Projects

The Open Doors Fellowship Program for women researchers in Africa is a holistic program that shall target women researchers in Africa to help them acquire the necessary hard

and soft skills to increase their scientific outputs and visibility, beyond assisting them to navigate their careers with more confidence and strengthen their placements within their hosting institutions.

The Kringloop Labs Initiative aims to provide a second life to laboratory equipment by repurposing it for new research and educational opportunities in Africa. These research platforms shall serve as training platforms but can also serve as a service platform for the regional scientific community;

Plant Biotechnology and Breeding (Plant B+B) is creating a robust plant biotechnology and breeding network to foster and contribute to the advancement of global scientific knowledge and unite international institutions’ expertise.

The MOBILAB training program aims to equip scientists with the latest Molecular Biology techniques. These techniques are crucial for scientists to accelerate their research, reduce the costs of breeding programs, and accurately identify species of pests and diseases that threaten crop productivity and human health.

Food security is still a significant issue, especially for small-scale farmers. This is primarily due to the low productivity of rainfed staple food crops, which has been further worsened by recurring droughts and emerging diseases. To address this problem, there is a dire need for climate-smart and disease-resistant varieties of these crops.

BOOSTER is a groundbreaking project that aims to improve crop resilience to drought by taking a genetic approach and developing microbial biostimulants, making the crops more climate-resilient.

The Fernand Lambein Fund aims to promote knowledge and technology transfer to developing countries and emerging economies. It supports initiatives in the field of plant biotechnology with a focus on sustainable food solutions.

The CLISMABAN (CLImate SMArt BANana) project aims to exploit the existing genetic resources and diversity of banana to select with input from all actors of the banana value chain (consumers, farmers, processors…) the varieties that will be resilient to the constraints that are threatening production because of climate change.

Under the ‘Potatoes 4 the Future’ project, VIB-IPBO is joining efforts with IITA, JHI, and the Syngenta Foundation to support the transfer and the adoption of new PCN-resistant varieties demanded by farmers and consumers in the Kenya potato industry.

The ‘Cassava Cyanide Diseases & Neurolathyrism Network’ (CCDNN) is a free worldwide network aiming to eliminate cyanide poisoning, konzo, tropical ataxic neuropathy (TAN) and neurolathyrism. The CCDN Network has nearly 700 members worldwide from 60 countries and is free. If you wish to join please contact the coordinator.