Dr Jane Morris has recently been appointed as the assistant national contact point for Theme 2 (Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme. This appointment will run from March 2007 till the end of FP7 in 2013. She will be working with the South African Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology National Contact point, Dr Geoff Meese to fulfil the following responsibilities:
- Information and awareness raising on the FP7 in SA
- Advising, assisting and training FP7 participants
- Providing feedback to DST on any problem or difficulties experienced by SA FP7 participants
- Informing overseas counterparts of developments and initiatives in SA
In this role, Jane Morris recently attended a European Union – South Africa dialogue on the “Knowledge Based Bio-Economy, Partnerships for Sustainable Development”. This was organized as a side event at the 2007 BioVision meeting in Lyon, France. The event was co-hosted by the South African Department of Science and Technology and The European Commission, Directorate of Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food Research.
The meeting was extremely positive, and further significant collaboration is envisaged between the European Union and South Africa, particularly in the area of food, agriculture and biotechnology.