Elsevier Foundation Announces $500,000 in New Grants
Amsterdam, January 26 – The Elsevier Foundation has announced today that it has committed a total of $555,000 in grants to ten institutions from around the world in support of initiatives that promote the work of libraries and scholars in science, technology and medicine. The winning proposals were selected from over 165 applicants worldwide for their innovation and potential for impact in the developing world, nursing community and academic workplace. This year’s grants also include the newly launched Nurse Faculty Mentored Leadership Development Program.
Four grants have been awarded under the Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries program. The winners include institutions across Africa and Asia, dedicated to improving access to scientific information, developing information resources, and training librarians and researchers on how to use and deploy information for patient care, HIV/AIDS research, and agricultural development.
The winning proposals for the Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries grant are:
- Collaborative Digital Reference Service System (CDRSS) for University Libraries in China: An Exploratory Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Information and Library Needs Assessment to support the Orotta School of Medicine, Physicians for Peace and GWU Medical Center Training project in Eritrea, George Washington University Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library
- Building on an operational health network to develop a health information library network in Cameroon Centre International de Reference “Chantal Biya” (CIRCB)
- Creating an Integrated Library System (ILS) Using Open Source Software KOHA for BRAC, University Library, Aysha Abed Library BRAC University
Within the New Scholars program, the Elsevier Foundation has awarded five grants to enable scholars to balance childcare and family responsibilities during the early stages of their demanding careers in science and technology. The grant winners represent a range of international institutions pioneering new approaches to childcare, mentoring and networking.
The winning proposals for the New Scholars grant are:
- AWIS Leading Women to create their own Personal Work/life Balance, Association for Women in Science (AWIS)
- Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, American Physical Society
- Child Care & Mentoring Support at the Annual Evolution Conference, University of the Pacific, Stockton California and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington New Zealand
- Childcare at the EMBO Meeting, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
- A Program for the Personal and Professional Development of Women Scientists in Georgia, Maternal and Childcare Union Tbilisi Georgia
The newly launched Nurse Faculty Mentored Leadership Development Program is a three-year partnership. The program seeks to create a new model for mentoring new nurse faculty in partnership with Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), the leading global professional nurse organization. Mentoring has been found to be a critical factor in the retention and advancement of nursing faculty (for both mentors and mentees). The program will focus on the Assistant Professor level and strive to establish new standards and competencies for nurse leaders.
"This year's Foundation grant recipients have proposed extremely promising programs that will have both immediate and long-lasting impacts on different parts of the research and scientific communities," said Y.S. Chi, Vice Chairman of Elsevier. "Guided by our mission to make genuine contributions to science and health communities, Elsevier is proud to partner with these organizations and support their efforts."
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About The Elsevier Foundation
The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to institutions around the world, with a focus on support for the world’s libraries and for scholars in the early stages of their careers. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than 50 grants worth over a million dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. The Elsevier Foundation is funded by Elsevier, a leading global publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. www.elsevierfoundation.org
Elsevier Foundation Grants – 2008 Program Recipients
Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries
Collaborative Digital Reference Service System (CDRSS) for University Libraries in China: An Exploratory Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
The Elsevier Foundation grant will help to lay the groundwork for China’s first real time virtual reference system offering universities an opportunity to share information resources and staff expertise across CALIS, a consortium of 1,000 Chinese university libraries. This grant will address China’s critical lack of well-organized collaborative digital reference systems which represent a significant barrier for university libraries seeking to offer users a high quality reference service and diffuse knowledge more broadly.
Information and Library Needs Assessment to support the Orotta School of Medicine, Physicians for Peace and GWU Medical Center Training project in Eritrea, George Washington University Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library
This Elsevier Foundation grant will assess and evaluate the present Eritrean clinical, medical and health information infrastructure to build an integrated information system grounded in evidence-based practice decisions. The immediate goal is to develop recommendations identifying the opportunities and barriers for dissemination and delivery of health information services to Eritrean health care professionals. Recently emerging from a 30 year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea has no more than five physicians for every 100,000 people. This grant addresses “brain drain” in the long term by contributing new capacity for the first on-site graduate medical program in Eritrea. It also serves as an exportable model for other developing countries seeking to create sustainable clinical information systems to meet country-specific healthcare training and service needs.
