Science Africa

The Conference took place in Canterbury Christ Church University on 14th and 15th February. A wide variety of delegatescame, including Dr Jonas Mwatseteza and Dr Timothy Biswick from Chancellor College, University of Malawi, Dr Habatwa Mweene and Dr Boniface Mbewe from the University of Zambia and Dr Jame Mdoe and Dr Cuthbert Nahonyo from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The pictures show the conference meal and a trip to Dover. You can just about see the coast of France across the English Channel. It was a horribly cold and wet day.

The Conference Programme

Conference Powerpoints are available below.

conference powerpoints1.pdf

conference-powerpoints2.pdf

conference-powerpoints3.pdf

Research grants involving natural science, but in particular

• Agriculture (including animal health)
• Water and sanitation
• Basic human health research (including medicinal chemistry)
• Biodiversity (including medicinal plants and green chemistry)
• Energy (including renewables)

These should involve a Uk based academic and one based in Tanzania or Ghana. If any of you are interested, there are more details on the Royal Society website http://royalsociety.org/leverhulme-royal-society-africa-awards/. There are academic in Christ Church who may be interested in being the British partner.

David

I would like to apply for an EDULINK grant for the network in the next round, the details of which are due to be announced towards the end of 2010. The EDULINKprogramme is a European Union funded scheme for ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries for Higher Education. The website is http://www.acp-edulink.eu/. I attended a conference in Brussels last week to find out about the grant and get ideas for putting together a successful application. The maximum amount available will be 500,000 Euros.

I think we should consider expanding the network to include two or three new countries. I thought of Uganda, Zimbabwe and Botswana, but I would welcome any thoughts about this. If anyone has good contacts in a science department in one of these countries, please let me know. The other thing we need to consider is what will be the theme of the project. Again I would welcome any suggestions, but I think that increasing the capacity of each department involved to teach practical science, but at undergraduate and post graduate level, may be a good one, since practical scientists certainly would be useful in developingyour countries.

There are also grants for research projects across networks of ACP countries, both for increasing research infrastructure and for the research itself. I am not sure I am best placed for suggesting projects, but I would certainly help putting an application together. The website for these grants (also to be announced towards the end of the year) is http://www.acp-st.eu/

If you would like me to make the EDULINK application I will need a lot of help and information. EU grants proposals are notoriously difficult to write and will need a lot of information and organisation.

David

Two Leverhulme Trust Visiting Fellowships have been allocated to Casnterbury Christ Church University. This Fellowship, aimed at those who have no more than 8 year post doctoral experience, is for 9 months to one year, and gives all expenses. Details are give at http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/visiting_fellowships/. If anyone is interested, please contact me as soon as possible. David

A workshop on the Job Skills of University Graduates
was held in the Commonwealth Youth Centre in the University of Zambia, Lusaka on March 24^th and 25^th March, 2010. It was organised by Dr Habatwa Mweene, Head of Physics Department, University of Zambia. It is part of the Science Africa project funded by the Education Partnerships in Africa project EPA 3.17.

In attendance were academics from the University of Zambia, University of Dar Es Salaam, Chancellor College (University of Malawi) and Canterbury Christ Church University. Also present representatives of employers.

Useful discussions were held, and a series of resolutions were formulated which will be passed on to the university authorities.

On July 26^th and 27^th July 2010, a workshop on “Improvement of the Profile of Science as a Career” was held in the University of Dar es Salaam. The workshop was organised by Dr James Mdoe, Head of Chemistry Department, University of Dar es Salaam. The workshop was funded as part of the Education Partnerships in Africa project EPA 3.17, administered by the British Council.

There were participants from the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Zambia and Chancellor College (University of Malawi). Also in attendance were representatives of employers and Ms Sally Robinson, Director of the British Council in Tanzania.  The guest of honour was Prof. F. S. S. Magingo, Principal, College of Natural and Applied Sciences.

Productive discussions were held and many useful ideas were brought out.

A workshop on ‘IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROFILE OF SCIENCE AS A CAREER’ is being held in the University of Dar es Salaam on 26thand 27th July 2010. The workshop is part the EPA (Education Partnerships in Africa) project.

These are available to graduates from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe for postgraduate studies in UK . They may be of interest to some of you. The website is http://www.beittrust.org.uk/Scholarships.htm.

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Registration is mainly restricted to students and staff of Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Zambia, Chancellor College, University of Malawi and the University of Dar es Salaam. However, anyone who is interested is welcome to apply for membership, which is at the discretion of the webmaster.

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