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Professor Sir Hilary Beckles_ Vice Chancellor of the University of the
West Indies
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UWI Vice Chancellor Commits Support for C@ribNET
C@ribNET, the regional research and education network, is to be the primary platform for the research and education initiatives of the University of the West Indies, UWI. Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of UWI, the largest University in the English-speaking Caribbean, confirmed the commitment and support of the institution for C@ribNET at a recent Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Georgetown, Guyana in early March..
Sir Hilary spoke not only of e-science and the importance of generating and sharing big data with other tertiary institutions and countries of the region, but he also underscored the need to use the technology available to institutions. C@ribNET, he noted, is an invaluable resource for the region's university sector and by leveraging it, the tertiary sector can align itself more strategically to industry and innovation. The Vice Chancellor further emphasized the strategic importance and alignment of higher education and industry, stating that such an alignment, would necessitate stimulating a culture of innovation.
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UWI Regional Headquarters
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In planning the next steps for the UWI and its relations with other regional institutions, Sir Hilary announced the convening of a regional summit for all heads of universities and colleges, facilitated by CARICOM, in order to delineate and confirm the areas for institutional collaboration across the network. CKLNA has already engaged in Initial discussions to address the requirements for ensuring that C@ribNET supports the strategic plans of the UWI, other large tertiary learning and research institutions and CARICOM agencies.
"I have a vision for the UWI within a regional and global space, and a platform specifically designed to encourage and foster greater education and research initiatives can only serve to move the institution and the entire Caribbean in a direction of growth," said Sir Hilary.
The Vice Chancellor was addressing heads of CARICOM Agencies, regional and international funders as well as CARICOM Ambassadors, with a focus on the University sector and Sustainable Development in the CARICOM region. Professor Beckles is a distinguished university administrator, economic historian, and specialist in higher education and development thinking and practice, and an internationally reputed historian.
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Watch this space for further details of the regional university and college summit
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The NRENs in the Caribbean are all undertaking various activities. Many are going through the processes associated with registering their NRENs as legal entities, others have been doing training, while others have awareness raising workshops planned.
NRENs are encouraged to work with the materials and processes outlined in
THE CASE FOR NRENs Portal
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 MAGIC Global Science Communities Gains Momentum
In our previous Bulletins, we have introduced the MAGIC Project. This is a global consortium of Regional Education & Research networks (RENs) and National R&E networks (NRENs) from 20 countries and regions, including the Caribbean. The consortium is working together to improving the ability of researchers and academicians to collaborate in tackling local and global challenges.
In the first quarter of 2016, the project saw some important steps towards creating Global Science Communities. Four (4) such communities, focused on e-Health, Environment, Biodiversity and Remote instrumentation (shared laboratories. All the meetings were facilitated by "champions" in each field, and utilised the desktop web-conference system, VC Espresso available in the collaborative platform, Colaboratorio, a virtual collaboration platform for research and education (http://colaboratorio.redclara.net ).
See more for presentations and how to participate in upcoming Global Science Communities
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CKLNA collaborating in Africa
In mid-February, CKLNA was pleased to provide assistance to our sister Regional R&E network, the West African Research and Education Network, WACREN. CKLNA's Technical Manager, Mr. Eriko Porto, joined other professionals, to pool their expertise and experience at a retreat in Senegal to revise the proposed WACREN network in preparation for a new research and education networking project called AfricaConnect2 (AC2). AC2 will connect the participating NREN partners in West and Central Africa and North Africa.
Mr. Porto's experience and contribution to the discussions was paramount as he has successfully designed and developed the Caribbean's R&E Network, C@ribNET, as well as the Latin American Network, RedCLARA. His experience at the WACREN retreat was considered invaluable, and all in attendance greatly appreciated his contribution.
As a partner in the MAGIC project, CKLNA will also be contributing during the mind-May IST Africa 2016 conference in Durban, South Africa. IST Africa is an annual conference focusing on International Development and Research Cooperation, Community Building, Information Society and ICT Policy Dialogues.
Colleen Wint of CKLNA will join colleagues Tiwonge Banda (UbuntuNET Alliance) and Tania Altamarino Lopez (RedCLARA) in conducting the session entitled "Global Science Communities, thatīs MAGIC!" on May 12. Pleased that IST Africa accepted the MAGIC proposal, the team anticipates the delegates from 50 countries, to share insights and identify greater collaboration opportunities. The team has initiated virtual meetings of Global Science Communities as part of the MAGIC project, focusing on the thematic areas of Biodiversity, eHealth, environment and remote instrumentation.
IST Africa is supported by the European Commission (EC) and African Union Commission (AUC).
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CKLN Joins in Celebrating 20th Anniversary of Internet2 -
In May, 2016 at their Global Summit in Chicago, Illinois, Internet 2 will mark their 20th anniversary..The Global Summit will showcase their rich history.
As the annual conference highlights the organisation's past, present and looks towards the future, CKLNA will share with institutions, academics, scientists, innovators,artists and other during a sharing session, co-moderated by Colleen Wint, CKLNA and Urszula Chomicka of Internet 2, where topics of existing and potential collaboration will be discussed. This will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives for all the global regions. These will take place on May 18 at about lunchtime, but those interested are urged to monitor the Internet 2 website and the Global Summit agenda for specific room allocation. We look forward to seeing many of our US and international colleagues there!
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- International Conference on Research Infrastructures,
Cape Town, South Africa, October, 3 - 5, 2016
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Other Features of Interest
Pardis Sabeti and her team got to work sequencing the virus's genome, learning how it mutated and spread. Sabeti immediately released her research online, so virus trackers and scientists from around the world could join in the urgent fight
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