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Year 2025 – Vol. 37 – N.2

Science is an inclusive endeavour

EDITORIAL

Science for All: The TWAS Newsletter is now free to subscribe

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, TWAS President 

The TWAS Newsletter is a space where science meets diplomacy, and where local innovation meets global relevance.

Access to reliable, inclusive, and timely information on science is more important than ever, especially for anyone who wants to keep up with the rapid technological transformations in the world. That’s why the TWAS Newsletter—a flagship publication of our Academy—is free to subscribe for anyone, anywhere.

For science to progress, it must be truly global

The challenges of the future will demand more local expertise, particularly in the global South. Building scientific capacity in these regions is not just beneficial—it is essential. This is the core idea behind a recent Nature article by TWAS Executive Director Marcelo Knobel.

Brazilian TWAS Fellow Mariangela Hungria named 2025 World Food Prize Laureate

TWAS Fellow and Brazilian microbiologist Mariangela Hungria is the 2025 recipient of the World Food Prize for her extraordinary scientific advancements in biological nitrogen fixation, transforming the sustainability of soil health and crop nutrition for tropical agriculture. The prize is known as the 'Nobel Prize for Agriculture' and honours individuals who have improved the quality, quantity or availability of food around the world.

Scientific exchange fostering international cooperation: TWAS–SISSA–Lincei Programme

Exchange visits enhance scientific skills and enrich personal experiences, say participants in the TWAS-SISSA-Lincei Research Cooperation Visits Programme. 

Opportunities for developing world scientists to conduct research in laboratories across Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia region play a vital role in advancing science in the global South and building North-South collaborations. This was the key takeaway from an event held on 21 May 2025 at TWAS, when six early-career scientists from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) visited the Academy to present the outcomes of their research stays.

Watch now: Climate crisis, women, and human rights

How can we ensure that women’s voices are central to climate solutions? This was the focus of a session hosted by TWAS at the international symposium GeoAdriatico, held on 14 June in Trieste, Italy—and now available to watch online. The session explored how climate change disproportionately affects women, deepening existing inequalities and threatening human rights.

Preliminary programme of the 17th TWAS General Conference now available

The preliminary programme for the 17th TWAS General Conference is now available. The Conference will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 29 September to 2 October 2025, will be organized in partnership by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and TWAS, and has the theme: ‘Building a Sustainable Future: The Role of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Global Development’. 

Science diplomats as knowledge brokers

In an era where scientific advancement and geopolitical complexity increasingly entangle, Barcelona has emerged as a diplomatic innovator. In 2018, it became the world's first city to implement a dedicated science and technology diplomacy strategy, creating a framework that other cities around the world have since begun to emulate. At the center of this initiative stands Alexis Roig, CEO of SciTech DiploHub and Barcelona's Chief Science and Tech Envoy, who was one of the speakers at the 11th AAAS-TWAS Course on Science Diplomacy—an event which was primarily funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

TWAS in action

Everything you need to know about TWAS Regional Partners

TWAS is based in Trieste, Italy, in the global North, but represents scientists everywhere in the world, with an emphasis on the global South. To maintain a presence in developing countries that TWAS is focused on helping, it maintains five ‘Regional Partners’ based in the five regions designated by TWAS programmes. These five offices serve as the Academy’s global satellites, representing science in different regions of the developing world.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Five TWAS Fellows elected to the Royal Society 

Out of 90 outstanding researchers from across the world elected this year to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, five are TWAS Fellows.

The Order of St. Lucia welcomes Cato T. Laurencin as a new Knight Commander

Cato T. Laurencin, a TWAS Fellow since 2006, has been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Lucia, an order of chivalry established by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986. Laurencin, now Sir Cato T. Laurencin, has received this honour in recognition of his outstanding scientific, medical, and societal contributions, particularly as the founder and pioneer of regenerative engineering.

Bina Agarwal wins inaugural GiRA award for inequality research

Economist Bina Agarwal, a TWAS Fellow since 2018 and a professor of development economics and environment at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester (UK), has won the First Global Inequality Research Award (GiRA) for 2024/25. She shared the prize with economist James K. Boyce, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States.

Malian parasitologist Abdoulaye Djimdé receives the Fifth Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

Abdoulaye Djimdé of Mali, a parasitologist elected to TWAS in 2021, has received the Fifth Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize awarded by the Japanese Government. The awards ceremony will be held in August 2025, during the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

FTWAS Rajeev Varshney elected to the Australian Academy of Sciences

Agricultural research scientist Rajeev Varshney, a TWAS Fellow since 2016 specializing in genomics and molecular breeding, has been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences. He is honoured for his groundbreaking contributions to plant breeding, crop productivity, and food security.

