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The ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific will participate in a scoping workshop on biodiversity and ecosystem services that will be held at the United Nations University (UNU), Tokyo, on 13 – 15 February 2011. The workshop will be organised by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). It aims to analyse gaps in biodiversity and ecosystem services research and identify priority areas of research in biodiversity and ecosystem services that it will prioritise for APN funding support in future. This is a new activity of the APN. The analysis will include the identification of research and policy needs, focal areas, research gaps, and the areas of activity where APN can be expected to  make a difference considering that the Asia-Pacific region is a densely populated region where human coexistence with nature are heavily affected by changes in the environment. The Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 (GBO-3) noted that the degradation of the services provided to human societies by functioning ecosystems are often closely related to changes in the abundance and distribution of dominant or keystone species, rather than to global extinctions; even moderate biodiversity change globally can result in disproportionate changes for some groups of species that have a strong influence on ecosystem services. There are also links between climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services that need to be better understood. Last year ICSU launched its new interdisciplinary global research programme on ecosystem change and society (PECS). An international programme office will be established in Stockholm in 2011.

ICSU is inviting tenders to host the ICSU World Data System International Programme Office (IPO). At the 29th ICSU General Assembly (Maputo, October 2008) it was agreed to establish the ICSU World Data System as an ICSU Interdisciplinary Body and at its last meeting the Executive Board of ICSU decided to create an International Programme Office (IPO) which will serve to manage and coordinate the establishment and operations of the ICSU World Data System, and take responsibility for outreach and promotional activities. The IPO will act under the guidance of the ICSU World Data System Scientific Committee (WDS-SC).

While the ICSU World Data System is foreseen as being a long term endeavour, ICSU recognizes that a host institution may not be able to make unlimited commitment regarding an IPO. However, ICSU is seeking bids of five years' duration as a minimum. A prime requirement of the IPO will be that it is hosted in an institution that is fairly accessible in terms of international transport. In addition, there needs to be unimpeded access for international scientific visitors attending meetings. The Scientific Committee and possible subcommittee meetings are likely to be held on or close to the IPO premises. The IPO will be expected to provide adequate support for such meetings.

Please click the necessary information and requirements for the new office as well as the information form to be completed and returned to Mustapha Mokrane (mustapha@icsu.org) no later than 30 September 2010.

The conference will focus on the following eight (8) topics:

1. Scientific Data for Sustainable Development
2. E-Science and e-Science Networks
3. Infoscience and Computational Informatics
4. Data Mining/Knowledge Management
5. Interoperability and Data Integration
6. Earth and Environmental Data
7. Biological Science, Medical and Health Data
8. Physical Science Data

The conference is also promoting the involvement and integration of young scientists in science and technology policy areas. For further information on Young Scientists check the website (http://www.codata2010.com/ young-scientists-participation.php).

Interested companies and universities are invited to participate in the exhibition of different distributed computing applications for science and technol­ogy (physics, geophysics, biology, bioinformatics, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, weather forecasting and calculation of climatic changes etc). If interested in exhibiting, please contact the CODATA Secretariat at codata@dial.oleane.com

Participants wishing to present papers must submit an abstract (http://www.codata2010.com/call-for-papers.php).

People interested in organizing a special session within the Conference should also submit an abstract (http://www.codata2010.com/call-for-session-organizers.php).

The International Climate Protection Fellowships enable prospective leaders to conduct a research-related project of their own choice during a one-year stay in Germany. Submit an application if you are a prospective leader from a non-European threshold or developing country (see list of countries) working in the field of climate protection and resource conservation in academia, business or administration in your country. Applicants must provide a clearly visible leadership potential either by experience in a first leadership position or be able to provide appropriate references. They must also have completed their first university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent academic degree) less than 12 years prior to the start of the fellowship (1 September 2011) with outstanding results. They must also hold a further academic or professional qualification (Master’s, PhD, LL.M., MBA etc.) or have extensive professional experience in a leadership role (at least 48 months at the time of application). Furthermore, they are expected to have gained initial practical experience through involvement in projects related to climate protection and resource conservation. The fellowship will enable the recipients to conduct a research-related project of their own choice with hosts in Germany whom they are free to choose themselves.

The programme, which is being funded under the International Climate Protection Initiative by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, includes a preparatory intensive language course in Germany, a several-week introductory seminar, a two-week training course and a final meeting in Berlin. These activities will enable you to gain additional insights into academic, social, cultural, economic and political life in Germany.

