News
-The Royal Society of Canada is organizing a meeting on the theme "Research and Security", from 9-10 May in Ottawa to open a dialogue with the national academies of the USA on issues relating to security and the terrorism risk. The preliminary programme listing the speakers is available here. More information can be obtained by writing to Shawna Lawson, slawson@rsc.ca.
-IAP programme on science education: The Malaysian Minister of Education and the Akademi Sains Malaysiainvited IAP co-chair Yves Quéré to Kuala Lumpur in January to launch a joint academy project in the field of science education in primary schools. The project has adopted the model of the French educational programme La main à la pâte. Malaysia is embarking on a pilot project to introduce science instruction in the first year of all primary schools. Key items of discussion included teacher training, curricula, and the role of the science academy in education. For details, write to Yves Quéré, international@academie-sciences.fr, or Dato Lee, lyeec@pc.jaring.my.
-TWAS and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) have signed an agreement promoting cooperation and information exchange among scientific communities in Africa, Asia and the Netherlands. Proposed activities include visiting professorships in science in Asia and Africa and short-term studies in research centres in the Netherlands within the framework of the TWAS fellowship programme in basic sciences. The agreement was announced in January in Amsterdam. For additional details: C.M. van den Heuvel, isk@bureau.knaw.nl. Details on the fellowship programme: www.twas.org.
-Accademia dei Lincei is organizing several events in Rome in spring 2002 to mark its 400th anniversary, including a "History of National Academies in Europe" meeting on 12 March. See http://www.lincei.it/CONVEGNI.2002/PROGRAMMI/PRG.STORIA.ACCADEMIE.html for the programme. The Academy is also hosting the All European Academies (ALLEA) general assembly from 13-15 March, and the annual Amaldi Conference from 27-29 April, with sessions on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as xenophobia, migration and ethnic conflict. For details, contact the Lincei secretariat, delbuono@lincei.it.