this publication

Synergy
Teaming up
scientific excellence and development relevance
Freedom
for ideas
| Cannissequis
pure mathematics
halt desertification?
| We depend
on insects
The politics
of research
|
Accus ilibusda
quodige
| Autem utestius
inullabor | Rerum
ullit parum
inciis | Asperios
voluptat
qui optate
Internationalizing
makes
fairer societies
Organic
locust control
| Noexere
‘quick-fix’
research
| Research
porem sita voluptatcourts
| Milicae
nusaperum
fuga | |Berfers
perestist,
simus pos
| Sin nonse
as sam
natur atis|like
Adita
Ferrari
| Scientists:
Different
methods,
common
values
haritat urianis
ent |top-class
Magnissiathletes?
doluptius| Knowledge
endigentiurfor
| Aglobal
inisto development
consequi ant,|occabo
Boriaeces
dolut
quaturi
tionsequae
INTRODUCTION
Why this magazine?
This one-off magazine celebrates
the coming together of scientific
excellence and development
relevance. The pursuit of these two
ideals is what makes research highly
exciting and deeply rewarding.
It also brings fundamental and
applied research closer together
and advances knowledge sharing
across disciplines, and between
researchers, policy makers and
practitioners.
F
Reuters / Jianan Yu
4 | Synergy
undamental research is often
contrasted with socially relevant, or
applied, research. The first is thought
to be conceived high up in the purported
ivory towers of universities and measured by
academic rigour, ingenuity and originality.
The second is thought to be a derivative
of this enlightened activity – with both
feet firmly on the ground applied research
aims to contribute to solving real-life
problems such as poverty, illness and the
impact of environmental degradation on
people’s livelihoods. In other words, so goes
the belief, fundamental research aims to
expand and deepen our body of academic
knowledge, while applied research is
interested in doing so only when it serves a
clear social purpose. The two are thought to
take place in parallel universes.
But they do not. This magazine seeks to
enhance understanding of the relationship
between development relevance and
fundamental research. There are many who
believe that science should not be burdened
with considerations about social relevance,
that such considerations would detract
from the pursuit of excellence and result in
mediocre science. Others feel strongly that
free scientific inquiry is seldom relevant to
policy makers and practitioners in the field
of international cooperation, and that only
applied research can contribute to solving
global challenges.
Taken together, these ideas boil down to the
belief that scientific excellence is limited to
fundamental research and that relevance can
be found only in applied research.
Such a belief is based on misconceptions. At
heart there is no such tension between the
excellence and relevance of research. Highquality validated knowledge is a crucial
prerequisite for development relevance, and
a precondition for realizing equity, social
justice and environmental and economic
sustainability. The flipside of the coin is that
development and other global challenges
can be a source of inspiration for scientific
inquiry and lead to fundamental queries and
scientific paradigm shifts.
Definitions of fundamental
research often indicate that such research
is curiosity-driven and that it usually
takes a long time before its outcomes find
an application. This characterization,
however, misses the central point that
fundamental research is carried out to
increase understanding of basic principles.
Its purposes are to develop new paradigms
for theory building and to push the frontiers
of theoretical understanding within existing
paradigms.
There is, however, no reason to assume
that such fundamental research cannot be
inspired by social problems. Nor does a
focus on fundamental principles necessarily
imply that the outcomes need to go through
a lengthy process of elaboration and
translation before they can be applied.
To mention but a single example, the
groundbreaking ideas of the Nobel Prize
laureate, economist Amartya Sen, have
fundamentally shifted our understanding
of development and given rise to a wave of
theory building. His thinking has inspired
development-oriented policy makers
and provided the underlying conceptual
framework for the UNDP Human
Development Index.
Definitions of applied research commonly
focus on the actual practice of solving
problems and addressing social needs. This
overlooks the fact that applied research
is, first and foremost, research. Applied
research is an interactive inquiry process that
balances problem solving with academic
analysis to understand underlying causes.
A fundamental understanding of such
causes is precisely what is needed to tackle
urgent problems.
There is no reason why research into
underlying causes could not evolve into
Fortunately many researchers do. This
magazine provides a wide range of
examples of research that is academically
outstanding and at the same time provides
knowledge that is crucial for addressing
global challenges effectively. Sometimes
this research was designed to find solutions
to practical problems, and came to be
recognized by academic peers as an
excellent contribution to science. Other
examples show research that was intended
to answer fundamental academic questions
also addressing – directly or indirectly – the
challenges in today’s globalized world.
The projects featured in this magazine were
selected through a call for proposals by
Testaments to the successful coupling of
scientific excellence and social relevance
theory building or spark off fundamental
questions. For example, the Dutch ecologist
Marten Scheffer has been researching the
social and ecological drivers of ecosystem
change that affect fish stocks in Lake
Victoria. One aspect of the research was
to model the interactions and feedbacks
resulting from eutrophication (an increased
concentration of nutrients) and commercial
fishing. His work on the ecosystems of lakes
has fed into his work on the mathematical
modelling of complex systems. For this
he received the Spinoza Prize, the highest
Dutch award for outstanding scientific
achievement, often referred to as the Dutch
Nobel Prize.
Opportunities for enhancing
the synergy of fundamental research and
social relevance are growing. Development
discourse is widening. It embraces emerging
topics of global concern, such as climate
change, resource depletion, global health
and migration. These concerns call for
– and offer exciting opportunities for –
interdisciplinary research that addresses
interrelated causes and raises fundamental
questions. Global development challenges
can inspire any scientist, regardless of their
theoretical backgrouds or how fundamental
the scope of their interest is. The question is:
who seizes this challenge?
Hivos and the MDG Profs. In addition to
highlighting a number of life-enhancing
research projects, this magazine also
features interviews and short essays – all
of which are testaments to the successful
coupling of scientific excellence and social
relevance. With this publication, we hope to
inspire scientists from different disciplines
and to open up the dialogue between
scientists, policymakers and practitioners
of international cooperation – who
undoubtedly all share the ambition to excel
in creative problem solving. ■
Henk Molenaar, executive director WOTRO
Science for Global Development. WOTRO
is a division of NWO, the Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research.
Synergy | 5
PROJECT
Fighting tuberculosis in Indonesia
No ‘quick-fix’ research
More than two billion people worldwide are infected with the tuberculosis
bacterium. And in developing countries, it is a major killer. Infectious
diseases specialist Reinout van Crevel is passionate about finding better ways
of diagnosing and treating this life-threatening infection.
I
PRIOR
The Medical Centre at
Radboud University Nijmegen
collaborates with universities in
the Netherlands, Indonesia and
Tanzania through the virtual
research centre PRIOR (Poverty
Related Infection Oriented
Research). Infectious diseases are
a major cause of health problems
in developing countries and
form an obstacle to economic
development. The complexity
of these problems requires a
multidisciplinary approach. The
PRIOR partners combine expertise
in molecular biology, immunology,
parasitology, nutritional sciences,
internal medicine, pharmacology,
epidemiology, public health and
psychology.
6 | Synergy
nfectious disease is a major cause of death
and health problems right across Africa
and Asia. Some diseases, such as malaria
and HIV/Aids are well-publicized killers.
But it is not always realized that tuberculosis
(TB) alone causes the deaths of two million
people each year.
Indonesia has the third-highest number of
TB patients. When Reinout van Crevel of
the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical
Centre travelled to Jakarta in 1998, he was
struck by the lack of proper diagnostic
techniques and TB treatment plans. He
swapped the laboratory at Nijmegen
University for hands-on research in Jakarta,
and began a commitment that has lasted
more than twelve years.
The urban slum clinic that Van Crevel
visited in the late 1990s was overstretched,
treating more TB patients than all the
hospitals and clinics in the Netherlands.
And the emergence of HIV as a major public
health problem in Indonesia in the mid2000s exacerbated the problem further. HIV
patients are susceptible to TB infection and
many ultimately die of it. ‘In the Netherlands,
research institutes would immediately try to
get on top of such a situation,’ says Reinout
van Crevel. ‘But in Indonesia, an academic
response is almost entirely lacking.’
Effective treatment starts with effective
diagnosis. And more than 125 years after
the Mycobacterium tuberculosis was first
discovered, microscopy is still the best, and
the simplest, way of diagnosing pulmonary
TB. However, bacteria must be present in
high concentrations in a patient’s sputum
sample in order to be detected. In areas
where HIV is prevalent, this is a problem
because HIV patients usually have a low
bacterial burden. New diagnostic techniques
currently being developed are costly, and
therefore difficult to implement in poor
countries.
So Van Crevel and his Indonesian colleague,
Bachti Alisjahbana decided to tackle the
problem in a different way. Instead of
developing new diagnostic techniques, they
decided to optimize the volume and quality
of patients’ sputum samples. They designed
a larger sample container and instructed
clinicians in the best ways of explaining to
patients how to collect an optimum sample.
Using these two very basic approaches, the
number of TB patients being accurately
detected doubled. Van Crevel and Alisjahbana
wrote about their findings in The Lancet.1
Van Crevel believes that basic research and
applied research are a necessary pair. ‘I would
not want one without the other,’ he says.
This inter-reliance can be seen in a research
Reuters / Andrew Wong
programme on HIV and drug use that was
set up in Bandung, West-Java in 2007. This
programme resulted in earlier diagnoses, and
much lower mortality rates, in HIV patients.
It also produced a biobank of the DNA and
blood samples of more than 1500 patients.
The biobank is now an extremely valuable
resource for basic research – not least for Van
Crevel’s own study on genetic susceptibility
to tuberculosis. Patients with advanced
HIV-infection are extremely susceptible
because of the loss of a particular white
blood cell, the ‘CD4-positive T-cell’. Yet data
from the Bandung biobank show that, some
patients with virtually no CD4 cells left do
not develop TB in this endemic setting. Van
Crevel believes that ‘good genes’ are behind
this, and hopes to identify the mechanisms
that make it happen.
An important spin-off from the TB research
is the contribution it made to local capacity
building. Since it began, three doctors from
Indonesia have been awarded PhD degrees in
Nijmegen. They are now published authors,
who are strongly committed to their home
universities. ‘We are trying hard to help make
the local academic infrastructure attractive
enough for them to stay on as researchers
after completing their PhDs,’ explains Van
Crevel. ‘Unfortunately, promising research
career opportunities are few in Indonesia.’
The tragedy of scientific research, according
to Van Crevel, is the perpetual peaking
and troughing of funding. He advocates
consistent and substantial core funding for
collaborative centres of excellence, such
as the one at Padjadjaran University in
Bandung, co-founded by the PRIOR virtual
research centre.
One of the key values of PRIOR is longterm collaboration and mutual commitment.
‘Quick-fix research solves nothing,’ says Van
Crevel. ‘We focus on a few institutes with
which we have been collaborating for ten to
30 years.’ In the context of supporting longterm relationships, Van Crevel emphasizes
the importance of equality between academic
partners as well as the goal of serving the
local agenda. ‘Certainly, we like our research
to have an immediate impact on the quality
of care, but our academic partners in
countries such as Indonesia should have
the same opportunities as us to delve into
fundamental scientific questions. It would be
patronizing to suggest that they should limit
their academic pursuits to the day-to-day
issues that plague their health systems.’
Van Crevel believes that there are good
strategic reasons why his Indonesian
colleagues should tackle fundamental
scientific research. ‘While their operational
research might have relevance in other
low-resource settings, their answers to
fundamental research questions are just as
relevant in London or New York as they are
in Jakarta. This year, one of our PhD students
published a paper in Lancet Infectious
Diseases on the underlying mechanisms
responsible for the ‘success’ of a particular
strain of TB.2 Through this, she became part
of a global research network. This will bring
her closer to the funding she needs to carry
out further research into this TB strain.’
Van Crevel is convinced that, wherever
science is taken seriously, integrating
fundamental and operational research will
bring advantages. ‘It ensures that researchers
from different backgrounds are obliged to
explain and justify their hypotheses and
methods. This makes for better and more
relevant research – as well as better clinicians
and more rounded university teachers.’ ■
Alisjahbana, B. and van Crevel, R. (2007)
1
Improved diagnosis of tuberculosis by better
sputum quality. Lancet Jun; 9 369(9577):1908-9.
Parwati, I., van Crevel, R. and van Soolingen,
2
D. (2010) Possible underlying mechanisms for
successful emergence of the Mycobacterium
tuberculosis Beijing genotype strains. Lancet
Infectious Diseases. Feb; 10(2):103-11. Review.
Synergy | 7
INTERVIEW
Can pure
mathematics halt
desertification?
Menno Bijleveld
Arjen Doelman, director of the Lorentz Centre and professor of applied
analysis at the Mathematical Institute, Leiden University, is looking for ways
to predict desertification using fundamental mathematics to analyze
vegetation patterns.
