̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Pauline Essah

Cambridge-Africa Programme: 58 institutions, 26 countries, and growing

lw355 — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 11:31:08 +0000

Having the chance to contribute to the pool of human knowledge depends a great deal on where you live in the world. Opportunities are skewed in favour of those who are better resourced and in favour of those who receive, and give, world-class training.

Knowledge lies at the heart of social and economic development, so countries with a thriving knowledge economy and good research infrastructure develop quicker; and the gap between those that don’t have these advantages grows ever wider. Among those lagging behind are many of the African countries.

And yet, explains Professor David Dunne, Africa has excellent researchers. He knows because for 30 years he’s been working in Africa with African colleagues on neglected tropical diseases: “I realised that they were brilliant but they didn’t have the opportunities they deserved to make their unique contribution both to solving Africa’s challenges and to adding to the sum of global knowledge.

“Even in the best African universities, there is a chronic shortage of researchers with access to the resources they need to be internationally competitive and to mentor future researchers,” he explains. “There just aren’t enough of them.”

“In parts of Africa, sometimes the choice seems to be between prioritising universal access to a basic education or investing in tertiary education and research scholarship. In reality, there is no choice,” says Dunne. “Both are absolutely essential.”

Eight years ago, he realised that universities like Cambridge could help bridge this resource and mentorship gap in Africa in ways that would build research capacity “while avoiding the loss of indigenous talent that so often occurs when better opportunities are available outside of Africa.”

Cambridge-Africa is the result. This ̽��ֱ��-wide institutional structure is designed to make expertise and resources available to support African researchers working in Africa on African priorities.

Today, the Programme supports African researchers in 58 different institutions in 26 countries across the continent. Its various schemes link PhD, postdoctoral and group leaders with a network of over 200 Cambridge-based researchers.

Key to its success is a ‘matchmaking’ model of partnership, as Dr Pauline Essah explains: “We carefully match the research interests of African and Cambridge researchers. It means there are benefits for both parties, and the potential for equitable and sustainable long-term collaboration after the mentorship has finished.”

She adds: “Being an African myself, and having studied in an African university before studying and working in Cambridge, I know that it wouldn’t work if we were just trying to take what Cambridge has and plant it in Africa. Instead we are modifying and adapting it in response to the needs identified by our African colleagues.”

Dunne and Essah began with targeting research in health: “We saw this as an easy win on both sides – it meets one of Africa’s greatest challenges, and it gives wider geographic scope to Cambridge researchers.”

They were surprised however by the scale of the response: “We were pushing against an open door,” says Dunne. Soon, scholars from archaeology to zoology, engineering to English, politics to plant sciences were joining the scheme. In 2015, the Programme was adopted as the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s official international strategy to support African academia across all subject areas.

“And of course this is good for Cambridge too,” says Dunne. “It means our researchers have greater opportunities to collaborate globally and our students can experience working in Africa. It has helped make Cambridge a truly international ̽��ֱ��.”

Speaking at the annual Cambridge-Africa Day symposium, Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said: “ ̽��ֱ��speed with which the Cambridge-Africa Programme has developed is phenomenal. We are trusted by our partners, and the Programme has buy-in from our academic community. This has been essential to the programme’s success. Today, it is no longer something done by a handful of enthusiasts. It is now something embedded in the ̽��ֱ��’s DNA.”

Adds Dunne: “ ̽��ֱ��first of the Cambridge-Africa fellows are now starting to fulfil their outstanding potential as researchers and leaders, providing mentorship to the next generation of young African researchers.” To date, all 54 of the African PhD and postdoctoral researchers who have completed their fellowships are still working in sub-Saharan universities or research institutions.

“Universities are not just luxury items for wealthy societies,” he says. “They are equally vital to the futures of low- and middle-income countries if those countries are to share in the advantages of knowledge creation.”

Cambridge-Africa fellowship schemes are funded by the Wellcome Trust, the ALBORADA Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

To keep up to date with the latest stories about Cambridge’s engagement with Africa, follow #CamAfrica on Twitter.

Inset picture: Professor David Dunne and Dr Pauline Essah. Credit: Mark Miniszko.

We ask how a 'matchmaking' programme that teams up Cambridge and African researchers is making expertise and resources available to support Africans working in Africa.

