Rio+11: Towards a New Paradigm in Agricultural Research - The Challenge of Sustainable Development
 
ZIL/SFIAR Conference, Friday, 6 June, 2003, Auditorium Maximum, ETH Zürich
 


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Introduction

Programme

Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 agricultural research has gradually been transformed. Two factors characterize this shift.

  1. Sustainability is now being claimed as the overall guiding principle for all (agricultural) research. How far has this paradigm shift changed the practice of development oriented agricultural research in Switzerland and among our partners?
  2. The second transformation relates to the actors and the institutional setting of the research process. Today it is recognized that knowledge generation and implementation goes beyond linear technology transfer.

It takes place in a multi-stakeholder environment requiring inter- or trans-disciplinary approaches. How has this changed research environment entered into the practice of research here and elsewhere? The conference will review these two issues. In the morning, two key speakers will highlight these developments from an international perspective. Marianne Bänziger (International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center CIMMYT) has been involved in crop improvement research in Mexico and Southern Africa for more than ten years. Joseph Mukiibi (National Agricultural Research Organization, Uganda) has been instrumental in the regional and continental coordination of agricultural research in Africa. He is currently the Chairman of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The two workshops in the afternoon will serve to discuss these paradigm shifts in Swiss research institutions,with presentations by various members of the Swiss Forum of International Agricultural Research (SFIAR). Finally, the three former presidents of the Swiss Centre for International Agriculture (ZIL) will present their reflections how they experienced these changes over the last decade and thereby tribute to the 10th anniversary of ZIL.


Poster Presentation

A Poster Exhibition will be held in the Foyer of the Auditorium Maximum of the ETH Zurich. The objective of this poster presentation is to show the range and diversity of Swiss contributions to international agricultural research. All Swiss researchers working in the field of international agriculture are kindly invited to present their work with a poster.

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