The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) aims to promote scientific excellence for sustainable development in the global South.
TWAS offers prizes and awards to honor scientific achievement; grants to build scientific capacity; exchanges to enhance scientific collaboration; and meetings to encourage the flow of scientific information.
Membership categories in TWAS include agricultural sciences, biological systems and organisms, social and economic sciences, and several other groups.
Grant Programs for Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Natural Resources
1 — Science Prizes and Awards. The TWAS and its partner organizations offer prizes and awards of relevance in the Terra Viva Grants Directory. They include honors for senior scientists who are leaders in their specializations, as well as prizes for early-career researchers.
Many prizes and awards are defined by geographic criteria, and/or by fields of expertise. Interested persons and organizations should review the listings of prizes and awards each year.
About science prizes
2 — Research Grants. TWAS sponsors two programs of research grants.
TWAS Research Grants in Basic Sciences — These are for individual scientists, research units, and research consortia in countries that are least developed in science and technology (about 80 countries are eligible). Grants are a maximum of US$15 thousand per individual scientist; US$30 thousand per research unit; and US$20 thousand per research consortium.
TWAS-COMSTECH Research Grants — The grants enable young scientists in OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) countries to purchase research facilities in order to enhance their science productivity. Grants are a maximum of US$15 thousand for promising research projects carried out by young individual scientists.
About grant programs
3 — Fellowships. TWAS collaborates in several programs of post-graduate training and research. Most of these are “South-South” exchanges hosted by institutions in large developing countries such as India, Pakistan, Brazil, Mexico, China, Malaysia, and others.
About fellowships
4 — Visiting Scientists. Visiting senior professors help with teaching and other capacity building at lesser-developed institutions. Researchers in the lesser-developed institutions are offered travel opportunities to work for one year with colleagues in a different country.
About visiting scientists
5 — Support for Meetings. TWAS collaborates with other sponsors to makes grants for meetings of several kinds. These include financial assistance to organizers of science-related conferences, workshops, symposia, and special meetings held in developing countries.
About support for meetings
APPLICATION (for 1-2-3-4-5 preceding): Each award area (i.e., prizes, grants, fellowships, academic exchanges, and support for meetings) has unique eligibility requirements by nationality or residence, educational achievements, age, employer, and other criteria.
For each program area, TWAS posts guidelines, eligibility criteria, and contact information. Some grant applications operate with calendar deadlines, while others do not.
Geographical Distribution of Grant Activities in Developing Countries
Worldwide
Since its inception, the operational expenses of TWAS have been largely covered by the Italian government. Other supporters include UNESCO, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and several national governments.
TWAS offers contact information for its main office in Trieste, Italy.
TWAS maintains regional offices in Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and South Africa.