interest in the HeDWIC initiative. Researchers whose proposals are selected for presentation will be sponsored to the conference.

The research framework spans three main components:

• Component 1: Resource capture and utilisation efficiency
• Component 2: Reproductive growth and resource partitioning
• Component 3: Impact targeting, and strategic deployment of traits and alleles

Components 1 and 2 encompass basic research on major stress-adaptive characteristics that are expected to contribute to improved performance under heat and drought stress (based on precedent and theory in published literature). Component 3 represents a series of implementation steps required to harness cutting-edge breeding approaches in regions where the CGIAR Research Programme on wheat operates.

Deadline for applications:  1^st September 2014 |  More details, including how to apply (465.15 kB)

Due to multiple calendar conflicts with other events that involve key participants at the GCP General Research Meeting (GRM) 2014, we have most regrettably had to reschedule the GRM, which will now be held on 6^th to 10^th October 2014, and not on 1^st to 6^th September, as we had communicated earlier.

While we are still reviewing options on the venue, the purpose of this final GRM is clear-cut and twofold:

1. GCP’s closure, on which considerable advances were made in the last GRM in 2013; and,
2. the future of GCP’s Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) in its proposed Phase II. IBP will outlive GCP.

With this futures perspective in mind, one of the planned activities – to which considerable time will be devoted – is defining user needs, and how to best support these needs, in the context of IBP. For this objective, we would be seeking to work hand-in-hand with current and previous GCP scientists as core users and as partners in feedback and advocacy, specifically in developing, deploying, improving and disseminating IBP’s Breeding Management System, version 3 of which is slated for release in August 2014.