Learned and Professional Societies

Learned and Professional Societies are networks of scientists working together to advance their area of science. Societies represent the interest of those working in one or more disciplines.

Such capacity building activities include scholarships and grants, mentoring, access to online journals and supplying text books and reference material to partner universities in the South.

• Overview of learned society capacity building activities

Its creation follows on from talks between representatives from a range of societies and stakeholder groups who agreed that Learned societies can play an important role in building the scientific capacity of developing countries by harnessing  the expertise, experience and networks of their members.

The UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) conducted a survey of UK learned societies’ capacity building activities to learn more about what each society was doing, and found that at least 15 societies had some form of activity. Furthermore, 33 made their journal content available to developing country readers free of charge or at a reduced cost.

LSfD steering group and network aims to link up and expand on current activities to maximise the impact of initiatives for strengthening scientific capacity in developing countries.

Contact Beck Smith to be added to the LSfD Network mailing list and to find out more.

• Report of the meeting on international capacity building: Sharing our Experience (PDF 172.KB)
• Science, Technology and Innovation: International Capacity Building for Sustainable Growth: A Preliminary Concept Paper (PDF 149KB)

 Image source: Wellcome Trust