Building on an operational health network to develop a health information library network in Cameroon, Centre International de Reference “Chantal Biya” (CIRCB)
The Elsevier Foundation grant will be used to develop a central library system to collect, document, and disseminate relevant HIV/AIDS research from the Centre International de Reference “Chantal Biya” (CIRCB) hub based in Yaoundé to outlying health institutes in seven of the country’s ten provinces with extremely limited access to information. The CIRCB plays a leading role in strengthening regional research capacity and the prevention, treatment and management of HIV/AIDS, a highly prevalent disease in sub-Saharan Africa. The grant will leverage the strength of existing health, training and previous funding networks to share information on the latest literature and advances in HIV/AIDS treatment across the region.
Creating an Integrated Library System (ILS) Using Open Source Software KOHA for BRAC University Library, Aysha Abed Library BRAC University
A grant from the Elsevier Foundation will enable Bangladesh’s BRAC University to implement a complete ILS or library automation system using open source software to enrich their infrastructure, serving as both a local resource and model for other Bangladeshi university libraries. BRAC or the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee is one of the world’s largest NGO’s working in the field of poverty alleviation, rural health care and education. The ILS project will facilitate internal processing activities, migrate and preserve data from the existing library systems into standard format, provide staff training, and ensure timely access to the information resources of the BRACU library’s national and international resources.
New Scholars
AWIS Leading Women to create their own Personal Work/life Balance
Association for Women in Science (AWIS)
An Elsevier Foundation grant will be used by the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) to develop an educational/support program, including a toolkit with supplementary resources and extended coaching to enable AWIS’ 51 chapters around the county to help early-to-mid career women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learn to effectively manage their personal and professional lives. Building on an established network, this three year project will address the critical career point when women’s attrition from STEM fields is highest.
Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, American Physical Society
This Elsevier Foundation grant will enable the American Physical Society to provide childcare grants to young physicist parents at the APS’ large annual spring meetings. The program addresses the critical role that professional societies can play in long term diversification within the physics discipline by creating a more family-friendly environment. It also aims to ease the financial disadvantage parents responsible for childcare may face in attending meetings which are essential to collaboration, visibility, networking, and a successful career.
Child Care & Mentoring Support at the Annual Evolution Conference
University of the Pacific, Stockton California and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington New Zealand
This Elsevier Foundation grant provides an integrated approach to childcare and mentoring needs at the annual Evolution conference. The Society for the Study of Evolution, the Society of Systematic Biologists, and the American Society of Naturalists will partner with Elsevier to establish on-site, subsidized child-care service; a professional mentoring program for 50-100 pairs administered through MentorNet; and a themed key note lunch symposium. Ensuring that young women researchers can attend this critical conference will help reduce their well-documented attrition in the field of biology.
Childcare at the EMBO Meeting, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
The Elsevier Foundation grant will enable “The EMBO Meeting” or first annual life sciences meeting organized by the European Molecular Biology Organization to offer subsidized multilingual onsite childcare services at the 2009 conference venues in Amsterdam and Barcelona. This program will enable young European life scientists to take full professional advantages of the EMBO conference and serve as a family-friendly model among scientific societies in Europe.
A Program for Personal and Professional Development of Women Scientists in Georgia, Maternal and Childcare Union Tbilisi Georgia
With a grant from the Elsevier Foundation, this project will create a framework of national issues, capacities, mentoring and support for women scientists in Georgia. While the Soviet era officially offered women equal access to education, employment and remuneration, no real or lasting opportunities were created for women to develop as leaders in science. To address these challenges, this grant will conduct a survey of 100 Georgian postdoctoral women candidates, a week-long training curriculum for 150 scientists, and build a new virtual network and website resource. Georgian women scientists from different regions and institutions will learn the tools, skills, and networks needed to advance their careers including developing grant proposals, managing research projects, publishing results, successfully balancing work and family -- and assuming leadership positions.