Mathematician Arjen Doelman recently started
a research project along with ecologist Max
Rietkerk from Utrecht University. The project
aims to develop early warning mechanisms
for desertification by analyzing vegetation
patterns – and it exemplifies the interplay
between pure science and practical relevance.
In his office at Leiden University, Doelman
talks about the project and its mathematical
foundations.
Arjen Doelman
Arjen Doelman received his PhD
from Utrecht University, worked at
Cornell University and as assistant
professor at the Department of
Mathematics in Utrecht. Between
2004 and 2009, he worked at
the Centre for Mathematics
and Computer Science (CWI).
In 2009, he was appointed
professor of applied analysis at the
Mathematical Institute of Leiden
University, and director of the
Lorentz Centre, an international
centre that coordinates and hosts
workshops in the sciences.
8 | Synergy
Professor Doelman, what is mathematically
challenging about vegetation patterns?
For me, pattern formation is one of the
most fascinating fields in mathematics. And
that is what this project involves, viewing
vegetation patterns through a mathematical
lens.1 We are still only beginning to
comprehend pattern formation.
Understanding turbulence, which is one of
the most complex patterns one can imagine
because it is chaotic in both time and space,
presents one of the biggest challenges
for mathematicians and physicists today.
Werner Heisenberg, a 20th century German
theoretical physicist, is reputed to have said
that he expected God to be able to explain
the theory of relativity, but not the theory
of turbulence.
You have referred to the prediction of the
English mathematician, Alan Turing, that
there will never be a truly embracing nonlinear theory of pattern formation. Do you
agree with him?
I think he might be right, but the challenge
is to get as close as possible. The LandauTuring ‘weakly nonlinear stability theory’,
asserts that the appearance of periodic, or
rhythmic, patterns can be explained. But we
are getting closer to a more comprehensive
theory of pattern formation. This has
been helped by the development of more
powerful computers that allow us to run
extensive simulations using enormous
amounts of data. Further development
of mathematical insights into pattern
formation is absolutely crucial if we want to
get closer to a comprehensive theory.
How does your own work contribute to the
development of a more comprehensive theory?
I have a special interest in patterns that emerge
from ‘perfect’ periodic patterns, such as defect
patterns. Fingerprints are a good example.
Each fingerprint is unique because of the
defects in its perfect pattern – it is periodic, but
with errors. Such patterns cannot be described
with the Landau-Turing theory. So we are
hoping to develop a new theory, which would
form a significant new component of Turing’s
theory. An essential part of understanding
why and how patterns lose their periodicity
is to understand how they react to changing
parameters. This is right at the core of
our project on vegetation patterns – Max
Rietkerk and I want to know how changing
circumstances affect vegetation patterns.
Can you explain the relationship between
the mathematics of pattern formation and
desertification?
On the borders of deserts you will see all
types of vegetation patterns. A pattern
can, for example, consist of long strips of
vegetation alternated with strips of sand.
This is called tiger bush. Such a vegetation
pattern might be only marginally stable, and
will destabilize if certain parameters – such
as rainfall or grazing intensity – reach a
critical point. You could call this a threshold
or a tipping point. Often, exceeding the
threshold will cause the vegetation system
to collapse altogether. This is because
the desert – which is an extremely stable
state – acts like a vacuum cleaner. When
a vegetation system destabilizes because
of external factors, the desert will seize the
opportunity and suck it in. Desertification
is not a gradual process, it resembles a
catastrophe. And when the system has crossed
its tipping point, it is virtually impossible for
it to return to its previous state. Based on
the mathematical characteristics of such
Understanding turbulence is one of the
biggest challenges for mathematicians
marginally stable patterns, Max and I believe
that we can distil indicators that tell us how
close a vegetation pattern is to collapsing.
Does that mean you expect to be able to
predict desertification by looking at the
features of a vegetation pattern?
Yes. The ultimate aim of our project is
to develop early-warning signals for
desertification that can be determined by
measuring certain characteristics of the
vegetation pattern. We suspect that the
distribution of the sizes of the vegetation
patches will be an important indicator. A
rather simplified example of this is that
when the vegetation patches are all roughly
the same size, it could indicate a stable
system, while an area with both large and
small patches could indicate that the system
is close to its tipping point.
patterns pose fundamental mathematical
questions. Addressing these questions allows
us to continuously develop new pieces of
mathematics. And working with scientists
from other disciplines spurs us to think
differently. Every time I speak to Max he
asks me questions that I would have never
come up with myself. These questions often
yield novel and ‘pure’ mathematical insights.
Reality feeds into, and inspires mathematics.
A project like ours truly cuts both ways. ■
Arjen Doelman was interviewed by Koen Kusters
Some examples of academic articles by Arjen
1
Doelman on pattern formation:
•Doelman, A., Sandstede, B., Scheel, A.,
Schneider, G. (2009) The dynamics of
modulated wave trains. Memoirs of the
What is the use of such a prediction?
When you find that a system is close to
collapsing, you can recommend measures.
You could, for example, decide to discourage
grazing for a period of time. The grazing
intensity will decrease and the system will
recover by moving away from its tipping point.
American Mathematical Society.199(934).
•Van der Ploeg, H., Doelman, A. (2005) Stability
of spatially periodic pulse patterns in a class
of singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion
equations. Indiana University Mathematics
Journal 54(5):1219-1301.
Does the work on vegetation patterns
and desertification bring you closer to a
comprehensive theory of pattern formation?
Mathematics helps us to understand the
process of desertification, while vegetation
Synergy | 9
PROJECT
Lessons for literacy
Eritrea’s
rugged
language
landscape
Eritrea has a unique, multilingual
primary school system. Eritrean and
Dutch researchers joined hands to
find out what it tells about prevalent
linguistic theories. Their research also
aims to contribute to improving literacy
education in this African country.
I
Sjaak Kroon
10 | Synergy
n 1991, after thirty years of war, Eritrea
gained independence from Ethiopia.
The political leaders’ new motto was
‘unity through diversity’. And to ensure
adherence to this multicultural principle,
they decreed that primary school children
in Eritrea would be taught in the country’s
nine different languages, using three scripts
– Ge’ez, Latin and Arabic.
Twenty years later, political reality has
tempered post-war enthusiasm, but
Eritrea’s school children are still growing up
multilingual. They are instructed in their
mother tongue, taught Tigrinya and/or
Arabic, and learn English as well from
the age of six or seven. So, quite young
Eritrean children have to read and write three
languages using two or three different scripts.
The rugged language landscape in Eritrea
provides a unique opportunity to test one
of the major psycholinguistic theories about
how children acquire literacy. This scientific
challenge was taken on by Eritrean doctoral
student, Yonas Mesfun Asfaha, as part of
his PhD thesis. He was supervised by Dr
Jeanne Kurvers, an associate professor
of Humanities at Tilburg University,
and Professor Sjaak Kroon, head of the
Department of Culture Studies, School of
Humanities, also at Tilburg.
The central aim of the project was
to compare beginners’ reading and writing
skills in the different scripts. The research
was carried out in schools right across the
country. The main question asked was
whether learning to read in a script in which
symbols represent syllables is easier than
learning to read in an alphabetic script where
symbols represent sounds (phonemes).
Investigating this question in Eritrea is
interesting from a practical as well as a
theoretical perspective. The country’s three
scripts represent different language units:
Ge’ez is based on syllables, Latin is based on
phonemes and Arabic script is based on a
consonantal alphabet – and all are taught as
part of one national curriculum.
One clear finding was that learning a
syllable-based script (Ge’ez) is initially easier
for children than learning a phonemebased Latin script. This proved to be the
case despite having more basic units. For
example, Tigrinya, which uses a Ge’ez script,
has 245 symbols; languages such as Bilin use
a modern Latin alphabet of 26 phonemes.
Interestingly, syllabic teaching of the Latin
script in the Saho language produced better
reading results than alphabetic teaching
of the same script. This finding breaks
new ground in the psycholinguistic ‘grain
size’ theory, which advises the use of small
unit (phoneme-based) teaching for early
reading instead of large unit (syllable-based)
teaching. This landmark finding resulted
in a peer-reviewed publication in Applied
Psycholinguistics.1
Yonas Mesfun Asfaha emphasizes that his
research also had a strong sociological side
to it – making it all the more exciting. In the
peer-reviewed Journal of Sociolinguistics,
he and his colleagues argue that, in order
for language policies in multilingual and
multiscriptal countries to be successful, it is
essential that policy makers have a thorough
understanding of attitudes to literacy and
people’s preferences for particular scripts.2
Yet while there is a wealth of research
into literacy practices in multilingual
communities, studies that address attitudes
to literacy and scripts are still rare. To
investigate such attitudes, Asfaha and a team
of research assistants conducted structured
interviews with a wide cross-section of
Eritrean adults. They also carried out a survey
of 670 respondents from the country’s nine
ethno-linguistic groups. The findings showed
that literacy was valued very highly and
was associated with personal enrichment,
independence and higher self-esteem. These
were valued slightly above economic benefits
and better job prospects.
Fortunately, the members of the Language
Panels at the Ministry of Education, who
are responsible for designing Eritrea’s
school curricula, showed genuine interest
in the research and its outcome. Asfaha
was invited to comment on the ongoing
development of the middle-school language
curriculum. In addition to his teaching
job at Asmara University, he currently
serves as a consultant in the preparation
of complementary elementary education
teaching materials. With his all-round
commitment, Kurvers and Kroon at
Tilburg University say that Asfaha fitted
in seamlessly with their research group at
Tilburg University. There, staff members
share a strong academic curiosity about the
relationship between language and society,
and a personal dedication to putting their
research to use. ■
Asfaha, Y.M., Kurvers, J. and Kroon, S. (2009)
1
In many ways, this research was an
evaluation of Eritrea’s language policy. It
showed that more than 75% approved of the
policy. But, as Asfaha explains, ‘in a country
where literacy is highly valued as a ticket to
social mobility, some parents of minority
language communities are not keen at all
on the mother-tongue educational policy.
For instance, for the 20% or so of Eritrean
children educated in the Latin script, it
is discouraging that the languages that
use this script are rarely used outside
school. Interestingly, as many as 23% of
the respondents wished the government to
change the scripts in which their languages
are written. This can sometimes be for
religious reasons. Some Muslims would
prefer their language to be written in Arabic
script rather than Ge’ez or Latin.’
The science behind Asfaha’s research fed into
the project’s practical goal – to improve the
delivery of basic literacy education in Eritrea
through evidence-based recommendations
to policy makers, curriculum developers,
teachers and teacher trainers. In Eritrea, as
in many sub-Saharan countries, it is unlikely
that the Millennium Development Goal of
achieving universal primary education will
be achieved by 2015. And yet, it has long
been known that a country’s literacy rates
are strongly linked to its development and
gross domestic product.
Grain size in script and teaching: Literacy
acquisition in Ge’ez and Latin. Applied
Psycholinguistics 30 (4), 709-724.
Asfaha, Y.M., Kurvers, J. and Kroon, S. (2008)
2
Literacy and script attitudes in multilingual
Eritrea. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12 (2), 223-240.
Tangible ethics
Inspired by a wish to give
something back to their research
communities, Asfaha and his team
collected a selection of Eritrea’s
oral histories known in the Tigre
language and wrote them down in
illustrated reading primers. These
booklets were given to all schools
where subjects were taught
through the Tigre language. While
parents in Eritrea are outspoken
about the value of literacy and have
high ambitions for their children,
the sad fact is that in much of rural
Eritrea, books and other reading
matter are hard to come by. As a
result, many children run the risk
of falling back into illiteracy after
finishing primary school.
Synergy | 11
INTERVIEW
We depend on
insects
Menno Bijleveld
Marcel Dicke, professor of entomology at Wageningen University, studies
interactions between insects and plants. A molecular and behavioural
ecologist, his work is highly multidisciplinary and bridges the gap between
theory and practice. He is well known for his efforts to encourage a greater
appreciation of insects and for advocating a peaceful co-existence between
people and ‘bugs’.
What is so interesting about insects?
Theory and practice
Marcel Dicke has received national
and international fame for his
original scientific publications – in
e.g. Nature and Science – as well
as his review articles and lectures.
Several of his publications (now
totalling almost 300) belong to the
best-cited articles of the journals
concerned. The fundamental
insights of Dicke’s academic work
are valuable for plant breeding
and biological control and his
research has contributed to
reductions in the use of pesticides
in agriculture and horticulture.
12 | Synergy
Insects are important for people. The
global demand for animal protein is
growing spectacularly because of the
changing dietary requirements of a rapidly
increasing human population. Producing
meat requires large expanses of land for
the cultivation of animal fodder crops. But
agricultural land is limited, and we must
learn to use it wisely.