Universities are not just luxury items for wealthy societies. They are equally vital to the futures of low- and middle-income countries if those countries are to share in the advantages of knowledge creation

David Dunne

Mark Miniszko

Dr Vincent Owino, now conducting research in Kenya, was awarded a seed grant from the Cambridge-Africa ALBORADA Research Fund

Fellowship schemes

ALBORADA Research Fund

Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence (CAPREx)

Cambridge-Africa PhD Scholarship Scheme

Makerere ̽��ֱ��/Uganda Virus Research Institute Infection and Immunity Research (MUII)

Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence (THRiVE)

Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Cambridge confirms its leading role in engagement with Africa

pbh25 — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:24:32 +0000

̽��ֱ��start of the 2015-2016 academic year has brought good news for the team of researchers and coordinators involved in the university-wide Cambridge-Africa Programme.

Over the past few weeks, funders of some of the Programme’s flagship initiatives to enhance African research capacity through mentorship and collaboration have pledged their continuing support, ensuring the continuity of efforts to develop capacity and leadership in African research.

̽��ֱ��Carnegie Corporation of New York recently approved a renewal grant of US$1M for the Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence (CAPREx). Over the next three years, the grant will fund 24 fellowships for early and mid-career scholars from the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana, Legon and Makerere ̽��ֱ��, Kampala. ̽��ֱ��fellowships will allow researchers, in all fields, to spend time at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and contribute to the promotion of research excellence in their home institutions.

̽��ֱ��CAPREx initiative was originally set up in 2012 with a US$1.2M gift from the Carnegie Corporation, and has since supported 30 postdoctoral fellowships with another 10 funded by the Newton Trust. An addiotional 12 fellowships for research administrators have also been supported.

Earlier this year, the Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development (DfID) announced that, as part of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS) Initiative, which will award £46M to encourage the creation of world-class research environments at African universities, they are renewing their support for MUII (now called MUII+), [P1] a capacity-building collaboration between Makerere ̽��ֱ��, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, LSHTM and Cambridge. As part of the DELTAS initiative, MUII+ will receive £4.6M over five years.

̽��ֱ��DELTAS initiative also awarded £5.1M to the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana’s West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), in support of research projects involving the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Prof Mark Carrington.

This news comes in the wake of the announcement, over the summer, of a major gift of £4M over 10 years, by the ALBORADA Trust, to support Cambridge researchers who wish to initiate or enhance research projects in all disciplines involving partners at sub-Saharan African universities or research institutions.

“These announcements reaffirm what we’ve known for some time,” said Professor David Dunne, Director of the Cambridge-Africa Programme: “That Cambridge is the go-to institution to help build capacity for African researchers working in Africa, on African priorities. Our funders and sponsors have acknowledged this, and we are very grateful to them for that.”

Funding for capacity-building initiatives is renewed ahead of the ̽��ֱ��'s second annual Cambridge-Africa Day.

Cambridge is the go-to institution to help build capacity for African researchers working in Africa.

Professor David Dunne

Eelke

Earth

Cambridge-Africa Day 2015

Keynote Speakers: Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Vice Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge) and Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa (Vice Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda)
Date: 23rd October 2015
Venue: St John's College (Palmerston Room, Fisher Building) in Cambridge
There will be a wide range of short presentations about Cambridge's involvement in research capacity building in African institutions, and the numerous mutually-beneficial collaborative research and development projects that Cambridge and African researchers and students are involved in.

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Yes

Africa: women, business and education.

pbh25 — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:19:32 +0000

Two major conferences at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, held around Africa Day, looked at the continent, its challenges and its successes.

Africa Together, run by the ̽��ֱ��’s African Society, hosted a range of speakers at the Cambridge Union for a programme which promised to reimagine Africa.

Business in Africa Conference: Sustainable Growth in Times of Uncertainty, held at the Judge Business School, looked at how Africa was no longer just a land of opportunity, but a region full of success stories.

Speaking at Africa Together, Nungari Mwangi, President of the African Society noted that ̽��ֱ��African Union has declared 2015 to be the year of women’s empowerment and the content of the event’s programme reflected that.

Keynote speaker Madame Bineta Diop, Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security, African Union, said in her opening remarks: “Women have been the backbone of African society. When you go into the fields you see that women are the ones that support the family, the community. But their work is not accounted for in measurements of GDP.”

Following her speech the first session tackled Women and Leadership and further sessions touched on entrepreneurship, the media’s perception of the continent, education and heritage.

̽��ֱ��audience also heard a poem by St John’s College student Justina Kehinde, which highlighted female African heroes.

Dr Pauline Essah, Manager of the ̽��ֱ��’s Cambridge-Africa Programme, was part of a panel session looking at African Education Systems. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge-Africa Programme is a key element in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s international strategy and covers several initiatives.

