AII fosters collaborative research in Africa
The Wellcome Trust announced on 2 July 2009 that it plans to dedicate US$49 million towards its African Institutions Initiative (AII), a cooperative aimed at fostering collaborative research among its African member nations.
In a plan unveiled at the World Conference of Science Journalists in London, the United Kingdom's largest charity will take on the lack of sound infrastructure and expertise among African universities. This deficiency has long hindered development on the continent, leaving it isolated from the competitive research and training facilities in other parts of the world.
"There is no investment from the public sector into research institutions [in Africa] at the upper level, because they think research capacity doesn't exist in university institutions," Ransford Bekoe of the Association of African Universities, told MediaGlobal. "We need to invest in public and private education in order to get [African] people the skills they need in order to do research."
Composed of seven consortia, each is led by an institution from an African nation so that ownership and direction of the project remains in the hands of emerging local leaders in African research. The new initiative aims at strengthening research capacities by building bridges among institutions in the continent and beyond. In addition to funding the infrastructure necessary to partner with world-class research facilities, it will provide critical managerial and human resources expertise. It aims at training the current personnel to bring their expertise up to modern standards.
By helping to create "equitable and sustainable" South-South and North-South partnerships, the Wellcome Trust aspires to create a vibrant community of researchers that can compete on a cutting-edge level, which would promote development and provide career opportunities for upcoming scientists.
Article published courtesy of MediaGlobal