That is where insects come in. Ten
kilograms of grass produces one kilogram of
beef, but the same ten kilograms of grass can
yield nine kilograms of grasshopper meat.
In other words, the conversion of plants
to animal protein is much more efficient
through insects. Moreover, it is possible to
breed insects using waste material, which
makes it even more efficient. If we really
want a sustainable future, we need to start
eating more insects – which are already
considered delicacies in many countries.
But that is not the only reason why they are
important for us. Insects control plant-
eating pests and are therefore crucial for
sustainable agriculture.
Can you explain what your research is about?
I study the interaction between insects and
plants. My particular focus is on the way plants
communicate through emitting scents, or
what we call ‘volatile chemicals’. When a plant
is attacked by a plant-eating insect, it produces
a scent that attracts the enemy of its attacker –
an insect-eating insect. You could say it sends
out an SOS. It is a very clever, indirect defence
mechanism. The plants ‘know’ that their
enemy’s enemy is their friend.
What drew you to study the scents of plants?
My research questions are always spawned
by my interest in fundamental questions. I
want to know how things work. My personal
curiosity drives my research.
Does that mean that practical relevance is
not an important consideration when you
formulate your research questions?
I like to compare science with art. Both
are essential to our way of life and our
civilization. Whether a particular academic
research project is useful to society
should not be the main driver of research.
Fundamental science is crucial. And
applied science depends on fundamental
knowledge. We should realize though that
even when a research question is guided
by fundamental science, ideas about its
application are never far off for creative
scientists. My discipline, entomology,
is very close to practice, and research
outcomes tend to be applicable.
How is your research on plant–insect
interaction applicable?
Within a plant species, cucumbers, for
example, plants respond differently to insect
attacks. Some send out their SOS message
‘louder’ than others, which means that they
are less vulnerable to pests. This is valuable
knowledge for growers. If you can identify
the loud screamers, you can select them
for breeding. This way, they can breed
plants that are most effective at attracting
natural allies whenever they are attacked.
Plant breeders are starting to become more
interested as they realize that this reduces
the need for pesticides. However, they are
asking for quick ways of distinguishing
between the quiet and the louder plants.
This is what we are working on now.
Is this finding relevant to developing
countries?
Sustainable protection of crops is needed
everywhere. In developing countries,
agriculture tends to be small-scale and
Perhaps I am a maverick within the academic
community – I attach a great deal of value to
telling my story to a larger audience
many of the farmers cannot afford chemical
pesticides. This makes biological pest
control all the more important for them.
Also, nearly all agriculture in developing
countries is out in the open. This means
that insects are a permanent threat. But
in open environments, using pesticides
is hazardous because you run the risk of
inadvertently killing the pest’s natural
enemy as well. Biological pest control is
therefore the most effective and the safest
method in the long run.
You have been praised for making your
research accessible, even appealing, to a
wider audience. Why do you do this?
Personally, even if the issue of applicability
does not steer my research questions, I enjoy
making my research accessible outside the
academic community. It is rewarding to
discover practical applications, for example
in the field of plant breeding and pest
control, but it is also a pleasure to share my
enthusiasm with the general public.
Perhaps I am a maverick within the
academic community. I attach a great
deal of value to telling my story to a larger
audience. I want to encourage people to
start looking differently at insects – they are
not dirty and useless. We are conditioned to
think of insects as nuisances that we should
get rid of, but killing insects creates all
sorts of problems. I make a plea for greater
appreciation of insects and for peaceful coexistence between people and insects. That
is my message: human life on earth depends
on insects.
This was also the central theme of a
week-long festival we organized, called
Wageningen, City of Insects. We showed
people how insects are intertwined with
human life. More than 20,000 visitors turned
up. It was a huge success. And the media
coverage was overwhelming. Virtually all the
Dutch newspapers reported on the event,
and Reuters produced a film that has been
sold in 40 countries. This is a wonderful way
of sharing academic insights with the rest of
society. The week ended with a world record
in insect eating: 1750 people simultaneously
ate dishes of mealworms. Unfortunately,
even after this success, it is still hard work
to convince my academic colleagues that
organizing events like this is good fun.
What academic incentives are there for
helping your research to reach a wider
audience?
None really. There are few incentives to
publish outside the academic system. We
Synergy | 13
INTERVIEW
HH / Evan Sung
If we really want a sustainable future, we need
to start eating more insects – which are already
considered delicacies in many countries
Pioneer
Marcel Dicke was awarded the
NWO Spinoza Prize in 2007. He
made his first groundbreaking
discovery in 1986. At that time it
was already known that plants
could defend themselves against
herbivorous insects by releasing
toxins. Dicke demonstrated that
plants can also release ‘scents’ that
attract predatory mites, which in
turn attack the herbivorous mites.
This pioneering work opened up
a new research area on tritrophic
interactions – interactions
between plants, herbivorous
insects and predatory insects. In
1988 he was the first to publish in
this new field of ecology.
14 | Synergy
are primarily evaluated on the basis of our
publications in high-impact, peer-reviewed
journals.
What do you think of the increased emphasis
on excellence?
I am not against it. One should always
exploit one’s talents and want to be the best.
When students ask for my advice on finding
a job, I tell them to look for something
they really enjoy doing, and then strive
to become the best in that field. Some,
however, think salary is more important, an
attitude that can be spotted from afar.
And what do you think about the way
excellence is measured?
We first need to ask ourselves: what is
excellence? Publishing in high-impact
journals is rewarding in scientific terms as
well as for the publicity it generates, but I
find that merely focusing on high-impact
journals is too one sided. It reduces science
to a game of ratings and numbers. And it
is not always useful to focus on journals
with the highest impact factor. For some
of our work, it makes much more sense to
publish in lower-impact journals targeted at
specific audiences such as plant breeders or
agronomists. In fact, some of my most cited
publications are in lower-impact journals. So
you need to identify who you want to reach
before choosing your outlet. Excellence, at
the end of the day, also implies being able to
make science understandable to society. ■
Marcel Dicke was interviewed by Koen Kusters
COLUMN
Internationalizing
courts makes fairer
societies
I
n his seminal work, The Idea of Justice,
Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen hails
democracy as the way to tackle injustice.
But he is also sceptical about how effective
current institutional arrangements are in
guaranteeing political and human rights. It
is true that merely establishing courts will
not eliminate corruption or make trials fair.
But improving judicial systems remains
indispensible to creating fairer societies, not
least in developing countries.
My research focuses on how courts and
judicial systems are, or are not, influenced
by legal practices from abroad. Judges
increasingly look to international and
foreign law when deciding difficult cases,
and to strengthen the authority of their
judgments. As part of a pioneering stream of
research, I study the extent to which judges,
when deciding cases, take into account the
experiences and decisions of judges working
in other jurisdictions.
Consistent application of the law across
jurisdictions has the potential to increase the
legitimacy of judicial practices everywhere.
Jeremy Waldron, professor of law and
philosophy at New York University, argues
that ‘we have a responsibility, rooted in
fairness, to play our part in the creation
and sustenance of a body of consistent law
... that transcends national legal systems as
humanity transcends national legal systems.’
Developing countries and young
democracies are likely to benefit from the
internationalization of their judiciaries.
Judges may more easily come to solid, wellreasoned judgments when they examine the
practices and judgments of counterparts
in other democracies. And if the courts in
developing countries make comparative
references to the case law of respected
foreign courts, this can strengthen the
authority of their judgments in the eyes of
the public. The South African constitution
states, ‘when interpreting the Bill of Rights,
a court, tribunal or forum ... must consider
international law, and may consider
foreign law.’
But this is not without its risks.
Transplanting arguments from, say,
German case law, is tricky if a lawyer is
unfamiliar with German law. An incorrect
use of comparative law will then hinder
rather than reinforce the legitimacy of
judicial decisions. Using comparative law
Consistent application of the law across
jurisdictions can increase the legitimacy of
judicial practices everywhere
requires a sound methodological approach.
My research on the methodology of judges
aims to help them to develop new visions
and strategies.
Legal tradition and language and the
prestige of foreign courts influence the
selection and application of foreign case
law. On that basis, I am elaborating a
more systematized approach to using
international and foreign law in judgements.
Developing countries can benefit from this
research through the guidelines it offers for
the creation of judiciaries that are able to
use inspiration from foreign courts in the
interests of their national citizens. ■
Elaine Mak
is associate professor
of jurisprudence at
Erasmus University,
Rotterdam. In 2008,
she was awarded the
Research Prize for her
work on the influence
that globalization
has on legal systems.
Here, she reflects
on the insights
her work provides
for understanding
and improving
the functioning
of judiciaries in
developing countries.
Synergy | 15
FEATURE
Knowledge for
global development
Anyone who still believes that academic excellence is the preserve of
fundamental scientific research, and that socially relevant science belongs
on a lower academic plane, is in for an intellectual reality check. However,
judging science in terms of its relevance remains a tricky issue.
16 | Synergy
H H / Tibor Bognar
FEATURE
T
The Broker
Too often, there is little interaction
between research, policy and
practice in the field of global
development. The Broker, a
bimonthly magazine and web
platform, features analyses
of cutting-edge academic
debates that bridge this gap and
contribute to policy making in
areas such as economics, security,
environment, governance and
technology.
See: www.thebrokeronline.eu
18 | Synergy
Reuters / Stringer Shanghai
oday’s world is beset by major
challenges – widespread poverty and
inequality, conflict, food insecurity,
epidemics, the loss of biodiversity, climate
change and the depletion of fossil fuel
sources. Most of these problems affect
us all, but it is the poorest countries that
bear a disproportionate share of the
burden. Dealing with such complex, and
often interrelated, phenomena requires
all the intellectual might of innovative
researchers – not just those who work in
development studies, but all scientists,
from mathematicians and biochemists to
linguists and medical scientists can make a
contribution.
While many scientists are motivated by the
desire to improve the world we live in, they
are also driven by everyday concerns such
as institutional incentives and personal
ambition. Tenure track systems have been
introduced at many universities in the
Netherlands, with the result that academic
prowess is increasingly measured in terms
of publication in peer-reviewed journals.
These journals are judged on their citation
index – the more often a journal is cited
internationally, the better it is for the
contributing authors, and their academic
careers. Awarding points for acceptance
by quality scientific journals is one of the
main ways in which universities strive for
academic excellence.
The research programmes presented in
this magazine demonstrate that striving for
academic excellence does not conflict with
the ambition to carry out research that is
relevant to today’s global challenges. Many
of the academics we interviewed claim that
the joint pursuit of fundamental research
and relevance is what makes their research
highly rewarding and exciting. But can
research be judged in terms of how relevant
it is? Who actually determines what is
relevant? And is social relevance really a
scientific must?
Ton Dietz, geographer and director
of the Africa Studies Centre in Leiden
in the Netherlands, is one of a growing
number of academics who do not believe
in a dichotomy between fundamental
research that strives for scientific excellence
and applied research that aims to be
socially relevant. He believes that in the
social sciences, it is almost impossible
to distinguish between the two. Social
developments influence research choices
– and the outcome of research influences
social debate and policy. This is not only
a given for Dietz, but it is also something
that is worth striving for. ‘As far as I am
concerned, all social scientists should be
obliged to reflect on the social relevance
of their research findings’, he says. ‘They
certainly should not be adding a quick
paragraph about policy recommendations
to their dissertations in the week before they
submit, which happens a lot at the moment.’
Researchers in the physical and
mathematical sciences, who were
interviewed for this magazine, have all
emphasized the cross-fertilization between
basic academic knowledge and social
relevance. This is not only about the
potential future relevance of their work –
insights that seem highly theoretical now
may lead to very practical innovations
in 100 years’ time – but also about the
interaction between science and practice in
the present. According to mathematician
Arjen Doelman, the fundamental questions
of mathematics are often triggered by real
life phenomena, and the application of
mathematics can lead to new theoretical
insights. This, he argues, is an important
part of how scientific knowledge grows.
Entomologist, Marcel Dicke explains
that immediately after formulating a
fundamental research question, he will
reflect on its possible social relevance.
What do philosophers think about
this? Is social relevance an academic
duty? According to some philosophers,
philosophy’s strength lies in its ability
to distance itself from the issues of the
moment. According to others, philosophy
is valuable only if it manages to yield
something useful – if it can be used in
practice. Martin van Hees, professor of
ethics and political theory at the University
of Groningen, says his position lies
somewhere between these two notions. On
the one hand, his research is influenced by
the questions that society is grappling with;
and on the other hand, he believes that
the dogmatic pursuit of obtaining a ‘social
yield’ from scientific research is a deadend. ‘It is impossible to predict what the
contribution of knowledge will be,’ argues
Van Hees. ‘This is not only because our
notions of what is valuable tend to change,
but also because you cannot calculate social
yield in advance. Trying to predict this
could lead to a situation where funding
is given only to academic work that has a
clear, short-term purpose – meaning that
research with a long-term purpose will fall
by the wayside.’
