Cooperation to strengthen research and development in Africa

Just under three years ago, a new initiative involving research clusters was launched in a collaboration between universities in Africa and Europe.

The initiative is supported by two university networks: African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and The Guild of Research Intensive Universities (The Guild). There are currently just on twenty research clusters within the Clusters of Research Excellence initiative.

The future is in Africa

Researchers at Uppsala University, together with their African partners, lead four of these research clusters and are involved in three more. Uppsala University is supporting the initiative with funding as well as administrative support. For example, the clusters receive a certain amount of funding for travel and exchanges with the African partner universities. The four clusters at Uppsala University also share the equivalent of one full-time position as coordinator.

“It’s inspiring collaborating with universities in Africa. I’ve always had PhD students from African countries,” says David Sumpter, professor at the Department of Information Technology. “I think the future lies in Africa with its many young people, great diversity, and a range of individuals and talents.”

Together with Francesco Petruccione at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, David Sumpter is leading a research cluster on applications of AI. The core idea of the cluster is that applications of AI will play an important role in achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals by solving problems in many different areas. The aim of the cluster is to strengthen the capacity of research-intensive universities in Africa to use AI methodologies and to strengthen these universities’ research in AI and computer science.

“Uppsala University is heavily engaged on the African continent in line with the EU’s major initiatives in collaborations within Global Gateway and the AU-EU Innovation Agenda,” says Kajsa Hallberg Adu, research coordinator for the research cluster.

Help with capacity building

“We are not in the business of solving problems in Africa. We are helping them to help themselves by building their education capacity and supporting them in project discussions and the design of research projects,” says David Sumpter.

“The education sector is in a very expansive phase in African countries. Higher education has got off to a great start, having previously been hampered by the World Bank’s attitude that developing countries should not invest in higher education,” says Kajsa Hallberg Adu.

Kajsa Hallberg Adu works at the Forum for African Studies, whose mission is supporting collaborations with Africa throughout the University.

The cluster has organised online courses for Master’s students at eleven universities. They have also hosted two research visits for doctoral students, who get to stay at Uppsala University for a couple of months.

“We’ve focused on female doctoral students who traditionally have to spend a lot of time on housework. Here in Sweden, they can instead think through their research without those distractions, acquire knowledge from each other, and discuss their projects with researchers in Uppsala,” says David Sumpter.

The model of visiting doctoral students is now spreading within the cluster. Several universities within the EU are planning to implement similar initiatives.

“It can be difficult to get started when you don’t understand the culture. You don’t know where to start. But now we have a model that we have shown works and we hope it will take off within the cluster,” says David Sumpter.

Personal engagement

“It’s been easy to get the African partner universities on board, but harder to get the European ones involved. There have been more staff changes and it’s unclear who will be assigned to work with the cluster at the European universities,” says Kajsa Hallberg Adu.

“It takes time, and it’s important, to establish and foster personal contacts if you want to succeed. In Africa, people see each other more as people than functions, which is a more common attitude in Europe,” says David Sumpter.

They both conclude that the work in the cluster is based on a personal engagement that goes beyond the task they have been given.

“It’s not enough to see this as just another task. You have to want to make a difference and find it fun and interesting. And it is fun and interesting! You also get so much back from this work,” says David Sumpter.

“I’d agree. Now it feels like getting together with old friends when we have meetings,” says Kajsa Hallberg Adu.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges for the cluster is, of course, securing funding. They apply for funding from potential funding bodies, but as everyone knows, it’s difficult to succeed. When we do the interview, they only have a short break before they have to start writing the next application.

So far, they have received funding from the Vice-Chancellor, the Department and equal opportunities funds. But to scale up, more stable funding is needed to build on.

The future

The initiative runs for ten years with a mid-term evaluation.

“Within the cluster, we all agree that the focus must be on scaling up the pilot programmes and reaching more young African female students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” says Kajsa Hallberg Adu.

“Hopefully, by the time of the evaluation, we will have got the whole system we’re building up to the point of functioning well. Looking ahead, we have an online course for Master’s students that local student groups in African countries can take – maybe one to two thousand students each year. Those who do well in this course get to visit Europe for two months, and that’s maybe 150 participants per year. Based on this group, maybe one fifth will become PhD students and come to the EU for a research visit,” says David Sumpter.

Anders Berndt