African Scientists Research Articles

The eNutrition Academy: Supporting a New Generation of Nutritional Scientists around the World.

Nutrition training and building capacity to provide a competent workforce to support national and regional efforts to combat malnutrition remain a major challenge in Africa and other developing regions of the world. The capacity to provide the necessary intellectual drive for nutrition research, policy, and practice in countries lacking in readiness for nutrition actions is imperative to improve the health of their people. To help address this need, the eNutrition Academy (eNA) was formed as a global partnership organization by the African Nutrition Society, the Federation of African Nutrition Societies, the Nutrition Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the ASN, and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, supported by Cambridge University Press. The primary objective of this partnership is to provide an online learning platform that is free to access, enabling users to benefit from a wide range of learning materials from basic tools to more-advanced learning materials for teachers and researchers in developing countries. The goal of this article was to summarize the findings of a symposium held at the ASN Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2015, which explored the themes of international capacity development, with a particular focus on the African continent, online learning, and the eNA e-learning platform. Given the vast human capacity present in Africa that is poised to create new solutions to address the public health needs of the continent, now is an opportune time to establish South-North and South-South partnerships to develop the next generation of African nutritional scientists.

Decolonizing Patent Law: Postcolonial Technoscience and Indigenous Knowledge in South Africa

Drawing upon feminist postcolonial technoscience, I examine how neoliberal legal orders of patent ownership and benefit sharing are producing new notions of recognition as structured through gendered and racialized colonial pasts. Central to this inquiry are struggles over the patenting of Hoodia gordonii, a succulent plant in Southern Africa used for generations by San peoples to stave off hunger and then patented by South African scientists in 1998 to treat obesity. In response, San peoples negotiated a benefit-sharing agreement in 2003, whereby scientists agreed to give them a percentage of royalties from future Hoodia sales. Through historical, ethnographic research, I examine how South African scientists and Indigenous San peoples, through claims for patent ownership and benefit sharing, simultaneously reinforce and contest racialized and gendered histories related to colonial bioprospecting of Hoodia and historical constructions of San peoples as Other. In doing so, I consider how South African scientists and San peoples are mediated in similar, yet unequal, ways through the cultural, historical, material, and socio-legal structures of the political economy of plant medicines.

A review of aspects of hydrological sciences research in Africa over the past decade

This review assesses the potential of the African continent to contribute to the three main targets of the new science decade of IAHS (Panta Rhei): understanding, estimation and prediction, and science in practice. The continent has an extremely diverse climate and physical environment, and is faced with many problems in the interaction between hydrology and society. While inadequate financial and institutional resources often constrain the pursuit of high-level scientific research, there is substantial hydrological research capacity within Africa. The topics covered over the past decade have partly anticipated some of the research themes adopted as part of the Panta Rhei initiative. African hydrological scientists should therefore be in a better position to make future contributions, largely because their research is already grounded in applications linked to societal needs. Some of the papers reviewed and included in the special issue of Hydrological Sciences Journal introduced in this paper reflect international partnerships, while others reflect emerging partnerships between institutions within Africa.Editor M Acreman

Large Scale Genetic Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders in African Populations is Needed

Large Scale Genetic Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders in African Populations is Needed

South African scientists trial humane shark deterrents

South African scientists trial humane shark deterrents

Africa Awards and William Kaula Award Join Ranks of AGU Union Honors

A pair of new annual Union awards recognizes exceptional research by African early career scientists, and an established publications program award gets Union honor designation.

Building sustainable neuroscience capacity in Africa: the role of non-profit organisations.

While advances in neuroscience are helping to improve many aspects of human life, inequalities exist in this field between Africa and more scientifically-advanced continents. Many African countries lack the infrastructure and appropriately-trained scientists for neuroscience education and research. Addressing these challenges would require the development of innovative approaches to help improve scientific competence for neuroscience across the continent. In recent years, science-based non-profit organisations (NPOs) have been supporting the African neuroscience community to build state-of-the-art scientific capacity for sustainable education and research. Some of these contributions have included: the establishment of training courses and workshops to introduce African scientists to powerful-yet-cost-effective experimental model systems; research infrastructural support and assistance to establish research institutes. Other contributions have come in the form of the promotion of scientific networking, public engagement and advocacy for improved neuroscience funding. Here, we discuss the contributions of NPOs to the development of neuroscience in Africa.

In/dependent Collaborations: Perceptions and Experiences of African Scientists in Transnational HIV Research.

This article examines collaboration in transnational medical research from the viewpoint of African scientists working in partnerships with northern counterparts. It draws on ethnographic fieldwork in an HIV laboratory of an East African state university, with additional data from interviews with scientists working in related research institutions. Collaboration is today the preferred framework for the mechanisms by which northern institutions support research in the south. The concept signals a shift away from the legacy of unequal (post‐) colonial power relations, although, amid persisting inequalities, the rhetorical emphasis on equality might actually hinder critical engagement with conflicts of interest and injustice. To collaborate, African scientists engage various strategies: They establish a qualified but flexible, non‐permanent workforce, diversify collaborators and research areas, source complementary funding to assemble infrastructures, and maintain prospective research populations to attract transnational clinical trials. Through this labor of collaboration, they sustain their institutions under prevailing conditions of scarcity.

