Twinlabs

Although not formally included as participant institutions, TROPIBIO will have strong interactions with partner institutions of Portuguese-speaking African countries, which will be involved through the network of TwinLabs. TwinLab protocols that have already been established with ISCED, Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação – Huíla (Angola), Centro de Investigação e Treino em Saúde de Chókwè (Mozambique), and University of Cape Verde (Cape Verde).

A formal protocol was also being signed with IBAP – Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas (Guinea-Bissau), which is expected to develop into a formal TwinLab agreement in the course of TROPIBIO. In São Tomé e Príncipe, the TwinLab is expected to build on the recently created Gulf of Guinea Biodiversity Center, which brings together local stakeholders with researchers from CIBIO, University of Lisbon, Smithsonian, California Academy of Sciences, among others. 

These Institutions will consolidate the TwinLab network by providing human and logistic conditions to develop research in tropical biodiversity and ecosystems, and engaging stakeholders and national/regional authorities in the development of research relevant to address societal challenges, reduce poverty, and enhance livelihoods. In parallel, work will be done with other research institutions from English-speaking and French-speaking African countries, thereby scaling-up research, knowledge mobilization, and communication and dissemination activities. These collaborations will engage TwinLabs from Portuguese-speaking countries in meta-networks involving institutions from English- and French-speaking countries, increasing the critical mass of researchers and enhancing capacities to develop excellent research. Collaborations have already been established with the Universities of Johannesburg (South Africa), Namibia and Zimbabwe, all of which are involved together with Angola and Mozambique in the UNESCO Chair Life on Land awarded to CIBIO in 2017.