But while we might accept that it is hard to
predict if and how research can contribute
to tackling the challenges that characterize
the 21st century, society at large, and
research funding agencies in particular,
increasingly want proof that scientific work
is ‘worthwhile’.
Since the widespread adoption
of bibliometric indicators in research
evaluations, academic publication has
become a goal in itself and citation scores
have become crucial. For researchers, this
has raised new types of questions. For
example, why should climate researchers
attend a two-week conference on climate
change if it is not going to provide any
publication points or contribute to the
evaluation of their work? Laurens Hessels
of the Rathenau Institute interviewed a
wide range of scientists for his PhD thesis,
'Science and the Struggle for Relevance',
which examined the relationship between
the need to publish and the pressure
for social relevance in the academic
research system. He noted that researchers
increasingly promised to deliver relevant
results in order to get funding for their
research – while at the same time being
put under growing pressure to publish
in academic journals. Hessels concludes
that the evaluation of academic research
needs to find a new balance. Too much
emphasis on the quality of the science
(measured with bibliometric indicators)
hinders the alignment between research
and social needs, while too much emphasis
direction, it raises a number of important
new questions. Are people in the South
given a say in what research is relevant to
their countries? And if so, who in the South
should be judging the relevance of research
proposals – policy makers, umbrella
organizations such as the Council for the
Development of Social Science Research
in Africa, or local companies, NGOs and
municipalities?
WOTRO’s integrated programmes go a long
way to establishing a joint determination
of what is relevant. The research they fund
has to be carried out in cooperation with
academic and non-academic partners
in the South. Inge Hutter, professor
of demography at the University of
Groningen, is a strong proponent of such
an approach. ‘The stakeholder analysis that
you are obliged to undertake as part of the
proposal ensures that the central research
questions are formulated in consultation
with organizations and people in the field,’
she explains. Also, part of the research
budget may be used for interventions. ‘This
is a great leap forward from the old days
when research and impact were strictly
separated.’ The fact that WOTRO obliges
this stakeholder analysis is promising. They
are the funders, so they may have the power
to urge universities to take relevance more
seriously.
The dogmatic pursuit of obtaining a ‘social
yield’ from scientific research is a dead-end
on applicability may threaten more
fundamental lines of research.
In recent years, the social relevance of
research has received increasing attention,
especially when evaluating research
proposals. When deciding whether to give
projects the go-ahead, many evaluation
committees use potential for social
relevance as a deciding factor. WOTRO,
Science for Global Development – the
largest Dutch funder of scientific research
on development issues – is a case in point.
Until very recently, research proposals
were judged solely by academics. Now
every proposal is also examined by a ‘social
panel’. While this is a step in the right
Han van Dijk, scientific director of the
Research School for Resource Studies
for Development (CERES), stresses that
science may offer knowledge that no one
specifically asked for. According to him, it
would be undesirable to have all research
questions formulated in consultation
with social partners. Social partners have
interests too, and some stakeholders,
especially the poor and marginal, are often
not involved in articulating the demand
for research. Van Dijk stresses that science
should not just be subservient to society,
but also critical of society. ‘You now see
that researchers are increasingly adapting
their research proposals to respond to
Synergy | 19
FEATURE
certain stakeholders’ questions,’ he adds.
‘But this does not mean that these are the
most relevant questions for society as a
whole, or for marginalized groups. There is
a risk that in wanting to be more relevant,
you become less so.’ However, working with
social partners is also enriching and can
certainly contribute to the scientific quality
of the research.
Although research proposals
are increasingly judged on their anticipated
relevance, a retrospective evaluation of
their social impact is still in its infancy. The
platform, Evaluating Research in Context
(ERiC), which was set up in 2006, aims
of the research group. Clearly, this method
poses new challenges. Han van Dijk notes
that such an assessment may not be so
simple where research involves small-scale
farmers and poor slum dwellers as its main
stakeholders. Furthermore, referring to the
age-old question of attribution, Van Dijk
stresses that any impact evaluation needs to
bear in mind that it is generally impossible
to prove a direct causal relationship between
a specific research effort and a change in
society.
A new Standard Evaluation Protocol
(SEP 2009–2015) was introduced in the
Netherlands in 2009. This placed much
more emphasis on evaluating the social
Translating scientific complexity into lay
terms is not only possible – it is fun
to develop a way of measuring the social
impact of research. ERiC’s starting point
is that for research to have a social impact,
there must be ‘productive interactions’
between researchers and stakeholders in
society. These interactions can be direct (for
example, through personal contact), indirect
(through publications), or financial (through
funding the research).
The platform is developing and testing a
method in which the research group being
evaluated is asked to help develop its own
evaluation framework by identifying its
mission, context and main stakeholders. As
part of the evaluation, these stakeholders are
then asked for their views on the relevance
Kant’s philosophy
In his 1793 essay, ‘On the Old
Saw: That may be right in theory,
but it will not work in practice’,
Immanuel Kant criticized the
contrived rift between theory
and practice. He argued that the
soundness of theory (or research)
depends on its applicability; and
that unsuccessful application is
clear evidence of poor underlying
theory.
20 | Synergy
impact of research groups in Dutch
universities. It is expected that even more
sophisticated methods of measuring
social impact will soon be developed and
adopted.
For research to be used by nonacademic actors, communication with
those outside the scientific arena is crucial.
Eric Smaling, professor of sustainable
agriculture at the University of Twente,
says that, ‘to maximize the rate of return
from investments in knowledge, it has to
be shared with users. These users can be
private-sector stakeholders who want to
turn the knowledge into products, consumer
organizations, NGOs working in the field,
or political leaders involved in formulating
legislation. Much greater effort is needed
to bridge the gap between knowledge and
policy.’
Few scientists are averse to serious political
discussion. But is there enough incentive
for them to devote precious time to matters
other than writing for peer-reviewed
journals? Conversation with academics
at Dutch universities reveals that they are
rarely awarded points for participating
in public debates or for writing policy
briefs and articles in trade journals or
for Southern publishers. Nevertheless,
most are making tangible efforts to use
their research findings for purposes
other than peer-reviewed publications, as
many of the academics in this magazine
confirm. Marcel Dicke, winner of the
NWO Spinoza Prize in 2007, collaborated
in a documentary based on his research
into the merits of eating insects, which
was broadcast on Dutch television. Dicke
says that, ‘afterwards, several colleagues
suggested it would be impossible to make
such a film about their work, which
supposedly was too complex! But I believe
all academics should make an effort to
bring their work to a larger audience – not
least because it is paid for with taxpayers’
money. Translating complexity into lay
terms is not only possible – it is fun.’
Knowledge is no longer the exclusive
domain of universities. Other players,
such as NGOs, who formulate their own
knowledge strategies, have come onto the
scene. The Dutch NGO, Hivos, for example,
works closely with civil society organizations
and academic centres worldwide through its
Knowledge Programme. This programme is
a practitioner–academic collaboration aimed
at developing knowledge on issues central to
the work of civil society organizations and
the development sector at large.
Cross-border and cross-sector cooperation
and partnerships are increasingly important.
Someone who is part of this new reality
is Inge Hutter. Two of her PhD students
work both at the University of Groningen,
and at an NGO that operates in the area
of their research. One of these students
conducts research into the issue of fertility
among people living with HIV/Aids. This
subject fills a significant gap in academic
literature, and at the same time responds
to very practical questions that the NGO
receives from its clients and partners in the
field. ‘This sort of participatory research
would not work for all my students,’ Hutter
agrees. ‘But for those who have the interest,
the opportunity and are able to do so,
it is a great thing. To be honest, I find it
increasingly difficult to supervise students
who spend the full four years of their PhD
behind their computer screens.’
Mathilde Miedema and Nicolas Chevrollier
stress that innovative research is often
driven by local demand. Both work at
TNO, a Dutch organization for applied
H H / Roel Burgler
CoCooN – aiming for
‘double excellence’
scientific research and Europe’s secondlargest knowledge institute. Here, they run
a programme for developing countries that
helps innovation to reduce poverty. Part of
this programme is the Flying Innovation
Team – a rotating group of 20 researchers
who spend 10% to 20% of their time on
various social innovation projects across
the world. These projects always involve
local NGOs and businesses in order to
ensure that the innovations are relevant to
local demands. Chevrollier believes that
the best innovations often arise from the
interaction between researchers and endusers. ‘It is a type of co-creation,’ he explains.
‘Collaboration with NGOs and local
businesses helps to identify local needs and
can trigger all kinds of ideas. Furthermore,
when introducing innovations, we can
benefit from the networks of our local
partners – businesses in particular.’
It is important that academics do not
neglect the contribution of businesses.
Universities need to explore how they can
reel in the business sector without selling
themselves out. And the corollary is true too
– WOTRO, for example, should consider
how it can exert influence on decisions
made in boardrooms. This is already being
achieved through knowledge networks, and
the business sector’s participation is growing
all the time.
The stories in this magazine illustrate
that excellence and relevance are two sides
of the same coin. Research that increases our
understanding of fundamental principles is
often inspired by real-life phenomena, and
is essential for addressing global challenges
now and in the future. Likewise, research
that seeks practical solutions to real-life
problems is grounded in fundamental
knowledge, and will ultimately contribute to
new scientific insights.
Realizing the potential of this interplay
and synergy, there is increasing awareness
of the importance of social relevance in
the selection of research projects. But
the circle will only be complete when a
project’s relevance is considered at the end
of the research process too. However, this
kind of system would have to allay the
fear felt by many scientists that too great a
focus on relevance could lead to research
being carried out only when it is clear that
social yield can be measured afterwards.
This would disqualify a large number of
invaluable and creative research projects
– projects that could have significant and
completely unexpected relevance to our
future. There should always be leeway for
people with out-of-the-ordinary ideas, who
excel in that great skill that many good
scientists have: the ability to think outside
the box. ■
CoCooN stands for Conflict
and Cooperation over Natural
Resources in Developing Countries.
This new programme was set up
by the Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research (NWO) in
collaboration with the Netherlands
Directorate-General for
International Cooperation (DGIS).
It funds research related to conflict
over natural resources and strives
for ‘double excellence’ – excellent
academic research and excellent
social relevance. In order to
enhance the social relevance of its
research, only consortia comprising
at least two academic and two nonacademic partners are eligible for
research grants. Also, at least half
the partners involved must be from
the South. The CoCooN committee
consists of both academic and nonacademic professionals, from the
North as well as the South and it is
the first approach of its kind in the
Netherlands.
Poverty, freedom
and liberal politics
For philosopher Martin van
Hees, there is a very real
connection between international
development and theoretical
questions such as: Do people have
the right not to live in poverty?
‘Poverty concerns freedom,’ he
points out. ‘You have negative
freedom, which refers to the
absence of impediments, and
you have positive freedom,
which means the presence of
opportunities. Some liberals think
that governments should focus
primarily on negative freedom. This
means they do not think the fight
against poverty is a government
responsibility. However, it can
also be argued that poverty is
an encroachment on negative
freedom – and so it should be an
important point on the political
agenda for classic liberals.’
PROJECT
Successful research requires courageous donors
Organic locust control
Locust and grasshopper plagues can have a devastating impact on
agricultural production. However, the chemical pesticides used to fight them
are dangerous too. After more than a decade of research, scientists have
come up with a safe and effective organic alternative.
L
ocusts and grasshoppers regularly
decimate crops in parts of Africa and
Asia. Locusts in particular are well
known for invading in swarms of millions,
leaving behind ravaged fields – and ruined
livelihoods. For many years, the preferred
method of combating such plagues has been
to spray chemical pesticides over the infested
areas – usually using airplanes to cover vast
areas of infestation.
However, in June 2009, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations reported that 10,000 hectares
of Red Locust-infested land in Tanzania
had been effectively treated with a biological
pesticide. This prevented a full-blown
invasion that was set to threaten the food
crops of 15 million people. It was the first
time that a biopesticide had been used on a
large scale against a locust outbreak in Africa.
Janny Vos is European business development
manager of the CABI, a not-for-profit
science-based development and information
organization that aims to improve lives by
solving agricultural and environmental
problems. According to Vos, the success
in Tanzania was the result of 13 years
of collaborative academic research. The
coordinated efforts of a large group of
scientists – including ecologists, biologists,
22 | Synergy
entomologist, chemists, economists,
taxonomists and toxicologists – resulted
in the development of an effective and
safe biopesticide. And it also yielded an
enormous amount of new scientific insight,
published in no fewer than 120 peerreviewed publications.
