Early in January we celebrated Ethiopian Christmas and had the Addis Party on 9 January. I am sorry was not able to welcome you all personally to the party but as many of you know, Regina, my girlfriend took ill early that morning and we had to go to hospital. She is now fully recovered. … Continue reading
I am writing this in the North East Scotland, where I have been spending Christmas. Not a traditional White Christmas, but a rather wet one. However in Scotland we escaped the worst of the rain which led to flooding in some parts of England, with many trains and flights disrupted. The storm was actually the … Continue reading
October and November have been busy months. When I reviewed my diary in preparation for writing this blog I saw that I had packed a lot into a short time. So read on to see what I have been up to ……. I spent a fascinating three days in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA on 21-23 October … Continue reading
September was a varied month with some highlights and some darker times. We were shocked by the horrific attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi. As those of you visit Nairobi know, it is popular with many ILRI staff who shop of visit the cafes and restaurants. Fortunately none of the ILRI family was … Continue reading
On 16 August the State Minister for Livestock Resources Development, HE Dr Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes visited ILRI with Dr Bewket Siraw ( Head, Animal Health Directorate) and Ato Tadesse Sori (Head, Animal Production and Feed Directorate). He met several members of the Institute Management Committee, including Jimmy Smith and senor members of ILRI in Addis. We … Continue reading
I recently made my first visit to Pakistan in over 9 years. I worked on a project in Pakistan over 10 years ago, before I joined ILRI. We now have a new project, funded by USAID ($30M over 4 years), led by CIMMYT working with IRRI, AVRDC, University of California, Davis and ICARDA which involves … Continue reading
April was a busy month on campus. We hosted the Board of Trustees meeting under the chairmanship of our new Chair, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda. The Board enjoyed the retreat to Debre Zeit on Sunday 7 April where they had some important informal discussions before they got down to the main meeting and committee meetings on 8-9 … Continue reading
I recently chaired the first meeting of the Addis Health and Safety Committee since I arrived here. The other members of the committee are Alexandra Jorge, Joseph Saburi, Aster Tsige, Tesfaye Kifle, Tibebe Gebreamlak, Admassu Wondimu, Habtamu Fekadu and Kebede Alemu. This committee will meet quarterly and we are developing a rolling program of safety … Continue reading
On 8 February the Mexican Ambassador to Ethiopia, H.E. Alfredo Miranda, visited us to hear about our research and in particular our links with Mexico. Mexico, as an emerging economy, wants to play a bigger role on the international stage. Alexandra and I met him along with Olaf Erenstein and Bruno Gerard from CIMMYT, whose … Continue reading
The first month of the year, January, has been extremely busy. We all enjoyed the Addis Staff Party on 17 January, which was an opportunity to relax, appreciate good food and enjoy ourselves thanks to the hard work of the organising committee and the Housing and Catering Staff. Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium … Continue reading
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