Joint EASPS-AAPS conference in Tanzania 2023: a beginning of the pragmatic efforts to promote physiology education, research, and practice in East Africa.

The East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS) identified many problems associated with the practice and impact of physiology training and graduates within the region. The EASPS, in conjunction with the African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS), resolved to tackle those identified problems in the region by organizing a regional conference in Tanzania between November 29, 2023, and December 1, 2023. The conference was successful with remarkable achievements, including production of Physiology Curriculum for African Universities (PhysioCAFUN); launching of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) African Physiology Mentoring Program; educational workshops on physiology teaching and skills acquisition; plenary sessions on various inspiring scientific topics for advancement of research capacities and current trends in physiological sciences; presentation of abstracts by authors and publishing of the abstracts as edited conference proceedings in the Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences; presentation of awards to the top 10 abstracts and 7 other key Local Organizing Committee members and partners; first annual general meeting of the EASPS members; networking of participants within and beyond Africa; and recognition of the formation processes of national physiological societies in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The joint East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS)-African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS) conference in Tanzania was a successful event where we launched the Physiology Curriculum for African Universities (PhysioCAFUN) and the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Physiology Mentoring Program in Africa. We also organized educational workshops on physiology functional tests that equipped participants with practical skills. Authors presented their peer-reviewed abstracts, which have now been published in the Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences. Participants attended from 24 countries across Africa, Europe, Asia, and United States.

Evolution of the organization for tropical studies

The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS)/Organización para Estudios Tropicales (OET) has evolved in many ways since its founding in 1963 as a non-profit consortium offering graduate courses and facilitating research in tropical ecology in Costa Rica. By 2002, its international membership included about 65 institutions, including four from Costa Rica. It had developed three Costa Rican field stations (La Selva, Las Cruces, and Palo Verde) with excellent facilities for teaching and research, and it was constructing a new Costa Rican office at the University of Costa Rica. Combinations of internal and external pressures influenced OTS to develop in new directions in the 1980s and 1990s. It became more diversified and more concerned with applied science in its traditional areas of graduate education and research facilitation. The Organization also evolved into new niches: more applied biology, professional education, environmental education and policy, conservation efforts, and an expanded geographic distribution to other Latin American countries. OTS was composed of changing combinations of people (Boards, members, staff) with evolving and competing priorities for limited financial resources. External environmental changes also shaped OTS's evolution. New problems of increased tropical deforestation, the emergence of the biodiversity "crisis" and conservation biology, global climate change, and calls for sustainable development affected OTS constituents and funding priorities of governments and foundations. Both internal and external pressures have in some cases demanded for OTS to improve its relationship with: Costa Rican biologists and their institutions, the Costa Rican government, and Costa Ricans living around the three OTS field stations.