TWAS Fellow Azim Surani is among the 2025 Kyoto Prize Laureates

Kenyan developmental biologist Azim Surani, a 1990 TWAS Fellow, is one of the winners of the 2025 Kyoto Prize. Surani is the director of the germline and epigenomics research group of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 2013, and a world leader in the field of epigenetics, a discipline that studies the environment’s influence on the way our genes are turned on and off.

IN MEMORIAM

Prof. Jacob Palis (1940–2025)

Elected a TWAS Fellow in 1991, the Brazilian mathematician went on to serve in several influential roles within the Academy. He served as TWAS president from 2007 to 2012. Prof. Palis has made outstanding contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in dynamical systems and differential equations. His groundbreaking work earned him numerous prestigious awards from national and international organisations.

Prof. José Israel Vargas
(1928–2025)

Elected in 1988, the Brazilian chemist served as TWAS President from 1996 to 2000. A TWAS Fellow since 1998, Prof. Vargas was a pivotal figure in the history of TWAS, serving as its second President from 1996 to 2000, following the founding President Prof. Abdus Salam. During the initial two years of his presidency, Prof. Vargas simultaneously held the position of minister of science and technology in the Brazilian government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a TWAS Fellow since 1984.

Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar
(1938–2025)

Internationally renowned Indian cosmologist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, elected to TWAS in 1989, passed away on 20 May 2025, at the age of 86. Narlikar was the founding director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India, where he served as director until his retirement in 2003.

Prof. Eric Hamilton Karunanayake (1941–2025)

Eric Hamilton Karunanayake, founding director of the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, passed away on 23 May 2025. Elected a TWAS Fellow in 1995, Karunanayake earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Ceylon in 1967, followed by a PhD from Imperial College London, and later a diploma in recombinant DNA technology from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1986.

Prof. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan (1940–2025)

Indian space scientist Kasturirangan Krishnaswamy, a TWAS Fellow since 1996, passed away on 25 April 2025. He served as the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India, as well as president of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the Indian Science Congress Association.

Prof. Francisco de la Cruz (1938–2025)

Argentinian physicist Francisco de la Cruz, a TWAS Fellow since 1996, passed away on 19 May 2025. Born in Barcelona, Spain, he moved to Argentina at the age of 12. After completing high school in 1955, he enrolled at the National University of Córdoba, Argentina, later transferring to the newly established Institute of Physics in Bariloche, Argentina, in 1958.

Support TWAS

A donation contributes to the advancement of science,
engineering, and technology in developing nations.

The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) works to support sustainable prosperity through research, education, policy and diplomacy.

TWAS was founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the global South and global North, under the leadership of Abdus Salam, the Pakistani physicist and Nobel laureate. As of January 2025, TWAS had 1,444 elected Fellows representing over 112 countries; 13 of them are Nobel laureates. It is based in Trieste, Italy, on the campus of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).  

Through four decades, the Academy’s mission has remained consistent, namely to:

• Recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the developing world
• Respond to the needs of young scientists in countries that are lagging in science and technology
• Promote South-South and South-North cooperation in science, technology and innovation, and
• Encourage scientific and engineering research and sharing of experiences in solving major problems facing developing countries.

With its partners, TWAS has graduated over 1,230 PhDs and awarded more than 2,300 postdoctoral fellowships to developing world scientists. The Academy also bestowed over 1,200 prizes, awarded over 2,800 research grants, trained over 750 individuals in science diplomacy, and supported over 1,400 exchange visits.

TWAS hosts and works in association with two organizations, also hosted on the ICTP campus: the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).

At its founding in 1989, OWSD was the first international forum uniting women scientists from the developing and developed worlds. Today, the organization has more than 10,800 members. Their objective is to strengthen the role of women in the development process and promote their representation in scientific and technological leadership.

IAP represents 150 national and regional science and medical academies worldwide. It provides high-quality analysis and advice on science, health and development to national and international policymakers and the public; supports programmes on scientific capacity-building, education and communication; leads efforts to expand international science cooperation; and promotes the  involvement of women and young scientists in all its activities.

TWAS, a programme unit of UNESCO, receives its core funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

TWAS NEWSLETTER
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for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS)

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