The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) was founded in 1970 in recognition of the importance of insect life in the tropics. The institution specialises in strategic basic and applied research and development of environmentally sustainable and affordable methods of managing tropical arthropod plant pests and disease vectors. These include pests of staple food crops such as stemborers and legume pod borers; horticultural pests such as thrips, red spider mites, whiteflies and fruit flies; human and livestock disease vectors including mosquitoes, tsetse flies and ticks and migratory pests such as locusts. A number of ICIPE-developed insect control products are either in use or under field testing. These include tsetse traps, neem-based and microbial insecticides, insect repellants and pheromonal agents. ICIPE also promotes the conservation and utilization of the biodiversity of insects of commercial and ecological importance and provides regional support to other research institutions in the fields of arthropod rearing and quarantine, biosystematics, chemical and biological laboratory services such as GC-MS and bloodmeal analysis, biostatistics and library and documentation services. ICIPE’s mandate has a strong capacity building component, under which it conducts farmer training workshops as well as MSc and PhD-level training in entomology, the latter in collaboration with 27 African universities. Through its publications and online databases, ICIPE provides an international forum for discussion and exchange of information in insect science.