The research was inspired by
increasing concerns about the negative
effects of chemical pesticides on the
environment and on the people living in the
treated areas. After treating a major locust
outbreak in Africa in the 1980s, it became
apparent that spraying chemical insecticides
kills other insects, animals and plants
and can lead to chronic and acute health
problems in people. In order for chemical
insecticides to be used with any modicum
of safety, it was necessary to evacuate human
and livestock populations away from the
infested areas. This was a solution that was
completely impractical.
In response to this reality, the international
community called on research institutions
to develop alternative ways of dealing with
these infestations. In 1989 CABI submitted
a research proposal to a consortium of
donors. The thrust of the proposal was
to find a biological solution to the locust
problem. CABI’s plan was accepted and
a research programme called LUBILOSA
started the same year. LUBILOSA
(LUtte BIologique contre les LOcustes et
les SAuteriaux, or the biological battle
against locusts and grasshoppers) was a
collaboration of national and international
research institutes in Europe and Africa.
First, researchers needed to identify the kind
of biological control that was most likely to
produce results. They launched a survey in
West Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to
look for fungi that were dangerous to locusts
and grasshoppers, but not damaging to
beneficial insects, plants, animals or people.
After screening more than 160 strains, one
species, Metarhizium acridum was selected
for further development. Field trials were
carried out to test the fungus against almost
all locusts and a number of grasshopper
species in some twenty African countries.
The trials showed that although the fungusbased biopesticide took a little longer than
chemical pesticides to achieve results, it was
just as effective, or often even more effective,
than chemical alternatives. It also proved
100% safe for operators and those living in
the communities where it was used, and had
no adverse effects on other insects, fish or
mammals.
Lineair / Heuclin Daniel
Fungus-based biopesticides – often even
more effective than chemical alternatives
Pleased with the success of the trials,
the researchers fine-tuned the product
to ensure optimum applicability and to
lengthen its shelf life. The product was
released commercially under the name
Green Muscle. A company in South Africa
registered the product and obtained a
licence in 1998. A Senegalese company
followed in 2008.
As they went through the process of
developing Green Muscle, the LUBILOSA
researchers made major scientific progress.
A number of their findings contributed to
the knowledge of the biology and ecology
of entomopathogenic fungi, a scientific area
that is still largely unexplored. The scientific
importance of these findings is reflected in
the articles that were published in journals
such as the Annual Review of Entomology.1
These publications allow researchers in
different parts of the world to initiate work
on fungus-based biological pesticides from a
far greater base of knowledge.
According to Vos, the success of the project
is not only the result of the commitment of
the programme’s multidisciplinary science
team, but also of the commitment of its
donors to support the program for an
extended period of time. ‘The Netherlands
can be proud, because they decided to
fund the start-up phase of this project. This
was a risky investment, as no one could be
certain that the research would ever yield
an effective biological pesticide. Daring
to take such risks is essential for making
innovations happen.’ ■
1
Some articles by LUBILOSA researchers:
•Kooyman, C., Bateman, R.B., Langewald,
J., Lomer, C.J., Ouambama, Z. and Thomas,
M.B. (1997) Operational-scale application of
entomopathogenic fungi for the control of
Sahelian grasshoppers. Proceedings of the
Royal Society B 264:541-546.
•Lomer C.J., Bateman R.P., Johnson D.L.,
Langewald, J. and Thomas, M. (2001)
Biological Control of Locusts and
Grasshoppers. Annual Review of Entomology
46:667-702.
Successful
application of
a biopesticide
When a locust plague was
about to hit Tanzania in 2009,
the Tanzanian government,
in collaboration with the FAO,
decided to apply Green Muscle
– the biopesticide developed by
the LUBILOSA research project.
According to Christiaan Kooyman,
who was closely involved in the
development of the product,
some government officials in
Tanzania were sceptical. They
did not see the need to use
biological products, and did not
believe that this one would work.
Kooyman was in Tanzania when
the spraying started, and recalls
people were euphoric when
the first locusts started showing
infection after the areas had been
sprayed. ‘People were cheering: “it
has started!”’
Synergy | 23
PROJECT
Alamy / travelib prime
Arequipa, Peru
The politics of research
‘In the face of inequality, no science is neutral.’ That is the belief of Margreet
Zwarteveen and Rutgerd Boelens, two water management researchers at
Wageningen University in the Netherlands. They maintain, however, that
scientific excellence can go hand-in-hand with a passion for justice.
I
n 2009, twenty-one social science research
groups attached to Wageningen University
took part in an international peer review.
The Irrigation and Water Engineering
(IWE) Group came out on top – out of 5,
they scored 4 for scientific quality, 4.5 for
productivity, and the 5 for relevance.
Special mention was given to the
interdisciplinary nature of IWE’s Programme
on Water Rights and Social Justice.
24 | Synergy
This international and interdisciplinary
programme is being run by researchers
whose passion for academia matches their
commitment to making a better world.
Margreet Zwarteveen and Rutgerd Boelens,
who have been involved in this programme
since it started in 2000, are academics with
a clear political agenda. They want their
scientific research to help achieve water
justice for people worldwide. The guiding
question behind their research projects is,
‘what is fair distribution?’.
Because water is becoming a scarce
commodity in more and more locations
around the world, deciding who has access
to it quickly becomes a political issue. One
recent example is a case in Peru where
the government diverted water from the
mountains to a desert-like plain near the
Irrigation systems
neatly map a society’s
power relations
coast. Here, it is used to irrigate fields
where, among other things, asparagus is
grown for export to the Netherlands. This
new irrigation system meant that Peruvian
farmers in the mountains, who had
previously used the water to grow food for
their families, were suddenly and literally
left high and dry.
Traditionally, water research programmes
concentrated on technical and economic
issues. But the Water Rights and Social
Justice Programme is innovative in that
it adds a socio-political dimension to
academic research on water issues. As
Rutgerd Boelens explains, the usual focus
of water research is on increasing efficiency.
‘The general idea is that, if the technology
for dams, canals, sprinklers, etc. is top notch,
then the market will do the rest,’ he says.
‘But water is more than H2O. Water is power.
It irritates us that policy recommendations
are usually presented as if they were neutral
or objective, while in fact they are always
based on a political choice.’
His colleague agrees. ‘The same goes for
academic research. We do not believe that
science is neutral,’ says Margreet Zwarteveen.
‘So we always make a point of clarifying our
chosen perspective – in our case, that is the
perspective of marginalized groups.’
Boelens and Zwarteveen were trained
as engineers. But years of professional
experience has made them question the
goal of objectivity that often accompanies
the technical sciences and adopt a less
mainstream stance. ‘We believe that seeing
scientific claims from a political perspective
strengthens your arguments,’ says Boelens.
Who are the marginalized groups that
are central to Boelens’ and Zwarteveen’s
research? Women, small farmers and
indigenous peoples, such as the Indians in
parts of South America, who have no say
in water management issues. Such groups
are systematically disregarded in national
policies. Often, no account is taken of the
social structures that local communities
have developed, often over hundreds of
years, to ensure access to water. In many
villages, inhabitants acquired user rights by
constructing their own irrigation system.
Families’ water rights were gradually
acquired over successive generations. A
crucial factor for retaining these rights
is that everyone works to maintain the
irrigation channels.
Then national legislation comes along and
applies a completely different definition of
water rights based on registered ownership
of land and taxes paid. As a result, people
do not feel responsible for governmentconstructed irrigation systems. If the water
inlet, the channel or the pump is broken,
no-one feels called upon to solve the
problem. According to Boelens, who spent
a number of years in farming communities
in Ecuador, ignoring the social organization
and institutions of rural communities is
a classic pitfall of contemporary water
management projects and structures. This
is a subject that he deals with in detail in his
article, ‘The politics of disciplining water
rights’, published in 2009 in Development
and Change.1
This and other publications testify to
the innovative way in which Boelens,
Zwarteveen and close colleagues combine
technical and socio-political research. For
instance, they argue that irrigation and
canalization systems neatly map a society’s
social relationships and power relations.
The layout of an irrigation system – which
includes certain houses, villages and
plantations and excludes others – shows
very clearly who is at the tail end of the
system. It is usually the person who is at the
tail end of society as well.
Similarly, technical design
choices often speak volumes about the
balance of power in a society. For example,
the decision to not include a night reservoir,
which would allow night-time crop
irrigation, means that people have to use
the water whenever it becomes available.
For women this is often tricky because
their daily routines are dictated by other
care tasks, and they are unable to irrigate
their fields at night for safety reasons. Not
including a night reservoir means, in effect,
female farmers lose a large portion of their
water rights.
According to Zwarteveen, this is just one
example of how recent neoliberal reforms
in the water sector are participatory and
gender-sensitive only on paper. In reality,
gender is still a blind spot, with substantial
consequences for policy effectiveness. This
was exactly what amazed her during the
years that she worked for the International
Irrigation Management Institute (now
known as the International Water
Management Institute [IWMI]), which has
its international headquarters in the Sri
Lankan capital Colombo.
‘In scientific studies and policy papers both
the farmers and end-users were always
assumed to be men,’ points out Zwarteveen.
PES
Changes in policy fashions in a
country and its political-economic
situation may give rise to new
research questions. The discussion
on biofuels is a typical example
of this, as is the debate on the
growing mining industry in Peru,
which is responsible for largescale water contamination. The
hype around incentives such as
Payments for Ecosystem Services
(PES), promoted by nature
organizations and environmental
economists, is another example.
‘In Ecuador and Costa Rica the
introduction of PES was presented
as a success story,’ says Rutgerd
Boelens. ‘And our Peruvian
colleagues told us that their
government was also interested
in the idea. We then carried out
research which showed that only
a small number of communities
actually benefited from the
system, while most villages were
extremely unwilling to relinquish
their land-use autonomy. In effect,
PES represents the introduction
of a market mechanism for public
goods which can hinder collective
water usage and maintenance
rules. That is another reason why
is it so important to re-evaluate
every local situation.’
Synergy | 25
PROJECT
HH / Nature Picture Library
Water research should
focus on justice rather
than efficiency
‘Women, who were often the ones working
in and irrigating the fields, were invisible.
After several years I got tired of constantly
fighting against such entrenched ideas, not
least because it puts your own intellectual
development on hold.’
Zwarteveen returned to Wageningen where,
together with like-minded academics, she
formulated a more progressive research
agenda. One of many products of this is a
2009 publication in the peer-reviewed journal
Gender, Place and Culture.2 This article was
co-authored with Rhodante Ahlers of IHEUNESCO Institute for Water Education in
Delft. In it Zwarteveen argues that feminist
reflections about tenure-insecurity and social
inequities in relation to water are at odds
26 | Synergy
with a neoliberal framework that renders
invisible the politics and power relations
involved in water allocation. Remaining true
to her epistemological stance, Zwarteveen
would like to extend this line of argument
to the politics of academia. The question
that begs to be answered is: ‘What effect
does the fact that the world of water is such
a man’s world have on the main academic
research questions, the research approach,
and the outcomes and translation of these
into policy?’
In 2008, Rutgerd Boelens, was awarded
his doctorate degree, with distinction, from
Wageningen University. The same year,
the Amsterdam Institute for International
Development (AIID) awarded him the prize
for the best PhD thesis of 2007–2008. The
combination of high quality research and a
focus on social relevance were what earned
him this accolade. Unfortunately, the criteria
that underlie the tenure track system that
was introduced at his university in 2010,
allow for very little formal appreciation
of the ‘social impact’ of Boelens’ research.
As Zwarteveen explains, ‘we are judged
primarily on the basis of our publications in
peer-reviewed journals. Most professional
or popular scientific publications generate
zero points for our tenure tracks.’ She laughs
and adds, ‘what this in effect means is that
we work twice as hard. Because we refuse to
give up what we stand for.’
Zwarteveen and Boelens both believe it
is important to link research networks
together – for example, critical scientists in
the North and the South, organizations of
male and female farmers, and NGOs and
policy makers interested in social justice.
Many of the concrete results of Boelens’
and Zwarteveen’s research can be traced
back to these local and global networks.
Action research with local partners in
Bolivia and Ecuador resulted in significant
changes in recent national constitutions
and in water-related Bills. In Ecuador the
government is discussing water systems as
social constructions – this would have been
unthinkable 10 years ago. And in a totally
different part of the world, the structure
of the Nepalese national government’s
irrigation department is changing.
But just as rewarding as these concrete
achievements, Boelens and Zwarteveen
feel, is the fact that they are training a
generation of young scientists who learn
to see the inbuilt biases in academic
research and to reflect on these in an open
and critical way. Many of these young
scientists come from abroad, and they take
home with them what they have learned.