In addition to applicants who have been trained in the natural and engineering sciences, candidates who have been engaged in legal, economic and societal issues relating to climate change are encouraged to apply for this programme. Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is granting up to 20 International Climate Protection Fellowships to prospective leaders from the countries named. The programme is currently scheduled to run until 2012.
Closing date (date of receipt at Humboldt Foundation): 15 December 2010

For further information, please visit http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/ICF.html

The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) cordially invites all scientist to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations to the Special Session 55 entitled “Microbial Carbon Pump: A multidisciplinary focus on origins, cycling and storage of dissolved organic matters (DOM) in the ocean”. The session is one of the programmes at the 2011 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting ‘Limnology and Oceanography in a Changing World’ to be held in Puerto Rico on 13 - 17 February 2011.

The majority of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean has an average age of 4000 to 6000 years. These substances must be extremely resistant against biotic and abiotic degradation and/or almost unusable for microorganisms. DOM, produced via a number of food web processes, undergoes multiple transformations to semi-labile and finally to recalcitrant DOM. Bacterial/microbial processes govern some of those transformations. The specific mechanisms that generate recalcitrant DOM are largely unknown. Moreover, with limited ability to characterize the molecular structures of DOM it is difficult to discern why some is resistant to biotic and abiotic decomposition. The interaction between microbes and the production and removal of recalcitrant DOM requires further information of both microbial function and molecular level determination of DOM to assess the impact of DOM on global carbon cycles. This session seeks to develop a close co-operation between chemists and microbiologists that is indispensible to understand the cycling and storage of DOM.

The deadline for abstract submission is 11 October 2010.

In addition to the Special Session 55, SCOR WG134 on Microbial Carbon Pump in the Ocean (www.scor-int.org.working-groups/wg134.ht or http://mme.xmu.edu.cn/mcp/eindex.asp) is also planning an ASLO Emerging Seminar immediately after the ASLO meeting that will be held on 18 - 20 February 2011. It is an open meeting and participants are welcome to join the meeting.

For further enquiries about the Special Session 55 and SCOR WG134, please contact Conveners:

Gerhard Kattner, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany), Gerhard.Kattner@awi.de;

Nianzhi Jiao, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Sciences at Xiamen University (China),  jiao@xmu.edu.cn;

Farooq Azam, Scripps Institution of Oceanography,  fazam@ucsd.edu;

Steven Wilhelm, University of Tennessee,  wilhelm@utk.edu

For further information about ASLO 2011, please visit http://aslo.org/meetings/sanjuan2011/

The Faculty for the Future fellowships are awarded to women from developing and emerging economies who are preparing for PhD or post-doctoral study in the physical sciences, engineering, or related disciplines to pursue advanced graduate study at top universities in their disciplines abroad.

Launched by the Schlumberger Foundation in 2004, Faculty for the Future has grown to become a community of 142 women from 43 countries.

The long-term goal of the Faculty for the Future program is to generate conditions that result in more women pursuing scientific disciplines. Grant recipients are therefore selected as much for their leadership capabilities as for their scientific talents, and they are expected to return to their home countries to continue their academic careers and inspire other young women.

Faculty for the Future grants are in the range of USD 25,000 to 50,000 per year—maximum USD 40,000 for postdoctoral studies— and may be renewed through to completion of studies subject to performance, self-evaluation, and recommendations from supervisors. The amount of the grant depends on the actual costs of studying and living in the chosen location.

Eligibility criteria and application process instructions can be found at New Grant Application Process or Renewal Grant Application Process.

The 2011 Awards session will open to applications as of September 1^st to November 30^th 2010. Guidance and application forms will be available from that date.

Please do not write before this date asking for application forms or submitting CVs, transcripts, or any other documents. We will not be able to respond.

In the meantime you can determine if you are eligible and, if so, start preparing for application by clicking on the links below.

• New and Renewal Grant Application Process
• Related Resources and Documents
• Read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

For further information, please visit

http://www.slb.com/about/community/foundation/facultyfuture.aspx?CFID=10158007&CFTOKEN=85730785

On the occasion of its 93rd meeting, the ICSU Executive Board appointed Professor MohdNordin Hasan as Director of the ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Nordin Hasan has been involved in research on the ecosystem approach in environmental management and biodiversity conservation at the local and international levels. He has led research in the health of a large scale ecosystems in Malaysia and in the development of ecosystem status indicators at the international level. He is a Commissioner with the Commission on Ecosystem Management ( CEM ) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and was the Founding Director of the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia), President of the Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia, President of the Malaysian Society of Applied Biology and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Worldwide Fund for Nature, Malaysia. He is Emeritus Professor (Environment and Development), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia . He has been awarded the Rotary International Research Foundation Gold Medal for Excellence in Research and Development on the Environment.