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Fifth meeting of the Global
Research Alliance Council
A wide range of issues was traversed in the
recent GRA Council meeting in Des Moines,
Iowa and the coming year is shaping up to be
a busy one.
The Council is the representative body of all
member countries and oversees the work
of the GRA’s five Research Groups and the
relationships with key partner organisations.
Twenty-one of the GRA’s 46 member
countries attended this year’s meeting from
8-11 September; along with the co-chairs
of the Research Groups and several GRA
partners (CGIAR-CCAFS, FAO, World Bank)
and other invited organisations (European
Commission, Global Alliance on Climate
Smart Agriculture, CABI, Global Open Data
for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN), the
World Agricultural Forum (WAF)).
The Netherlands as outgoing Council Chair
handed over to the US as incoming Chair,
and Mexico was confirmed as the new Vice
Chair. The Council acknowledged the volume
of work accomplished in the last few years
by the Research Groups and saw the Groups
as unique in the work they did in bringing the
science community together and the results
that were being achieved.
A number of key issues critical to the work
of the Research Groups were discussed
including a proposal to merge the two
Cross-Cutting Groups into one ‘Integrative
Research Group’, ways to engage with the
French 4 per mille soil carbon initiative (refer
also to page 9), a proposal to explore the
development of an ‘International Research
Call’ with the European Commission, and
proposals to develop a five-year strategic
plan for the GR and agree on an enhanced
role for the Secretariat. Council decisions
regarding these issues, and others, are
now in the process of being endorsed by all
GRA member countries prior to them being
implemented.
Main discussions
Research Group issues
The co-chairs of the Research Groups held
a pre-meeting on 8 September to discuss
group-wide issues and to identify key
areas where Council action is needed in
order to fulfill the Groups’ potential. These
were jointly presented to the Council on
9 September and reflected many of the
issues flagged in the LRG’s paper to the
Council on ‘Maximising the Effectiveness of
the LRG’, e.g. more active GRA leadership
and greater promotion, including stronger
links with partners and industry; increased
resourcing; and better science-policy links
and information from member countries on
domestic GRA activities.
In an interesting development, the co-
chairs proposed merging the two existing
Cross-Cutting Groups to create a new
‘Integrative Research Group’. The rationale
The 2015 Council meeting at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, Des Moines, Iowa, USA