Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical
1300-142 Lisboa
Portugal
Maria Cristina Duarte
Email: mcduarte@iict.pt
The Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (Tropical Research Institute; IICT) was established by the Portuguese Crown in 1883. The IICT’s main objective is to develop research in several areas, including: biodiversity and natural resources; environment and earth sciences; sustainable agriculture and food safety; forests, forest products history, and cartography; tropical societies and cultures; and global development. IICT publications are listed on its website. An Overseas Historic Archive and a Documentation and Information Centre are open to the public. Much of the Institute’s ethnological heritage can be seen in the Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon. The IICT operates the Tropical Agricultural Garden—Museum, also in Lisbon. The Institute holds several collections, biological and nonbiological. The herbarium is Portugal’s most important herbarium, holding approximately 300 000 collections, mostly from former Portuguese African colonies and tropical Africa. The IICT employs 267 people, of which 117 are researchers and university professors. It is funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Additional funding comes from public and private grants.
Materials of Special Interest
- Angola Collection: 85 000 specimens
- Cape Verde Islands Collection: 30 000 specimens
- Guinea-Bissau Collection: 25 000 specimens
- Mozambique Collection: 75 000 specimens
- São Tomé and Príncipe Collection: 15 000 specimens
- Sub-Saharan Africa Collection : 60 000 specimens