Key note speaker Lord Michael Hastings, of KPMG, said that challenges remain for businesses in Africa, not least infrastructure issues like electricity supplies, but he added that a recent poll showed that in some countries confidence in the future was higher than it had been for a generation.

̽��ֱ��following day’s Business in Africa event looked at sustainable growth in the continent and featured well recieved keynote speeches by Ms Mo Abudu (CEO, EbonyLifeTV) and Sola David Bohra, (CEO, Stanbic Bank). Plenary speakers included Devakumar V G Edwin, (Group Executive Director, Dangote Group).

Two conferences held to mark Africa Day show the breadth of the challenges, and the successes, on the continent.

Women have been the backbone of African society. When you go into the fields you see that women are the ones that support the family, the community.

Madame Bineta Diop, Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security, African Union.

Neil Palmer (CIAT)

2DU Kenya62

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Grants take Cambridge in Africa Programme to next level

th288 — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:44:30 +0000

̽��ֱ��36-month award approved by the Carnegie Corporation's Board of Trustee, alongside the four-year grant made by ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust, will significantly enhance the funding already provided by the Isaac Newton Trust, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge for the establishment of the Cambridge-Africa Partnerships for Research Excellence (CAPREx).

CAPREx aims to strengthen Africa's capacity for sustainable excellence in research through close collaborative work with the region's most talented individuals.

Building on successful partnerships with the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana and Uganda's Makerere ̽��ֱ��, CAPREx's goal is to widen the scope of engagement to include the whole of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and involve a greater number of higher education institutions in Africa.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has a long and rich tradition of research in Africa, although most of it had previously depended on discrete collaborations between individuals or specific academic departments.

A more joined-up strategy has recently emerged for holistic engagement with African universities, based on existing initiatives such as THRiVE (Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa) and MUII (Infection and Immunity Research Training Programme), both sponsored by ̽��ֱ��Wellcome Trust.

These capacity-building programmes focus on PhD and postdoctoral researchers in health-related disciplines. Young African researchers are matched with leading Cambridge academics who provide mentorship and support.

Fellows spend up to one year of their research programme at their Cambridge mentor's laboratory. Supervisors or mentors from Cambridge and Africa take part in exchange visits to provide maximum support and mentorship.

Other successful Cambridge initiatives include the Cambridge/Africa Collaborative Research Programme at the Centre of African Studies, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust and the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

Focussing on research in the humanities and social sciences, this programme brings up to five African scholars to Cambridge each year for a six-month visiting fellowship, with the aim of enhancing the participants' research profiles.

Such programmes, which illustrate the depth and breadth of Cambridge's current engagement and expertise, make the proposed Cambridge-Africa Partnership unique.

̽��ֱ��newly awarded funds will help in providing further support and training to African researchers (at doctoral, post-doctoral and early-mid career levels) in an even wider range of subject areas, and across more countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

̽��ֱ��'Cambridge in Africa' programme is led by Professor David Dunne (Department of Pathology), with input from Professors James Wood and Duncan Maskell (Department of Veterinary Medicine) and Professor Megan Vaughan (Centre of African Studies), and support from Dr Pauline Essah.

It works in partnership with African universities and research institutes in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, among others.

Professor Dunne, who has collaborated with colleagues from African institutions for over three decades, said: "I am delighted that we have received generous funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and from ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust to support our Cambridge in Africa Programme.

"These funds will provide a step change in the level of support available for African academics to engage with Cambridge and build on our successful experience with a number of Wellcome Trust African Institution capacity-building programmes.

" ̽��ֱ��building of relationships has proved beneficial for both African and Cambridge research. ̽��ֱ��generous financial support will be used by Cambridge and its African partners to train the best and brightest African researchers, and to help them to develop their research careers."

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said: "I am delighted at the award of the grants for this major and imaginative programme which brings together academics from Cambridge and Africa.

" ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� very much values these links and these awards will help us to build further and deeper institutional relationships in order to help the development of higher education. "

For further information about the Cambridge in Africa Programme, contact Professor James Wood (jlnw2@cam.ac.uk) or Dr Pauline Essah (pae21@cam.ac.uk).

Picture Caption: Dr Robert Tweyongyere, MUII fellow, working in Professor David Dunne's laboratory, Cambridge, August 2011

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's wide-ranging and long-term strategy of engagement with African higher education institutions moved into its next phase following the recent announcement of a $1.2 million grant by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a $1 million grant by ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� very much values these links and these awards will help us to build further and deeper institutional relationships in order to help the development of higher education

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Carnegie Alborada Grants

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Yes