Collaborative programs with universities
in South Asian and Andean countries
further contribute to the fact that the
Wageningen approach is increasingly used
as an example of the truly interdisciplinary
research that is needed to tackle complex
water problems and the ethical issues they
are tied up with. ■
Boelens, R. (2009) The Politics of Disciplining
1
Water Rights. Development and Change
40(2):307-331.
Ahlers, R. and Zwarteveen, M. (2009) The Water
2
Question in Feminism: Water control and gender
inequities in a neo-liberal era. Gender, Place and
Culture 16(4):409-426.
RESEARCH NEWS
Shorts
ICT innovations in Africa
Africa may not be the traditional
breeding ground for technological
innovation. But in the last few
years, Africa has been the stage
for some highly successful
international ICT developments.
For example, during the post
election violence in Kenya in
2008, Kenyan scientists developed
software to monitor the time
and location of riots. Someone
witnessing a riot could send an
SMS, the software would read their
exact location and add it to a map
on a specially designed website. In this way, civil authorities had access to
a real-time picture of the location and intensity of the violence.
The developers called the software Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’
in Kiswahili (www.ushahidi.com). Now, this software is also being used
to track medicine shortages across Africa. And after the earthquakes in
Haiti and Chile in 2010, it helped to connect victims with emergency
workers. The idea that ‘northern scientists’ develop new technology for
dissemination to ‘southern recipients’ is as obsolete as ... old technology.
The positive effects of the brain drain
Ranking
universities
Rankings of the best universities in the
world are generally topped by universities
such as Harvard and Stanford in the United States
and Oxford and Cambridge in the United Kingdom. There are
usually no Dutch universities in the top ten. But, unlike many
other countries, all the Dutch universities tend to score well.
In 2010, 12 Dutch universities were listed in the top 500 of the
renowned Shanghai Jiao Tong-ranking, with Utrecht University
ranking 50th (www.arwu.org/ARWU2010.jsp).
Times Higher Education’s 2010–2011 rankings has ten Dutch
universities in its top 200. There are also two African universities
on this list. University of Cape Town at 107th and Alexandria
University at 147th (www.timeshighereducation.co.uk).
Many educated people from developing countries end up working
overseas. For example, 47% of Ghana’s university graduates live outside
the country.
Recently, it is being argued that this type of ‘brain drain’ migration
can have positive effects on local economies. A World Bank report
produced by John Gibson and David McKenzie of the University of
Waikato in New Zealand outlined research into the migration of highly
skilled workers from Ghana, Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and Tonga. It showed the positive effects of a highly educated
diaspora in terms of developing the local economy through remittances,
trade, foreign direct investment, and knowledge transfer. It also found
that migration is highly beneficial for the skilled workers themselves –
typically earning twice to three times as much as they would have done
at home.
77
13
% of researchers
come from the EU,
Japan, America,
China and the Russian Federation
– representing one third of the
world’s population.
79
out of every million
sub-Saharan
Africans are
involved in research – that is less
than 1% of the total number of
researchers in the world.
% of the
population in
the developing
world used the internet in 2007
–compared with 64 percent in the
developed world.
33
% above average –
that is the citation
impact score
of Dutch academic work. Only
Switzerland and America score
higher.
Synergy | 27
Essay
Different methods,
common values
In a critical essay, development policies consultant, Shobha Raghuram, based
in Bangalore, India, reflects on the routes that science and development
knowledge take in building a more equal world.
Shobha Raghuram
is a development analyst who
carried out postdoctoral research
in philosophy at the Sorbonne in
Paris. She worked at the Centre for
the Study of Developing Societies
in Delhi, before joining Hivos as
director of the regional office in
Bangalore. Raghuram has worked
at Harvard as a visiting senior
fellow. She is currently working on
her book, Rethinking Development.
U
neven development and persistent
social conflict have left their mark
on most countries in the early
21st century. Major advances in science,
technology and industry exist side-by-side
with poverty and discrimination. In this
context, the perception that the scientific
community is isolated from development
issues has led to debates on the social
responsibility of scientists.
We ask whether excellence excludes
relevance in terms of immediate
applicability. But it is missing the point
to assume that the social relevance of a
study can be determined by its potential
for immediate application. Scientists
and development workers are united by
a common citizenship. As development
workers struggle to change systems that
perpetuate grave inequalities, scientists
remain their allies.
Development and the pursuit of
research are not as far apart as we often
assume them to be. As an academic I have
worked with some of the most committed
and uncompromising social scientists. I
have never had occasion to think that their
world was different in its aspirations from
the more equal world that people living
28 | Synergy
in poverty dream of in their formidable
struggle for equality and identity. It was
from the poorest of the poor that I learned
about power and powerlessness and it was
through my engagement with them that I
learned to put aside the myth that social
theories are neutral.
Many of the social scientists I have worked
with are well aware that science is not
value neutral. Many of them have been
at the forefront in struggles with their
governments for social justice. What they
believe in and what they do has been
described powerfully in the words of French
philosopher, Michel Foucault. ‘It is a duty
of an international citizenship to always
bring the testimony of people’s suffering to
the eyes and ears of governments, suffering
for which it is untrue that they are not
responsible. The suffering of men must
never be a mere silent residue of policy. It
grounds an absolute right to stand up and
speak to those who hold power.’
It is neither fair nor realistic to propose that
all scientific research should be relevant. The
formulation of ideas is often far ahead of
their pertinence to immediate needs. In the
world of development, the issue is whether
research should be dependent on the
immediacy of needs, or on imagination
Reuters / Nayef Hashlamoun
‘ The suffering of men must never be a mere
silent residue of policy’ – Michel Foucault
and the search for ideas that are often well
ahead of their time and difficult to map,
one-to-one, onto specific problems and
situations.
By contrast, in the world of pure science,
major funding priorities were traditionally
determined by the internal developments of
subjects such as physics, chemistry and
mathematics. However, more and more
scientific research funding is being directed
towards areas, such as information science,
biological science, nanoscience, and
climate science – all of which have the
appeal of potential for immediate
application.
Even in universities such as Harvard,
whose budget outstrips the GDP of many
countries; and in nations such as the United
States, Japan, and Finland, the budgetary
allocations for development studies are often
minuscule compared with those for science
and technology. This underscores the lack of
support for and the underlying judgmental
attitude towards the fundamental issues of
development and social discord. Investment
in R&D for university teaching, for capacity
building, and for development aid are being
ever more reduced on the grounds that they
fail to solve the problems of the poor in an
efficient manner. While trade has globalized,
international development cooperation has
been marginalized.
Development research relevant to issues in
Southern countries has had an impact on
Northern countries too. The work of Indian
economist, Amartya Sen, a professor at
Harvard University, originated to a large
extent in western universities. His work
deals principally with development in the
South – but the issues he addresses have
universal value.
The best-selling authors in India’s
Oxford University Press write primarily
about development. The issues they discuss
often have implications that go beyond the
geographical or institutional settings of their
work. The late Mehbub Al Haq, renowned
Pakistani economist and pioneer of human
development theory, is another example of
a scientist searching for universal values. His
work on the UNDP Human Development
Report employed cutting-edge economics
to force governments to review their own
performances in social sectors.
Long-term support for researchers and
freedom to pursue their goals are the
cornerstones of excellence in any field,
including development. Similarly, freedom
is fundamental for building civil-societyinitiated alternatives that contribute to
global equity and peace.
But freedom also has its dark side and
science must be at pains to avoid
contributing to our civilization’s excesses.
A political and moral will must guide
science as much as it must guide
development. Millions of displaced people,
the victims of poorly designed development
programmes, are reminders of the need for
norms in the conception and execution of
development programmes. In any working
democracy, the fostering of competing
knowledge systems must become an
essential part of the culture of generating
ideas – and, as Einstein once told us, the
important decisions taken in any
democracy ‘depend ultimately on decisions
made in the village square’. n
Synergy | 29
INTERVIEW
Freedom for ideas
Menno Bijleveld
Professors Jaap Sinninghe Damsté, a molecular biogeochemist, and
Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist, share a passion for the distant past. They
also both belong to the select company of Dutch scientists who have been
awarded the ‘Spinoza Prize’. In 2010, we met up with the two laureates at
the public library in Amsterdam, where we discussed the relationship
between scientific excellence and social relevance.
The scientific disciplines of archaeology
and molecular biochemistry are not usually
associated with social relevance. In what ways
do you think your research addresses today’s
global challenges?
Wil Roebroeks
is professor of palaeolithic
archaeology at Leiden University. In
2007, he received the NWO Spinoza
Prize for his original observations
about the development of
early human society. Roebroeks
addresses questions on our
origins and on the development
of human societies. According to
the Spinoza jury report, Roebroeks
is an independent, innovative,
and unorthodox researcher
and the most prominent Dutch
archaeologist both nationally and
internationally.
30 | Synergy
Roebroeks: Many debates on the relevance
of academic research focus on its economic
relevance. From that narrow perspective, I
have to admit, my academic work is scarcely
relevant.1 From a broader perspective,
however, archaeology contributes to a vision
about how the earth and its people have
developed over time. This knowledge helps
us to understand complex developments in
today’s globalizing world. Archaeology may
even give people a sense of their place on
earth. I realized this a couple of weeks ago
as I was holding a Sunday morning public
lecture. I was surprised at the turnout to hear
my academic story on that sunny morning.
Being in a former church, now converted into
the Paradiso music and culture temple,
I wondered whether some of the people were
there because they hoped to get a secular
insight into why we are on earth. I think you
could argue that archaeology is relevant in
terms of giving people a sense of belonging
in what seems an eternal history. But this
philosophical angle does not relate to the type
of relevance that people generally refer to
when they speak about science.
As a Pleistocene archaeologist, you study
people and human society from about 12,000
to 2.5 million years ago. What does this tell us
about our contemporary world?
Roebroeks: It places current developments
in a historical perspective. For example, I
always tell our first year students that we
are all migrants in our own country. The
Neanderthals were the natives in Europe,
while our ancestors were migrants from
Africa. In fact, genetically, humans are
constantly changing. Hunters and gatherers
who roamed Europe 10,000 years ago were
genetically different from the farmers who
settled here a bit later. And those early
farmers are genetically different from us.
What does research in the field of
biogeochemistry tell us about such
developments?
Sinninghe Damsté: I study an even more
distant past than archaeologists. My
work concerns developments some 100
million years ago.2 The group I work with
is analyzing chemical substances in old
sediments from oceans and lakes. Using a
paleothermometer, we can determine what
water temperatures were in the past. It is an
innovative method and we come across a
good deal of scepticism. People have a hard
time believing that it is possible to measure
past temperatures. Nevertheless, this method
clearly shows us how the climate has been
changing over the course of several hundreds
of millions of years. I tell my audiences
that, if current trends continue, before the
end of this century the amount of CO2 in
the atmosphere will have reached the level
tit was at 93 million years ago. Back then,
the tropical oceans had a temperature of
a staggering 37 degrees Celsius. From the
perspective of a biogeochemist, who sees
this from the perspective of thousands or
millions of years, this is not too dramatic
because the past has shown that biological
life can deal with considerable fluctuations
in temperature. But that is not the usual
perspective in social thinking. Most people
are interested in the small, and relatively
recent, period of life associated with Homo
sapiens. And for this particular species, the
consequences of such temperature changes
are likely to be dramatic, not least because of
the associated rise of sea levels.
Roebroeks: During periods of global warming
in our hunting-gathering past, these mobile
people would simply migrate to other, higher
areas. But today, there are too many of us
to simply pick up and leave. In addition,
in many regions, there is little space left
to migrate to. And that is before we even
consider that other major problem: we have
become a sedentary species and we are all too
emotionally and economically tied to our
real estate!
Sinninghe Damsté: True. So in public lectures,
I share some of the basic scientific insights
about climatic variations in the past to increase
people’s awareness of the urgency to address
human-induced climate change. We scientists
are sponsored by society – it is tax payers’
money that keeps our work afloat. I consider
my public lectures one way of returning the
favour, and giving something back to society.
Menno Bijleveld
So from that perspective, there is no such
thing as ‘the Dutch people’. It is of course a
little bit far-fetched to relate archaeological
insights to contemporary debates on
migration, but it often triggers interesting
moments of reflection. Providing students
with a wider perspective on current social
challenges is important. So I happily seize
the opportunities my discipline offers for
generating some critical social thinking.
Sinninghe Damsté: This is very similar to what
I do when I step out of my scientific corner
to enter the social debate. When giving
public lectures, for example, I try to place my
scientific findings in the context of today’s
global challenges. As such, I do not only hope
to trigger people’s fascination for science, but
I also hope to increase their awareness and
understanding of current developments on
earth – and the gravity of some of these.
