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Young African scientists awarded UK funding for postdoctoral research

22nd May 2020

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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South Africans are among the 29 early-career African scientists who have been selected to receive research funding under the Future Leaders – African Independent Research (Flair) programme for 2020. Other recipients come from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The 29 scientists were selected from a competitive group of more than 400 applicants.

Flair is a joint programme by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the UK’s Royal Society, and is supported by the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund. Its aim is to allow African scientists to develop independent research careers without having to leave Africa and hopefully lead to them heading their own research teams in African institutions. Each of the selected scientists will receive up to £300 000 (or $391 500) to carry out research over two years. The Flair programme was launched last year and the scientists who won fellowships under Flair 2019 are still carrying out research funded by the initiative and significantly contributing to African science in their disciplines.

The research projects being funded under Flair 2020 are diverse. They include new sustainable agriculture and fisheries techniques, improved cleaner energy storage methods, mitigating the worse effects of climate change by managing water shortages and focusing on African acute health conditions.

“The AAS welcomes the new cohort of Flair grantees to our growing postdoctoral family,” affirmed AAS executive director Professor Nelson Torto. “Postdoctoral programmes are vital in training and developing early-career researchers into research leaders whose scientific leadership will influence policies that will promote the socioeconomic development of the continent.”

“The announcement of this second cohort of Flair fellows is a significant milestone for the postdoctoral programmes team at the AAS,” pointed out AAS programme manager: affiliates and postdoctoral programmes Dr Judy Omumbo. “We anticipate that they will find the opportunities for networking and collaborations with other African scientists unique in supporting them in their pursuit of excellence in science for the benefit of mankind.”

“Climate change, food sustainability, emerging disease – these are challenges facing us all, but the risks they pose to individuals and ecosystems across Africa are especially pronounced,” highlighted Royal Society foreign secretary Professor Richard Catlow. “That’s why we’re proud to be part of a programme that is investing in the next generation of African scientific leaders, as they research solutions and adaptations to these challenges. This programme extends well beyond the grant recipients themselves. Our first cohort of Flair fellows are forging partnerships across institutions and disciplines, supporting young African PhD candidates and postdocs, and helping strengthen the research economies in countries such as Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and the wider continent. We know this second cohort of talented Flair researchers will match their success.”

No fewer than nine of the 29 Flair 2020 fellows are South Africans. Perhaps even more strikingly, six of the non-South African fellows are based and work in South Africa. These 15 scientists are spread across the universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria, Stellenbosch and the Witwatersrand, as well as at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Their projects cover a wide range, including research into diseases and the development of drugs to fight a variety of conditions, such as a form of breast cancer particularly prevalent among African women, a type of lung disease, malaria and HIV. Other research projects include examining mycotoxins (which cause food poisoning) in Africa, the development of affordable snakebite antivenoms, and the use of gene editing for the management of invasive insect pests. Then there is a project to research tropical cyclones, particularly those that arise in the Mozambique Channel. Other programmes include the development of new, accessible, river water purification technology, research into microplastic waste in both the Vaal and Nile rivers, and the responsible management of the rivers that arise in the Angolan highlands. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with chickpeas, which could be used to increase soil fertility, are the target for one project. Another project seeks to process crude biogas into higher-quality biomethane. And then there is a programme to develop cheap kerosene for cooking fuel from glycerol (a by-product from the production of bioenergy and food).

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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