ILRI ‘seminal seminars’

Presentation by task force

(Ewen Le Borgne, Iain Wright, Silvia Silvestri, Susan MacMillan, Vish Nene)

Connecting the dots, seeing the bigger picture, achieving more impact

Overview

1. Why these seminars?

2. What we propose?

3. Who’s involved?

4. When and where?

5. What next?

6. What else?

Why these seminars?

• ILRI now holds lots of seminars with little:

• Promotion

• Relevance for all of us

• Attendance / participation

• Documentation

• Impact

We want to improve this!

Why these seminars?

• Our ‘seminal seminars’ should:

• Map existing ILRI work ‘out loud’

• Make better use of in-house expertise

• Tap into visitors’ experiences

• Engage with thought leaders on inspiring issues

• Unlock the power of interdisciplinary research

• Raise and change our game as an open, vibrant, cutting edge livestock research institute

• Achieve more impact via joined up thinking, actions and connections, inside and outside

What we propose? (1)

• A regular series of seminars to ‘increase awareness of ILRI staff and partners of research topics of importance to ILRI, including the wider research context, and to provide a space and platform for conversations’.

What we propose? (2)

• One-hour seminars: 20-minute presentations (max) or 30/40-minute chat shows, followed by conversation or questions and answers.

• Possibly with assigned ‘questioners’ (people commenting the presentation).

• Facilitated in Nairobi/Addis

• Involving all ILRI offices (via WebEx)

• Promoted properly and consistently

• Enhanced through a ‘dry run’ (except visitor seminars)

• Documented live and later through a short ‘info brief / communiqué’on the ILRI news site

What we propose? (3)

• Topics used:

• Livestock-associated diseases

• Research in vs. for development

• The mobile phone-enabled farming future?

• Livestock and the climate change community

• Pastoral research back on the agenda?

• And many other relevant topics, including the series of big ideas (running in parallel)

Who’s involved? (1)

• To organize the series?

• Our task force (Angela, Ewen, Silvia, Susan, Tadelle, Tezira, Vish)

• To give the seminars?

• Any ILRI staff (anywhere)

• Any visitor that has something interesting to share

Who’s involved? (2)

• To attend?

• ILRI staff across all locations (see how next slide)

• Partners that can join our ILRI offices

• Anyone…

When and where?

• When?

• (+/- Every last Wednesday of the month, 3-4pm (EAT)

• And opportunistically with visitors

• Where?

• In rotation between Nairobi, Addis and other offices

• On WebEx for virtual participants

Schedule 2013

• Monday 21 January: People, the planet and sustainable livestock

• Thursday 7 February: The water footprint of livestock

• Wednesday 27 March: Research for development in the livestock sector: Experiences of the IPMS project

• Wednesday 24 April: How to make agriculture more attractive to young people in Africa: The case of Well Told Story comic books

• Friday 31 May: Innovation platforms and systems

• Wednesday 26 June: Dairy hubs in East Africa: Lessons from the East Africa Dairy Development Project

What else?

• The other seminars: Theme/team seminars (including from visiting scholars), PhD & PostDoc seminars

• What we suggest:

• - We can offer guidance & support: share our checklist to organize events, coach on public speaking, support scheduling, design (facilitation), documentation, promotion

• - But we cannot organize or streamline these other seminars. For now, we want to have a good routine in place

What else?

• Possible connection with CG-wide Addis campus seminars

• Connection with Town Halls

• We need strong and reliable ICT facilities

• And some budget to invite speakers (USD 5.000)

• What do you think?

International Livestock Research InstituteBetter lives through livestock

Animal agriculture to reduce poverty, hunger and environmental degradation in developing countries

ILRI  www.ilri.org