“Looking back on my own period of work in Lahore, … I felt terribly isolated. If at that time someone had said to me, “We shall give you the opportunity every year to travel to an active center in Europe or the USA for three months [a year] to work with your peers; would you then be happy to stay the remaining nine months in Lahore?”, I would have said “yes”. No one made the offer; I felt then, and I feel now, that this is one way of halting the brain drain, of keeping active men happy and contented within their own countries. They must be kept there to build for the future, but their scientific integrity must also be preserved. By providing them with this guaranteed opportunity for remaining in contact with their peers, we believe we are making a dent in the problem.”
Abdus SalamFounding Director, ICTP
Programs at ICTP*
- Diploma programs; Masters degree; Ph.D. degree (both local and SANDWICH); post-doctoral appointments- Associateships; TRIL fellowships- Schools; Colleges; Workshops; Conferences
- Affiliate Centres; Federation Agreements; Networks support for starting new centres- Support for regional conferences, often with other donors- Provide research environment for senior researchers- Provide electronic access to scientific literature- And so forth
---------------------------*conducted often in close collaboration with and support of Italian institutions in Trieste and elsewhere, and many other international institutions
Organization
• ICTP operates under a tripartite agreement between two United Nations Agencies—UNESCO and IAEA—and the Government of Italy. The Centre enjoys a great deal of autonomy.
• A distinguished Scientific Council sets scientific policies and a Steering Committee in setting fiscal policies.
• Some base funding is provided by UNESCO and IAEA, specific programmatic funding by other sources, and 82% of the Centre’s budget comes from Italy.
• The Centre is connected to many institutions within Trieste, within Europe, and within developing countries.
4000-6000 per year6441 in 2004
permanent scientists
temporary scientific staff: post-docs, staff associates, long-term visitors
short-term visitors:associates, guest scientists
participation in conferences, schools and workshops; diploma students
research and training coordination
mostly research
do own or collaborative research, or receive training through participation
receive training throughschools, conferences, and exchange of information
30
100
420
+ about 125 general staff
ICTP is an institution run by a few scientists for the benefit of many
Research at ICTP
Carried out by about 30 permanent scientists, about 50 post-docs, short-term and long-term visitors, consultants and collaborators from other Trieste institutions, in areas such as:
– High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics – Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics– Pure and Applied Mathematics– Applied Physics (Medical Physics, Optics and Lasers, Fluid Dynamics,
Plasma Physics, Soft Matter, Nuclear Physics, Biophysics, Energy, …)– Earth Sciences (Weather, Climate Changes, Oceanography,
Earthquake Prediction, Soil and Coastal Erosion, Desertification,…)– Laboratory activities (Instrumentation, Information Technology, …)– Ecological and Environmental Economics
IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A STRONG CORE OF SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE. OUR VISITORS INCLUDE SOME OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
ICTP VISITORS STATISTICS, 1970-2006IC
TP P
ub
lic In
form
ati
on
Offi
ce,
Feb
ruary
20
07
DC: 50% (v), 70% (p-m)
aa
9030 v5130 p-m
9080 v13870 p-m
34080 v18750 p-m
15050 v16250 p-m
10450 v16810 p-m
13350 v20410 p-m
1580 v1990 p-m
8000 v14960 p-m
aaaa
v=visitors p-m=person-months
area visitors p-m area visitors p-mNorth America AfricaLatin America Middle East and South AsiaWestern Europe South East Asia and the PacificEastern Europe Far East
9030 51309080 13870
34080 1875015050 16250
10450 1681013350 204101580 19908000 14960
Affiliate Centres and Networks since 1990
34 Networks Africa 12Asia 9Europe 1Latin America 12
29 ProjectsAfrica 16Asia 8Europe 1Latin America 4
31 Centres Africa 11Asia 10Europe 1Indonesia 1Latin America 8
ICTP visitors from 1970-2006 (including associates, TRIL fellows, course participants and researchers).
a
Institutes collaborating with OEAInstitutes collaborating with ARPLInstitutes collaborating with SCSICTP regional activities in 2006
ICTP AND AFRICA
12
40159
aa
TUNISIA
MOROCCO
ALGERIA
MAURITANIA MALINIGER
LIBYA
CHAD
EGYPT
SUDAN
ETHIOPIA
DJIBOUTI
ERITREA
UGANDASOMALIA
KENYA
TANZANIA
ZAIRE
CENTRALAFRICANREPUBLIC
RWANDA
BURUNDI
GABON
EQUATORIALGUINEA
CAMEROON
ANGOLA
CONGO
NIGERIABENIN
TOGOIVORYCOAST
BURKINA
GUINEA
SIERRALEONE
SENEGAL
GHANA
THEGAMBIA
GUINEABISSAU
LIBERIACAMEROON
MALAWI
ZAMBIA
MOZAMBIQUE MADAGASCARZAMBABWE
BOTSWANA
SWAZILAND
LESOTHO
SOUTHAFRICA
NAMIBIA
ANGOLA
Kinshasa
Brazzaville
a
884
a
14
a
78
a
a
a
157
30
33
a
4
a
11
a
293
a
4
a
1911
a
2
a
a
27
111
a
a
a
5
a
2
580
a
83
a
378
296
a
a
a
215
a
37
a
100
a
58
a
82
a
60
a
841
a
a
14
11
a
a
31
1773
a
42
a
58
a
a
269
a
79
a
45
a
535
a
12
a
57
a
357
a
129
a
194
a
128
a
87
a
96
6
8
2
2
5 4
7
2
5
3
6
3
4
4
1
5
1 21
13
1
1
1
1
1
2
6
1
1
2
2
1
3
1
2
2
42
2
D. REP.OF THE CONGO
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
ICTP has had a longstanding impact on the science in Iran… the most important one is the concept of excellence…and I dare say ICTP has been the most influential institution in the world to bring that into existence. [It also has had] direct impact [on the] establishment of the various institutions; many graduate students in Iran have been exposed to international scientific community through different activities of ICTP.
Professor Reza MansouriDeputy Minister for Research, Iran
ICTP was very useful to me personally …[and] it opened up a new world to me. Almost all of my colleagues at the Centre for Theoretical Physics in Hanoi get the same help from the ICTP. In addition, we also get book donations, computers, etc. For young physicists, the ICTP Diploma program is very attractive.
Professor Hoang Ngoc Long Head of Particle Physics division, Vietnam
One particular international institution that has played an important role in providing resources and opportunities for physicists [in Africa] is the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. …ICTP's affiliated centers and visiting scholars programs are well known in African universities; nearly every PhD physicist in … Africa has had an association with ICTP.
Professor Edmund ZinguPhysics Today, January 2004
Italian leadership in computational condensed matter physics …would not have happened without ICTP.
Professor Erio TosattiSISSA, Trieste
This Center can make an effective contribution to the solution of the central problem of humanity, namely that of peace.
G. AndreottiMinister of Foreign Affairs in Italy in 1984