Psychopathology, adversity, and creativity: diversifying experiences in the development of eminent African Americans.

Symptoms associated with mental illness have been hypothesized to relate to creative achievement because they act as diversifying experiences. However, this theory has only been tested on predominantly majority-culture samples. Do tendencies toward mental illness still predict eminent creativity when they coexist with other diversifying experiences, such as early parental death, minority-status, or poverty? These alternative diversifying experiences can be collectively referred to as examples of developmental adversity. This conjecture was tested on a significant sample of 291 eminent African Americans who, by the nature of their status as long-term minorities, would experience more developmental adversity. Replicating majority-culture patterns, African American artists showed higher mental illness rates than African American scientists. Yet the absolute percentages were significantly lower for the African Americans, regardless of profession. Furthermore, mental illness predicted higher eminence levels only for the African American artists, an effect that diminished when controlling for developmental adversity. Because the latter predicted eminence for both artists and scientists, the "madness-to-genius" link probably represents just 1 of several routes by which diversifying experiences can influence eminence. The same developmental ends can be attained by different means. This inference warrants further research using other eminent creators emerging from minority culture populations.

Sharing science

Scientists around the world benefit from sharing scientific data, lab notes, and preliminary papers, as well as traditional, formal scientific papers. Institutional repositories (IR) are open spaces for scientists to deposit their work. Doing so could potentially spark new collaborations, allowing scientists and scholars to build cross-institutional capacity. However, scientists must trust that the repository is secure, and they must understand copyright law and protections. Many African nations are at a crossroads: poised to solve major problems with well-trained scientists, yet stymied by expensive and unpredictable ICT. Many African scientists are also wary of the Internet due to rampant scams and fraud. This paper describes current African ICT development, reports on findings from a study about ICT, databases, and IRs in Ghana, and concludes with recommendations for expanding the use of IRs.

PEARL MILLET PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN SEMI-ARID WEST AFRICA: A REVIEW

SUMMARYPearl millet (Pennisetum glaucumL.) is an important grain crop for millions of poor farmers and consumers in the semi-arid region of West Africa. During the past 40 years, much research on pearl millet production practices and adoption in this region has been conducted, but an attempt to summarize these results has not been previously completed and these research results are not readily available to many West African scientists. This review was completed to address this need and integrate knowledge, and at the same time identify research needs for the future and extension priorities for semi-arid West African agro-ecological zones. Research has shown that selection of improved varieties and cropping systems, appropriate cultural practices, and recommended integrated soil, nutrient, residue and pest management can greatly increase grain and stover yields of pearl millet. However, adoption by farmers has been minimal due to limited profitability, high risk and labour demand, limited input supply, market availability and appropriate public policy. This review has 196 articles included as in-text citations (Table 1) compared to 149 articles in the reference list, indicating that only one in four articles integrated two or more topics in the research. The obvious conclusion is that most of the past research has not addressed the ‘system’ but rather one or two management practices. In addition, most studies have interpreted responses in terms of yield without addressing other important considerations for farmer adoption. Recent conservation agriculture research moves closer to addressing the larger integrative types of research needed. Such research is complex and requires sustained funding for field and laboratory activities, but also for computer simulation modelling and economic assessment.

Breaking the glass ceiling: women agricultural scientists

They are selected because they are—or could be—as good as agricultural scientists anywhere. They are groomed in leadership, and conduct research into problems facing their individual countries. They still face an enemy—the perception that African women agricultural scientists can’t lead in innovation. Even as these experts continue to struggle for opportunities to advance their careers, they know that they are capable of bursting age-old stereotypes.

H3Africa and the African life sciences ecosystem: building sustainable innovation.

Interest in genomics research in African populations is experiencing exponential growth. This enthusiasm stems in part from the recognition that the genomic diversity of African populations is a window of opportunity for innovations in postgenomics medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The recently launched H3Africa initiative, for example, captures the energy and momentum of this interest. This interdisciplinary socio-technical analysis highlights the challenges that have beset previous genomics research activities in Africa, and looking ahead, suggests constructive ways H3Africa and similar large scale science efforts could usefully chart a new era of genomics and life sciences research in Africa that is locally productive and globally competitive. As independent African scholars and social scientists, we propose that any serious global omics science effort, including H3Africa, aiming to build genomics research capacity and capability in Africa, needs to fund the establishment of biobanks and the genomic analyses platforms within Africa. Equally they need to prioritize community engagement and bioinformatics capability and the training of African scientists on these platforms. Historically, the financial, technological, and skills imbalance between Africa and developed countries has created exploitative frameworks of collaboration where African researchers have become merely facilitators of Western funded and conceived research agendas involving offshore expatriation of samples. Not surprisingly, very little funding was allocated to infrastructure and human capital development in the past. Moving forward, capacity building should materialize throughout the entire knowledge co-production trajectory: idea generation (e.g., brainstorming workshops for innovative hypotheses development by African scientists), data generation (e.g., genome sequencing), and high-throughput data analysis and contextualization. Additionally, building skills for political science scholarship that questions the unchecked assumptions of the innovation performers be they funders, scientists, and social scientists, would enable collective innovation that is truly sustainable, ethical, and robust.

