About SIG

SIG Board and Staff

Informal Partnerships 
& Collaborations

 

 

 

 

Partnerships and Collaborations

SIG's work has been strengthened through the involvement of a variety of organizations.

World Bank
SIG has worked closely with The World Bank since 1998, when the two organizations joined forces with the international scientific community to conceptualize and implement the Millennium Science Initiative. The Bank brings expertise in higher education, development and financing, as well as broad knowledge and insightful understanding of local cultures. More recently the Bank, which is seeking to expand its portfolio of support of regional initiatives in Africa, has been actively involved in the planning for RISE.   
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Inter-Academy Council
The world's National Academies of Sciences are represented through the InterAcademy Council (IAC) and its programmatic arm, the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues. An IAC committee conducted a major study on Promoting Worldwide Science and Technology Capacities for the 21st Century in which the MSI was included as a case study. Through its informal association with the National Academies - SIG chair Phillip Griffiths serves as Distinguished Senior Presidential Fellow for International Activities - the MSI is able to call upon the expertise of scientists from the IAC's 88 member countries. 
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TWAS (The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World)
 TWAS (The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World) has been an active partner in planning SIG's programs in Africa. TWAS played a key role in organizing the forums where leading African scientists were brought together to develop the concepts for the African MSI, the Global Science Corps, and RISE. With its extensive contacts with top scientists in the developing world, TWAS, like the InterAcademy Council, provides a valuable resource for SIG. Three SIG board members serve on the TWAS Council: Mohamed Hassan is Executive Director, C.N.R. Rao is past President, and Jacob Palis is President. 
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Foundations
SIG has been most fortunate to have the involvement of several US foundations, not only as funders, but as active partners in the development of its programs. Confidence in the MSI concept led The David and Lucile Packard Foundation  to provide an initial grant in 1999 to support SIG's work in planning and administering the MSI. Two subsequent grants ensured that SIG would be able to continue its work as it sought sustained support from additional sources. SIG is grateful that the Packard leadership was willing to take a chance on what began as little more than an ambitious vision.

Carnegie Corporation of New York provided initial funding for the 1998 convocation in Chile that launched the MSI and continues to be a major supporter of SIG's programs. A 2003 planning grant helped to move the African MSI toward the implementation stage. Carnegie Corporation has recently expanded its support for higher education in Africa with a new emphasis on the training of scholars through networks. Discussions between Carnegie and SIG led to an initial concept for RISE, which was further developed in consultation with stakeholders. In January 2008, Carnegie Corporation provided a major grant to SIG to implement the initial phase of RISE.  

The MSI has been fortunate to tap into the expertise of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where SIG board chair Phillip Griffiths serves as Senior Advisor. The Mellon Foundation has provided two grants in support of the African Mathematics Millennium Science Initiative (AMMSI). 

Program officers from The Rockefeller Foundation provided guidance on how to refine the MSI design to better meet local needs and to maximize the likelihood of sustainability. Experts at Rockefeller's Health Equity Program worked with SIG in two areas: development of the Global Science Corps concept, and supporting a workshop in Mexico that sought to lower the barriers between scientific research and the productive sector. 
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United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation worked with SIG to develop a component of the Global Science Corps emphasizing support for émigré scientists and South-South scientific collaboration. 
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International Mathematical Union (IMU)
The International Mathematical Union, through its Developing Countries Strategy Group, has been working closely with the African Mathematics MSI (AMMSI) toward their shared goal of building capacity in mathematics in Africa. 
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Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, is the de facto home of the Science Initiative Group. SIG founder and chair Phillip Griffiths is also the former Institute director, and former Institute board chair James D. Wolfensohn, former President of The World Bank, was instrumental in originating the MSI concept. The SIG staff is based at the Institute for Advanced Study, and grants to SIG are processed through the Institute's accounting department.
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