Jaap Sinninghe Damsté,
a biogeochemist, is head of
marine biogeochemistry at the
Royal Netherlands Institute for
Sea Research and professor of
molecular palaeontology at
Utrecht University. He received the
NWO Spinoza prize in 2004. He
uses organic compounds from
ocean and lake sediments to
reconstruct the life and climate of
earlier epochs. Sinninghe Damsté
has more than 470 publications
to his name, some 30 of which
have appeared in either Science or
Nature.
Synergy | 31
INTERVIEW
For me, the excitement is in the puzzle ...
trying to reconstruct aspects of a very complex
past is extremely exciting – Sinninghe Damsté
Do scientists have an obligation to society?
Roebroeks: I do not think that scientists have
a moral obligation to carry out research that
is immediately relevant to society. It is usually
sheer curiosity-driven research that generates
the new kinds of knowledge we have become
so dependent on. But I do think that scientists
have an obligation to share their findings and
knowledge with society. We should try and
make it intelligible for the interested public,
and where possible, contribute our specialist
knowledge to social debates.
Sinninghe Damsté: I do make an effort
to make my science understandable. But
society is not the starting point for the
formulation of my research questions. My
science is 99% driven by curiosity. For me,
the excitement is in the puzzle – trying to
reconstruct aspects of a very complex past is
extremely exciting. I did not start analyzing
the chemical substances at the bottom of
oceans and lakes because I was looking for
a way of predicting climate change. It was
only gradually that we discovered that our
methods and findings could contribute
to this. It was a coincidence. To me, this
underlines the view that researchers
should be free to follow their academic
intuition. This freedom is a prerequisite for
innovation. Often it is only after 20 or even
40 years that we can tell whether or not our
ideas have proved useful to society. Think
of the microbiologist Alexander Fleming
who discovered penicillin. His accidental
discovery in 1928, which as it turned out
marked the start of modern antibiotics, was
mostly the result of his passionate scholarly
curiosity and untiring experimentation.
And it was more than ten years later that his
32 | Synergy
initial discovery became the wonder drug
of the 20th century.
Roebroeks: Breakthrough ideas often come
from ‘scientific freaks’, people on the fringes
of established science. They will never be
able to develop their ideas if they are forced
into a straitjacket. Taking away a researcher’s
freedom is about the worst thing you can do.
So what is the relationship between scientific
excellence and social relevance?
Sinninghe Damsté: It is certainly fascinating
when you discover that your scientific
findings are useful for tackling social
problems. And it can be rewarding to use
your findings to give a wider audience an
interpretative nudge to think in a certain
way. But it is not our task to moralize or
preach about life and the ways of the world.
Anyway, our audiences are usually too smart
to be swayed by this. Relevance is a definite
bonus, but excellence lies in the originality
of a scientist’s work, its impact on scientific
paradigms, and in a researcher’s independent
and innovative way of thinking.
Roebroeks: When I left school I chose –
despite my strong interest in the subject
– not to study archaeology. Those were
the days of Vietnam and Chili. I felt that
archaeology was irrelevant to the political
and social urgencies of the time. So I studied
contemporary history ... but now I see
the relevance of a discipline that provides
insight into how human societies developed
and organized themselves. Do you ever
wonder how come we are sitting here talking
clever talk and enjoying the view over
historic Amsterdam when we could have
still been having fun swinging through the
trees? But more importantly, all scientific
study has something invaluable to offer:
we recommend to students that they ‘think
critically and take nothing at face value’.
I strongly believe that we need science in
order to build and maintain a democratic
society. In scientific practice, it does not
matter who says what, it is the strength and
solidity of the arguments that counts. And
that is something that no democratic society
can ever afford to lose. ■
Professors Jaap Sinninghe Damsté and Wil
Roebroeks were interviewed by Koen Kusters
and Ellen Lammers
Some examples of academic work by Wil
1
Roebroeks:
•Dennell, R. and Roebroeks, W. (2005) An Asian
perspective on early human dispersal from
Africa. Nature 438:1099-1104.
•Roebroeks, W. (2008) Time for the Middle to
Upper Paleolithic Transition in Europe. Journal
of Human Evolution 55:918-926.
Some examples of academic work by Jaap
2
Sinninghe Damsté:
•Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Muyzer, G., Abbas, B.,
Rampen, S.W., Masse, G., Allard, W.G., Belt S.T.,
Robert, J.M., Rowland, S.J., Moldowan ,J.M.,
Barbanti, S.M., Fago F.J., Denisevich, P., Dahl, J.,
Trindade, L.A.F. and Schouten, S. (2004) The rise
of the rhizosolenid diatoms. Science 304, 584-7.
•Weijers, J.W.H., Schefuss, E., Schouten, S.
and Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2007) Coupled
thermal and hydrological evolution of tropical
Africa over the last deglaciation. Science 315,
1701-1704.
COLUMN
Envy: malicious
or benign?
E
nvying, or being envied, is a feeling
that most of us have experienced.
But what does envy do to us? Is it
necessarily a negative emotion?
In the 1960s, sociologist Helmut Schoeck
gained international fame with his book
Envy: A theory of social behaviour. He
saw envy primarily as a destructive force
– and an impediment to development.
Referring to the ‘envy-barrier of the
developing countries’, he argued that envy
is such a prevalent emotion, that people
continuously fear being envied. As a result,
they stop trying to improve their lives,
which holds back the development of their
countries.
Most research in psychology and
economics confirms that the envious want
the envied to fail, and are even willing
to actively make that happen. However,
research that several colleagues and I
recently carried out on the psychology of
envy reveals that there are two types of envy
– malicious envy and benign envy. Malicious
envy is the destructive emotion mentioned
by Schoeck and others, but benign envy is a
more constructive emotion.
We found benign envy among, for example,
students whose envy of a star student
prompted them to devote more time to
their own studies. And I would dare to
argue that benign envy can also stimulate
development.
THE DISCOVERY OF envy helps to shed
a very different light on the role envy plays
in development. Aid, by definition, supports
some people more than others – it is
impossible to help everyone equally at the
same time. This creates inequality, the
breeding ground of envy.
What determines whether benign or
malicious envy is elicited is how deserving
the recipients of the development aid are
perceived to be. If people see the gains of
another as deserved, the envy they feel is
more likely to be benign. Malicious envy is
more likely if the advantage is thought to
be undeserved. This seems consistent with
idea of ‘ownership’ in development aid.
Support is deserved when recipients take the
initiative and assume ownership.
In the context of development, to ensure
that the envy that is evoked is benign and
usable as a motivating force, it is important
If people see the gains of another
as deserved, their envy is more
likely to be benign
that it is the population that decides who
deserves development aid, and not the
donor. In this way, well-designed aid can
ignite a constructive envy that acts as a
spur for development rather than as an
impediment to it.
To fully understand the effectiveness of
development aid, it helps to study the
emotional responses it evokes. The effects
of such emotional responses are important
– both for the effectiveness of the aid itself,
and for our understanding of human
behaviour. ■
Niels van de Ven
is assistant professor
of social psychology at
Tilburg University. In
2010, he won an award
for defending the best
PhD dissertation. We
asked him how his
psychological research
could offer a better
understanding of the
complex processes
of development. His
answer lies in the
relationship between
development, aid and
envy.
Synergy | 33
PROJECT
Catalysis – producing
sustainable biofuels
Scientists:
top-class
athletes?
Groundbreaking research on the
workings of solid catalysts in chemical
reactions paves the way for sustainable
production of fuel from biomass –
heralding the end of fossil fuels.
B
Lineair / Joerg Boethling
ert Weckhuysen’s research on catalysis
plays an important role in the
development of smart techniques to
transform biomass into biofuels. This has
attracted a good deal of attention in recent
years because it can help to decrease the CO2
emissions that lead to climate change.
But Weckhuysen is adamant that he would
never choose a research topic just because it
was fashionable. For him, the goal of excellent
research is to contribute new scientific
insights and concepts. ‘Hopping from one
topic to another does not usually bring
science further. You need to get your teeth
into an idea and hold on to it,’ Weckhuysen
explains. ‘In this way, science is like topclass sport. It requires drive, persistence
and passion. And just like sport, it involves
competing with peers. You do not want to
play in the third division of some provincial
league, you want to play in the champion’s
34 | Synergy
league. So you keep in shape. For a scientist,
that means careful reading of the literature.
If you want to stay ahead, you have to know
what is going on in the scientific world.’
Weckhuysen and his group research
how solid catalysts work. A solid catalyst
is a substance that changes the rate of a
chemical reaction, but is not itself consumed
by the reaction. About 85% of all processes
in the chemical industry use one or more
catalyst materials. Liquid or gas molecules
are brought into contact with a solid catalyst,
which triggers a range of brief chemical
reactions with the catalyst’s surface. As this
occurs, some chemical bonds are broken
and new ones are formed – but the catalyst
emerges unchanged.
Using the technique of spectroscopy, which
involves the interaction between light
and matter, scientists have been analyzing
the catalyst materials before and after
catalytic reactions. Up to recently, virtually
nothing was known about what happened
in between – the actual dynamics of the
catalyst reaction remained a black box.
During the mid 1990s, Weckhuysen
decided to try to unravel this mystery. He
realized that, in order to really understand
the mechanism of catalysis, he needed
to discover what was happening to the
molecules and atoms while the action
was taking place. He decided to bring
spectroscopic methods to the place of action
without making too many compromises.
He called this operando spectroscopy. Using
this approach, he managed to shed new light
on what was happening to the molecules
and atoms on a catalyst’s surface during
the reaction. Today, Weckhuysen is a world
leader in this field of research.
While up to recently scientists assumed that
catalyst solids are spatially homogeneous
objects, Weckhuysen and his team found
that these catalysts are actually highly
complex because they possess both active
sites and non-active regions in their porous
structures. ‘A solid catalyst is like a piece of
cheese with holes,’ Weckhuysen explains.
‘But some of the holes are too small for
molecules to enter or may be dead ends,
which slows down the catalytic reaction
considerably. To increase the efficiency of
the catalyst, you need to make sure that your
cheese has plenty of large holes.’
Sometimes industry poses intriguing questions
that arise out of everyday experiences
The findings of Weckhuysen and his team
were published in journals including
Nature, Nature Materials, the Journal of the
American Chemical Society, and Angewandte
Chemie 1. They also attracted the interest of
the chemical industry, which needs this type
of knowledge to develop new (or improve
existing) production processes.
Weckhuysen’s science is particularly important
in the search for smart ways of producing
products from biomass, such as biofuels,
chemicals and bioplastics. This is a relatively
new industry, based on catalytic reactions.
Triggered by the potential of biomass, a
number of Dutch chemical companies
started collaborating closely with Utrecht
University and other Dutch universities and
research institutes in a research programme
called CATCHBIO (Catalysis for Sustainable
Chemicals from Biomass).
Weckhuysen is very enthusiastic about this
type of collaboration between science and
industry. ‘Our perspectives clearly differ;
industry tends to have a utilitarian perspective,
while we have an academic perspective, but
there is also a lot of synergy. Sometimes
industry poses intriguing questions that arise
out of everyday experiences, and in our efforts
to answer those questions, we often generate
new scientific insights.’
New techniques to produce fuel from
biomass are likely to have an important
impact on developing countries. Currently,
most biofuels are produced from feedstock
crops such as oil palm, corn and sugar
cane. These first-generation biofuels can be
produced using relatively simple techniques.
The downside is that the cultivation of
crops for biofuel production may compete
with food production, so biofuel has been
blamed for compromising food security
in developing countries. In addition,
environmental organizations have associated
agricultural expansion for biofuel production
with deforestation and biodiversity loss.
In response to these concerns, there is
a move to develop second-generation
biofuels using agricultural waste and
non-edible organic matter. This however
is a much more complex process requiring
sophisticated catalytic reactions and
related catalysts to transform non-edible
lignocellulosic components of biomass into
fuels. And that is where science comes in.
Weckhuysen: ‘One of the biggest challenges
in the coming years will be to develop
new catalyst materials that can efficiently
transform waste materials into sustainable
biofuels and other chemicals and materials
of the future. Developing such catalysts
can only be done on the basis of a detailed
knowledge of how they work.’ ■
Some articles by Bert Weckhuysen:
1
•Karwacki, L., Kox, M.H.F., de Winter, D.A.M.,
Drury, M.R., Meeldijk, J.D., Stavitski, E.,
Schmidt, W., Mertens, M., Cubillas, P., John, N.,
Chan, A., Kahn, N., Bare, S.R., Anderson, M.,
Kornatowski, J. and Weckhuysen, B.M. (2009)
Morphology-dependent Zeolite Intergrowth
Structures Leading to Distinct Internal and
Outer-surface Molecular Diffusion Barriers,
Nature Materials, 8, 959.
