Nature Publishing it will be adding tnhe proceeds of its euro25,000 share of the Principe de Asturias Award to the NPG Awards, a philanthropic fund
Philip Campbell, editor-in-chief of Nature, and Annette Thomas, CEO of Macmillan, accepted the 2007 Principe de Asturias award for communication and humanities at a ceremony last week in Oviedo, Spain.
The prestigious award was made jointly to Nature and arch-rival Science.
The two publications will share a prize of euro50,000, of which Nature's share will be used to boost the NPG Awards, a philanthropic fund that helps researchers from the developing world attend Gordon Research Conferences.
Launched in June 2006, the NPG Awards provide funds of up to US$1500 to help delegates from developing countries attend the internationally renowned Gordon Research Conferences (GRCs).
The awards are made based on nominations made by GRC conference chairs, and are open to those who live and work in eligible countries and have been accepted to attend a GRC.
"Every year NPG is overwhelmed by the flood of nominations for NPG Awards.
"These additional funds from the Asturias Prize will allow us to expand our programme of support to scientists from developing nations by 50%, an outcome that will be most appreciated by the community," said Linda Miller, executive editor of Nature and the Nature journals.
The addition of euro25,000 to the philanthropic fund will allow NPG to support many more researchers to attend GRCs.
In 2007 NPG awards were made to 26 participants who attended 21 different conferences and were from Kenya, Venezuela, Brazil, India, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, China, Poland, Mexico, Zambia and Romania.
