Medway Organisation with Global Influence
A pioneering organisation based in Kent, which has been assisting developing countries around the world for more than a century, and is now part of the University of Greenwich, will be the subject of a talk being held at Chatham Maritime at 7pm, on Wednesday, July 18 2007.
Since 1890, the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) has been leading Britain’s drive to help countries improve and manage their own natural resources. Today's NRI has evolved from the development and amalgamation of many parent organisations. The oldest of these, the Imperial Institute, was based in Kensington, London, and its Scientific and Technical Department was primarily concerned with identifying and promoting new uses of tropical products from across the Empire.
Since its inception, the organisation has helped countries deal with increasingly diverse issues such as locust control as well as plant and animal protection. In 1988 Chatham became the organisation’s new home and it was renamed the Natural Resources Institute in 1990. In 1992 the UK Government announced plans to move some of its scientific institutions to the Higher Education sector. By this time, part of the Chatham site was sub-let to the University of Greenwich, which expressed an interest in acquiring the Institute. The final transfer of the Institute to the University of Greenwich occurred in 1996.
The lecture will trace the history of NRI and will explain the nature of the work it now undertakes in developing countries around the world.
Professor Alan Reed, of the University of Greenwich at Medway, who organises the Pembroke Lecture series, says: “The NRI Director Guy Poulter will give a fascinating and wide-ranging insight into the rich and varied history of this pioneering organisation, how it came to Medway and the work it now engages in on a worldwide basis.”
Tickets for the talk are free and are now available and are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. The Lectures will be held in the Wardroom in the Pembroke Building, at the University of Greenwich at Medway, based at Chatham Maritime. Guests should arrive between 6.30pm and 7pm.
For further information and bookings, contact the University of Greenwich at Medway Office of Regional Development tel: 01634 883154, fax: 01634 883534 or email: a.j.ward@gre.ac.uk
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