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
I have just returned from 12 days in the UK, over the Christmas and New Year period. While it was great to spend time with my family I did not enjoy the cold, wet and windy weather in Scotland! It is good to be back to the sunshine in Ethiopia – the land of 13 … Continue reading
The beginning of November saw me back in India for the first time since I left and moved to Addis. I was in Delhi for the first meeting of the ILRI Board of Trustees to be held outside Nairobi or Addis. The meeting included a visit to the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), one of … Continue reading
The Africa RISING project in the Ethiopian Highlands, funded under USAID’s Feed the Future initiative for global food security enters its second year this month. The project team is currently finalising site selection and the design of research components. These will deliver a fully integrated, multi-disciplinary programme aimed at the sustainable intensification of cereal-based crop … Continue reading
On 26 – 29 September we hosted a meeting of the Independent Science and Partnership Council (ISPC) of the CGIAR. This council provides independent advice to the CGIAR Fund Council (the donors) on the quality and relevance of the research carried by by the CG Centres and the CRPs. Their meetings are open to CG … Continue reading
Each month, Iain Wright shares an update on various developments on the Addis Ababa campus: The news in Ethiopia this month has been dominated by the passing of His Excellency Prime Minster Meles Zenawe which as announced on 20 August. Whatever your political persuasion no one can doubt the tremendous advances in development that Ethiopia … Continue reading
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