Empowering African genomics for infectious disease control.

At present, African scientists can only participate minimally in the genomics revolution that is transforming the understanding, surveillance and clinical treatment of infectious diseases. We discuss new initiatives to equip African scientists with knowledge of cutting-edge genomics tools, and build a sustainable critical mass of well-trained African infectious diseases genomics scientists.

Monitoring parasite diversity for malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa.

The African continent continues to bear the greatest burden of malaria and the greatest diversity of parasites, mosquito vectors, and human victims. The evolutionary plasticity of malaria parasites and their vectors is a major obstacle to eliminating the disease. Of current concern is the recently reported emergence of resistance to the front-line drug, artemisinin, in South-East Asia in Plasmodium falciparum, which calls for preemptive surveillance of the African parasite population for genetic markers of emerging drug resistance. Here we describe the Plasmodium Diversity Network Africa (PDNA), which has been established across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to ensure that African scientists are enabled to work together and to play a key role in the global effort for tracking and responding to this public health threat.

Burkitt lymphoma research in East Africa: highlights from the 9(th) African organization for research and training in cancer conference held in Durban, South Africa in 2013.

A one-day workshop on Burkitt lymphoma (BL) was held at the 9th African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference in 2013 in Durban, South Africa. The workshop featured 15 plenary talks by delegates representing 13 institutions that either fund or implement research on BL targeting AORTIC delegates primarily interested in pediatric oncology. The main outcomes of the meeting were improved sharing of knowledge and experience about ongoing epidemiologic BL research, BL treatment in different settings, the role of cancer registries in cancer research, and opportunities for African scientists to publish in scientific journals. The idea of forming a consortium of BL to improve coordination, information sharing, accelerate discovery, dissemination, and translation of knowledge and to build capacity, while reducing redundant efforts was discussed. Here, we summarize the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Resilience and success: the professional journeys of African American women scientists

Resilience and success: the professional journeys of African American women scientists

Lessons of endogenous leadership in Nigeria: innovating to reduce waste and raise incomes in the cassava processing and goat-keeping systems

Agricultural innovations are increasingly emerging from African research scientists. This paper looks at an innovation developed by animal scientists at the University of Agriculture Abeokuta in Nigeria. They identified a method for drying cassava peels, which creates an income source for rural women, reduces environmental waste, and raises the income of goat herders by transforming the cassava waste into animal feed. Initially funded by a World Bank grant, this paper addresses the challenges of securing donor funding for local innovations and presents an argument for a new model of development that supports locally driven solutions to current development issues.

Bitter roots: the search for healing plants in Africa

For over a century, plant specialists worldwide have sought to transform healing plants from African countries into pharmaceuticals. And for equally as long, conflicts over these medicinal plants have endured. In Bitter Roots, Abena Dove Osseo-Asare draws on publicly available records and extensive interviews with scientists and healers in Ghana, Madagascar, and South Africa to interpret how African scientists and healers, rural communities, and drug companies - including Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Unilever - have sought since the 1880s to develop drugs from Africa's medicinal plants. Osseo-Asare recalls the efforts to transform six plants into pharmaceuticals: rosy periwinkle, Asiatic pennywort, grains of paradise, Strophanthus, Cryptolepis, and Hoodia. Through the stories of each plant, she shows that herbal medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry have simultaneous and overlapping histories that cross geographic boundaries. At the same time, Osseo-Asare sheds new light on how various interests have tried to manage the rights to these healing plants and probes the challenges associated with assigning ownership to plants and their biochemical components. A fascinating examination of the history of medicine in colonial and post-colonial Africa, Bitter Roots will be indispensable for scholars of Africa; historians interested in medicine, biochemistry, and society; and policy makers concerned with drug access and patent rights.

Europe's long history of extracting African renewable energy: Contexts for African scientists, technologists, innovators and policy-makers

Having failed to identify local energy supplies compliant with Kyoto Protocol obligations, the EU turned to Africa in the 21st C. According to definition, the term ‘renewable energy’ source equally describes slaves, forests and rivers. Environmental history analysis demonstrates the 1) poverty of economic analysis; 2) inadequacies of short-term and local check-list style of environmental impact assessment; and 3) parallels between the social violence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the environmental violence of conventional renewable energy technologies. Technological innovation and development enabled separation of electricity production from its use, obscuring social and environmental effects. Neo-liberal economics’ shift in electricity's definition from public good to commodity promoted gigantic environmental interventions with complex and unanticipated consequences. The 21st C requires more nuanced evaluation by Africans of energy production technologies and export policies, while Europeans make concerted efforts to control - and reduce - demand.