Prof Robin Crewe, Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria, has been appointed as co-chair of the committee established by the InterAcademy Council / InterAcademy Partnership for Research to consider 'harnessing science, engineering and medicine to address Africa's challenges'.

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) brings together established networks of academies of science, medicine and engineering from all over the world. Its aim is to support science in addressing the world's most challenging problems.

Prof Crewe will co-chair the committee with Prof Oyewale Tomori of Redeemer's University in Nigeria. The committee will undertake projects aimed at mobilising African leaders in science, engineering and medicine, as well as partners and stakeholders from around the world, to develop and implement new approaches to address the range of challenges facing individual countries, regions and the continent as a whole.

The project is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and is scheduled to run for three years. It will engage African governments, bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union, the global donor community, industry, and other stakeholders in activities that demonstrate the value of independent policy advice provided by academies.