CIBIO/InBIO IN THE FOREFRONT OF SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND ANGOLA

The largest scientific and academic cooperation program between research centres from Angola and Portugal was launched last week, on the 27th of May 2013, in Lubango, Huíla.

Under the coordination of CIBIO/InBIO, and involving IICT - Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical and ISCED - Huíla - Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação do Lubango, this program comes about as the result of a laboratory twinning project led by CIBIO/InBIO and ISCED-Huíla.

So far, the program consists of eight ongoing innovative projectsof great importance for the understanding of biodiversity and conservation, including: the study of the genome of the giant sable antelope, an endangered species endemic to Angola; the inventory and mapping of mammals in Angola; or the survey and description of over 800 diurnal butterflies that exist in the country, whose data will be consolidated and conveyed in a groundbreaking book series.

Equally relevant is that this cooperation paves the way for creative combinations of research and academic synergies. These opportunities will arise through the establishment of joint research teams of Portuguese and Angolan scientists, and will be fostered by exchanges of students and researchers between the new CIBIO/InBIO and ISCED-Huíla poles set in Lubango and Porto, respectively.

To find out more about this program, please take a look at Virgílio Azevedo's piece entitled Ciência portuguesa investe em Angola, available online from Expresso (PT only).