The New York Academy of Sciences and the United Nations Millennium Project have launched a database aimed at fostering partnerships among scientists in the developed and developing world and to coordinate science-based activities to help solve some of the big challenges that the developing world faces (Cell ).
Doctors, engineers and scientists, all emancipated.
SWB is actually (or plans to be) a database of resources and requirements, with the aim that those who need can find those who have (and are willing to share) to improve the quality of life in the developing world. It looks bloody interesting, actually, and already has a number of global partners , including the ASCB .
As a sampler, here is what people are asking for:
- Formal education services for staff on medical donation use
- Equipment needed to fix broken medical equipment
- Teachers
- Soils
- Water
- Disposal system for donation waste
- Vehicle to distribute medical products
- Practical training
- Computers
- Counsellors
and these are some resources being offered:
- Teaching
- Clinical staff
- Medical equipment and pharmaceuticals
- Program manager
- Medical equipment
- Chemical Analysis
- Vehicle to distribute medical products
- Computers
- Administrators
- Practical training
I’m not sure how much of that is ‘science’ and how much is ‘technology’, but I am pleased to see that someone is trying to dump excess administration. Hoorah. (Um. Maybe Admin is the last thing the developing world needs?)
Although it’s not something to which most of us will be able to contribute, it’s certainly worth bearing in mind if we get students asking about VSO and similar.
A more-or-less identical idea, called Science For Humanity, was recently launched in London.
We’re toying with a feature on Nature Network that could plug into such schemes. Using something like the tagging system, users could indicate skills offered and skills wanted to help them find collaborators. But it could be extended to work with these charity databases—matching scientists to problems. Any thoughts on that?
I’ve seen the collaboration thing, which when Nature Network rules the world might well be useful.
Translating to real-world needs… I don’t know. How useful is science to the developing world compared with technology, medicine or engineering? Is it a luxury only the rich can afford?
Computers could be one easy way to help. Our institute just sent out an email offering to give away dozens of outmoded models before putting them on the skip. Science institutes are always upgrading, but one man’s G4 is another man’s miracle-worker.
The thing about computers is that you need a reasonable infrastructure to start with (electricity, if nothing else), and if you’ve got people sophisticated enough to use and support them, then they might resent the hand-outs.
I don’t know, of course, but there was a fuss a couple of years ago because the ‘recycle your old mobile to the 3rd world’ thing wasn’t actually working – no one really wanted the crappy old mobiles.
I’m not dissing your idea Jenny, it’s just my usual trick of looking at it from too many angles. I guess if there’s a bunch of people saying, actually asking for any computer equipment then yeah, let’s go for it. (The stuff that finally makes it to the skip from our dept is usually cannibalized beyond further use).
I got there first. :-P
I’ve signed up, but don’t know how useful I will be outside of teaching. I’ve done a little already and I think the “third world” has other more pressing issues than to teach its doctors about which genes regulate congenital malformations. (Although counseling is not useless, if a woman has had access to any sort of prenatal exam.) There are some teaching needs posted, but some of them I wonder if they aren’t erroneously tagged.
As far as crappy old mobiles are concerned, I saw thousands upon thousands of eviscerated telephones being re-pieced together in the Meknes medina. One issue, however, that I have seen with various gifts from one institution to another, is the transport issue. This is addressed explicitly by the Camel Book Drive, for example. It might preclude sending old monitors around the world, for instance.
@Matt – I am not sure that what you propose is necessary to conduct through NN. Or perhaps just a manner to connect to a LinkedIn or SWB profile, on the main NN profile.