AU honors two African scientists with Kwame Nkrumah continental scientific awards

Two African Scientists have been awarded the African Union (AU) Kwame Nkrumah continental scientific awards 2014 edition for their achievements in science and technology area. 

AU recognized the two nationals of its member states, who have made remarkable achievements in science and technology, with a view to strengthening the use and development of science and technology in Africa.

The award ceremony took place on Saturday during the 24th AU summit chaired by the newly elected AU chairman President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.  

The Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Awards 2014 were presented to Prof. Kofané Timoléon Crépin from Cameroon, recipient of the Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation Award, and also to Prof. Salim Abdool Karim from South Africa, recipient of Life and Earth Sciences Award.

Prof. Salim Abdool Karim received the award for his work in HIV/ AIDS while Prof. Kofané Timoléon Crépin for the work in physics.

Each awardee receives 100,000 U.S. dollars.

The European Union (EU) supports the awards with finance.

The Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards recognizes leading African scientists who have made major scientific contributions to addressing Africa’s challenges.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, said the AU Commission has full confidence that the awardees and indeed the African scientists, realize the great responsibility and trust bestowed upon them to ensure that science, technology and innovation drive socio-economic development and improvement of the lives of African citizens. 

She further thanked the development partners, particularly the European Commission for their unwavering support for the programme and many more programmes in the AU Commission.

Speaking on behalf of the awardees, Prof. Salim S Abdool Karim expressed optimism that African scientists would make good progress towards a healthier and better Africa in the next decade, particularly in finding solutions to the biggest problems on the continent. 

The Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards covers three levels; national-for young scientists, regional- for women scientists, and continental for scientists of any age and gender having made major contributions to address Africa’s challenges.

Since the launch of the awards in September 2008, EU says it has contributed over 2.3 million euros to the awards in line with its commitment to supporting AU’s initiatives on higher education, science and technology. 

African researchers get funds to boost climate research

NAIROBI, (Xinhua) -- Early career researchers in sub- Saharan Africa have received fellowship grants to conduct cutting- edge climate change research and develop relevant local solutions capable of uptake both locally and regionally.

The Climate Impacts Research and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) gave funding to 34 researchers from 24 universities from Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

“The project is aimed at developing human capital for sustaining organizational and institutional research capacity in researching climate change in Africa,” CIRCLE Program Officer Benjamin Gyampoh told Xinhua in Nairobi on Monday.

He said early career African researchers already employed in African universities, and research institutes now have an opportunity to develop their research skills through experiential learning.

Gyampoh said the first batch of early career researchers funded under the program have commenced their one-year research fellowships.

“By the end of the program, 50 women and 50 male researchers will benefit from the program finally.”

The researchers are expected to present their findings during the coming conferences and also publish at least one research article in a relevant peer reviewed journal.

Ben Prasadam–Halls of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) observed that the program is intended to help bridge shortage of academic staff in universities.

“The number of universities is increasing and they all must have adequate staff to be able to produce quality students to be able to be looked upon as serious institutions of learning,” he said, adding that the program is helping develop and retain the next generation of academics in African universities.

The program is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) in Britain at a cost of 7.3 million U.S. dollars and implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

It will award up to 100 fellowships. Out of the 34 selected researchers, 44 percent are women and 56 percent are male. Forty of the fellowships will go to Post-Masters researchers and 60 of the fellowships will go to Post-PhD researchers.

The CIRCLE program will also provide support and training to develop the institutional research capacity of participating institutions, thus improve research skills of African scientists through experiential learning under the guidance and mentorship of senior African researchers.

The beneficiaries will be expected to return back to their home institutions at the end of the fellowship and extend, transform and apply knowledge acquired during the period.