DG Sanginga furthers IITA-SLU collaboration on key areas
DG Nternaya Sanginga and Director Bernard Vanlauwe with
the SLU contingent that includes Dr Ylva Hillbur, (center, in glasses)
now Pro ViceChancellor for International Relations, SLU.
The Institute is on course to strengthen its cooperation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) on vital research and exchange areas including gender, agriculture, youth agripreneurship, bioinformatics, and plant breeding.
The discussions were initiated during a visit by IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga and Bernard Vanlauwe, IITA R4D Director, Central Africa, to the SLU Ultuna campus, in Uppsala, Sweden on 8 June
Sanginga and Vanlauwe spoke on the existing collaboration between both institutions and on the role of IITA as the destination for novel agricultural research products that will transform Africa. They maintained that the identified entry points for cooperation were necessary to further enhance best practices for farming in the continent.
The duo were received by Ylva Hillbur, former IITA Deputy Director General for Research and now SLU Pro Vice-Chancellor for International Relations as well as Peter Högberg, Vice-Chancellor; Karin Holmgren, deputy vice chancellor; Anders Malmer, Director, SLU Global; Ioannis Dimitriou, Associate Director, SLU Global; Johanna Bergman Lodin, Department of Urban and Rural Development; Kostas Karantininis, Department of Economics; Erik Alexandersson, Department of Plant Protection Biology; Gert Nyberg, Department of Forest Ecology and Management; Erik Bongcam Rudloff, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Bioinformatics; Ulf Magnusson, Department of Clinical Sciences; Sara Brännström, Division of Planning; Christer Frånlund, SLU Holding; and Mats Söderström, Department of Soil and Environment, External Collaboration Specialist in precision agriculture.
To give a clear picture of how the partnership will work, the SLU team delivered various presentations highlighting ongoing efforts in the areas of interest. Both institutions agreed to maintain the existing cooperation between their scientists and constitute a task force that would identify areas of interest in response to upcoming EU calls, explore short-term and new scientists’ exchange programs, and co-supervise sandwich PhD projects.
