Executive Summary of the TWAS Beijing Office in 2005

1. Office homepage was created, with links to the TWAS, TWNSO, TWOWS, IAP, IAC and other concerned member countries in the region. It contains a database of the information on the activities of the office both in English and Chinese.

2. CAS/TWAS Fellowship Program is in full swing. This year, 44 applicants from 14 countries and regions have been awarded CAS-TWAS Postgraduate, Postdoctoral, Visiting Scholar Fellowships. All the above awardees are now doing research work in more than 30 institutes within the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

3. CAS-TWAS-WMO FORUM—The International Workshop on the Study of Land Surface-hydrological Processes and Its Applications was held in Zhuhai, China from November 15 to 18, 2005. More than 70 participants from Pakistan, South Africa, Kenya, India, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, UK, U.S.A, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil; etc. attended the workshop.

4.Efforts were made to identify outstanding scientists for nominations to TWAS membership and awards.

5. To support the program of TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme at Centres of Excellence in the South, more then 10 Visiting Associateship awardees are carrying out cooperative research at CAS concerned institutes.

6. Office Newsletter (two issues in Chinese and one issue in English) were published in both paper and electronic form.

Proposed work plan for 2006:

To promote scientific capacity for sustainable development in the region based on the overall strategic plan of TWAS;
To identify the eminent scientists in the region for nominations to TWAS membership and awards;
To render continuing support to the CAS-TWAS-WMO Forum annually;
To organize a small meeting for finalizing strategic plan of TWAS in the region;
To hold Joint Workshop on common issues in order to promote the role of science and technology in sustainable development; and,
To hold a get-together for all the CAS-TWAS Fellowship Awardees during the Chinese Spring Festival in January 2006.