•Weckhuysen, B.M. (2009) Chemical Imaging of
Spatial Heterogeneities in Catalytic Solids at
Different Length and Time Scales. Angewandte
Chemie International Edition, 48, 4910.
Bert Weckhuysen
Bert Weckhuysen is professor of
inorganic chemistry and catalysis
at Utrecht University. He has
been published in more than 245
peer-reviewed scientific journals.
He obtained VICI-CW NWO and
TOP CW NWO grants from the
Netherlands Science Foundation
for his research work, and received
a number of research awards.
Weckhuysen is scientific director
of the Dutch Research School
for Catalysis (NIOK) and of the
SmartMix research programme on
biomass catalysis, CatchBio.
Synergy | 35
PROJECT
Treatment of oral infections in Tanzania
Research is like a Ferrari
A recent research project discovered an alternative method for treating oral
fungal infections. The work, which yielded widespread academic praise, will
improve medical treatment for HIV/Aids patients in Tanzania.
‘I
New research ideas
Omar Hamza from Tanzania
explains how research can lead
to new ideas: ‘While researching
oral fungal infections, I studied
what traditional healers were
prescribing for HIV/Aids patients
with fungal infections, and
identified at least 55 plant species
that that they used. Based on in
vitro testing, I discovered that
some of these show promising
antifungal functions. I hope to
follow up on this finding with more
basic research to find out whether
some of these plants can provide
ingredients for new medicines.’
36 | Synergy
t is all about beauty,’ says André van der
Ven. ‘I find beauty in academic content,
but the applicability of research is just as
beautiful. And the best thing is when both
come together. It is like a Ferrari: The car
itself – its design – is astonishing ... and
being able to drive it is the icing on the
cake!’
Van der Ven works as a medical doctor and
infectious diseases specialist at the Radboud
University Medical Centre in Nijmegen.
He becomes animated as he starts to speak
about a recent research project on the
treatment of HIV/Aids patients with oral
fungal infections in Tanzania.
He emphasises the study’s ‘double beauty’.
First, its design was state-of-the-art
according to the latest and highest scientific
standards of clinical research. Second,
the applicability of the research proved
enormous and it had the potential to change
the lives of thousands of patients.
The study’s results were published
in a number of journals1 and one article
was selected by the American Society for
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases as
one of the ten most valuable publications
on fungal infections in 2008. This academic
recognition is, according to Van der Ven,
related to the strength and simplicity of the
research question in combination with the
scientific rigour of the study itself and the
applicability of its results.
The majority of people living with
HIV/Aids in Tanzania develop an oral
fungal infection (oropharyngeal candidiasis),
which is a very uncomfortable condition
that often leads to weight loss. A small
dose of a medicine called fluconazole once
a day for one or two weeks is a common
treatment. In theory this is effective, but in
practice it often fails. Patients sometimes
take the pills for only a couple of days
before passing on the remainder of their
prescription to family or friends. Not
finishing the course of treatment can cause
the infection to recur, possibly in a more
resistant form.
Intrigued by this practical problem,
Van der Ven came up with a hypothesis
that is as brilliant as it is simple: could the
fluconazole be administered in a single
large dose? Van der Ven and his Tanzanian
colleague Omar Hamza of Muhimbili
University designed a randomized
controlled trial to compare the experimental
treatment with the standard one. Hamza
conducted the trial in 2006 and 2007. He
Reuters / Howard Burdit
A healer shows her traditional medicine
recruited 220 HIV-positive patients with
a clinical and microbiological diagnosis of
oropharyngeal candidiasis. One group of 110
was given the common daily treatment for
two weeks, the second group of 110 patients
was given an experimental treatment of five
pills taken all at once.
Hamza found that the experimental
treatment was every bit as effective as
the common treatment, and discovered
no negative side effects. This finding has
reality in developing countries. ‘I worked as
a doctor in Botswana for six years,’ explains
Van der Ven. ‘This made me aware of the
practical challenges of healthcare in poor
areas. It was then that I started to realize that
the simplification of medical treatments can
have enormous positive health effects.
People often think that improving
people’s health lies in discovering new
medicines. But we can also gain a lot by
Tanzanian and Dutch researchers felt
equal ownership of the research, and their
enthusiasm was mutual too. ‘The Dutch and
Tanzanian collaborators were equally excited
about the work,’ says Van der Ven. ‘They
were inspired by the beauty of its academic
content as well as by the applicability of
the results to improve medical practice in
Tanzania.’ ■
See for example:
1
The simplification of medical treatments can
have enormous positive health effects
•Hamza, O.J.M., Matee, M.I.N., Moshi, M.J.,
Simon, E.N.M., Mugusi, F., Mikx, F.H.M., van
Palenstein Helderman, W.H., Rijs, A.J.M.M.,
van der Ven, A.J.A.M. and Verweij, P.E. (2008)
Species distribution and in vitro antifungal
susceptibility of oral yeast isolates from
important practical implications, not least
because a single dose is much easier and
cheaper to administer.
As well as publishing the results of his
medical trial, Hamza wrote to the Tanzanian
government with his findings and their
healthcare implications. He advised the
Tanzanian health department on the
treatment of fungal infections and compiled
a manual for the new treatment.
The study is a good example of rigorous
clinical research that is geared to everyday
researching how to apply what we already
have more effectively.’
Van der Ven highlights two additional
factors that help to explain the success of
the study in Tanzania. First, the medical
trial built on fundamental knowledge of the
pharmacological properties of fluconazole.
It was known that it had a long halflife so that a single-dose treatment was
theoretically possible. Second, the research
was conducted in the context of a strong
collaborative relationship.
Tanzanian HIV-infected patients with primary
and recurrent oropharyngeal candidiasis.
BMC Microbiology 8:135.
•Hamza, O.J.M., Matee, M.I.N., Moshi, M.J.,
Simon, E.N.M., Mugusi, F., Mikx, F.H.M., van
Palenstein Helderman, W.H., Rijs, A.J.M.M.,
van der Ven, A.J.A.M. and Verweij, P.E. (2008)
Single-dose fluconazole versus standard
2-week therapy for oropharyngeal candidiasis
in HIV-infected patients: a randomized,
double-blind, double-dummy trial. Clinical
Infectious diseases 47:1270-1276.
Synergy | 37
PROJECT
Reuters / Finbarr O’Reilly
Managing water variability in sub-Saharan Africa
Integrating disciplines
In the field of water management, combining various academic disciplines
helps to yield new scientific insights. This is essential for improving
agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa.
P
ieter van der Zaag is professor of
integrated water resources management
at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for
Water Education in Delft. He believes that
bringing different scientific disciplines
together in one research programme creates
exciting possibilities – in terms of both
social relevance and scientific excellence.
In terms of relevance to society, combining
38 | Synergy
disciplines is essential for reaching the level
of understanding that is needed to solve the
complex problems of water management
issues. In terms of scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research inspires the scientific
synergy, cross-fertilization of ideas and outof-the-box thinking that lead to innovative
research questions and new perspectives on
old problems.
Combining scientific disciplines
was one of the main characteristics of the
Smallholder System Innovations (SSI)
Programme, coordinated by Van der Zaag
between 2003 and 2009. This extensive
research programme on water management
systems in sub-Saharan Africa focused on
two river basins, one in Tanzania and the
other in South Africa. Van der Zaag believes
To tackle poverty, you need to
understand it, and understanding
poverty in all its complexity depends on
excellent research
that scientific understanding of water
management systems is pivotal for designing
effective strategies to increase agricultural
productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. The
availability of water in the semi-arid
savannah areas is highly volatile; flood can
follow quickly in the footsteps of severe
drought. This unpredictability makes the
risk of crop failure very high. And it is
because of this that managing water
variability should be a core component of
any innovation designed to improve
agricultural productivity.
Water systems are enormously complex
and influenced by myriad biophysical and
socio-economic factors. For this reason,
the SSI programme involved researchers
from a wide range of scientific disciplines
including agricultural specialists, soil
scientists, ecologists, hydrologists and
institutional experts. A soil scientist
studied the microbial activity in a sample
of land. Agriculturalists studied the ways
in which farmers used their natural
resources – for instance, they assessed how
different ploughing methods influenced the
infiltration and storage of water in the soil.
Hydrologists studied the variations in river
flows over a period of time. This research
generated the data needed to understand the
complex hydrological processes that govern
water availability.
The research programme lasted for six
years and has been documented in six PhD
theses and 28 peer-reviewed articles so
far.1 The publication record of the project
reflects the varied range of research from
monodisciplinary to truly interdisciplinary.
Among the universities who took part in
the project were Sokoine University of
Agriculture and the University of Dar Es
Salaam, both in Tanzania, the University of
KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, Stockholm
University in Sweden, the University
of Zimbabwe, and Delft University of
Technology in the Netherlands.
Research conducted in
Tanzania by Dutch hydrologist, Marloes
Mul, illustrates how monodisciplinary
and interdisciplinary research worked
together in the SSI programme. She
measured diurnal fluctuations in river
flows and found that these were due to
variations in evaporation between day and
night – this is a groundbreaking scientific
discovery in hydrology. Mul also crossed
the boundaries of her own discipline by
working with an African social scientist and
an agricultural engineer who were studying
water management institutions in the
same area. Their combined data provided
an unconventional mix of hydrological
information and information on indigenous
water management practices. This showed
that certain locally developed water-sharing
arrangements based on systems of small
canals bringing water from mountain
streams to crops and livestock were highly
effective in regulating water flows and
ensuring a minimum water supply for a
large group of farmers.
‘When developing interventions to improve
people’s access to water, you need to
understand the age-old water management
arrangements that exist between individual
farmers and between villages,’ Van der Zaag
explains. ‘You have to find out how and
why they work – or do not work. Then you
can identify which elements can be applied
elsewhere.
‘No single research finding will revolutionize
farming practices in Africa,’ he adds.
‘The SSI project generated many small
findings that together help to advance
the understanding of farming and water
management systems. These findings
contribute to the scientific knowledge
base and feed into the curricula of the
universities that participated in the
programme. Not least, these findings
are also being used to develop practical
solutions such as building underground
water tanks to store the water that runs off
the land after a heavy downpour. This can
be used to tide farmers over during times of
drought.’
When asked about the relationship between
scientific excellence and relevance to
developing countries, Van der Zaag responds
‘It all starts with the need for a better world.
To tackle poverty, you need to understand
it, and understanding poverty in all its
complexity depends on excellent research.’ ■
Some examples of articles by SSI researchers:
1
•Mul, M.L., Kemerink, J.S., Vyagusa, N.F.,
Mshana, M.G. ,van der Zaag, P. and Makurira,
H. (2010) Water allocation practices among
smallholder farmers in the South Pare
Mountains, Tanzania: The issue of scale.
Agricultural Water Management [doi:10.1016/j.
agwat.2010.02.014]
•Kosgei, J.R., Jewitt, G.P.W., Kongo, V.M. and
Lorentz, S.A. (2007) The influence of tillage
on field scale water fluxes and maize yields
in semi-arid environments: A case study of
Potshini catchment, South Africa. Physics and
Chemistry of the Earth 32:1117-1126.
Mutual learning
through actionresearch
The SSI programme had a clear
action research component.
Researchers worked closely
with farmers, which provided an
excellent opportunity for mutual
learning. From the farmers,
scientists learned how local
people innovate to adapt their
agricultural systems to cope with
environmental variability. At the
same time, through working
alongside scientists analyzing
information and implementing
measurement techniques, farmers
saw their own farms from different
perspectives, which helped
them to come up with their own
solutions.
Synergy | 39
The cutting edge of scientific excellence
Anyone who still believes that
academic excellence is the preserve of
fundamental scientific research, and
that socially relevant science belongs
on a lower academic plane, needs an
intellectual reality check. With this
one-off Magazine, Synergy: Teaming up
scientific excellence and development
relevance, we aim to show that the
cooperation of scientific excellence
and development relevance produces
outcomes that are doubly rewarding.
This magazine highlights the many and
varied stories of what happens when
fundamental and applied research
meet tangible social needs – stories
that range from the practicalities of
fighting tuberculosis in Indonesia
to using pure maths to warn about
encroaching desertification. We can
read about how efforts to improve the
delivery of literacy education in Eritrea
broke new ground in psycholinguistic
theory. We can learn how a totally
organic pesticide can protect crops
better and more safely than chemical
alternatives.And, if we can bear it, we
can find out why a sustainable future
depends on eating insects.
These, and other stories, show that
when the ingenuity of science fuses
with the challenges of our everyday
world, something out of the ordinary
happens – and the outcome benefits
us all.