About: IOCD Founders Fund

The IOCD Founders Fund commemorates the pioneering work of three scientists who were founders of IOCD: Pierre Crabbé, the first Executive Director; Glenn Seaborg, the first President; and Elkan Blout, the first Vice President and Treasurer.

With resources of the Founders Fund, IOCD finances capacity-building with promising early-career scientists of low- and middle- income countries, especially by helping them network with distinguished specialists in the US and Europe to set up research collaborations with them or to obtain training opportunities in their laboratories.

To date, IOCD has drawn on the Founders Fund to award travel grants to 40 early-career scientists, including post-doctoral researchers, from developing countries such as Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, India, Nigeria, and Sudan, for their participation in international congresses and conferences sponsored by IOCD and collaborating institutions in the US and Europe. Participation in such meetings has enabled the early-career scientists to network with internationally distinguished scientists, thereby acquiring new ideas and cultivating relationships that can translate into working visits and on-going collaborations.

Initially, funds in the IOCD Founders Fund came from a grant to IOCD from the Aventis Foundation, but IOCD now seeks to expand the resources of the Founders Fund with the support of other foundations and donor agencies, both public and private.

For further information about how to contribute to the Founders Fund, contact IOCD's Executive Director, Prof. Alain Krief.