National Research Foundation participates in AERAP Africa-Europe Science Collaboration Forum
AERAP provides a framework for stakeholders from industry and academia to define strategic scientific research and technological advances needed to drive socioeconomic development and competitiveness in both Africa and Europe.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) will participate in the 4th AERAP Africa-Europe Science Collaboration Forum, set to take place at the South African Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, from April 22 to 24, 2024.
The high-level forum is hosted by the Africa-Europe Science Collaboration and Innovation Platform (AERAP), a stakeholder forum convened to define priorities for science and innovation co-operation between Africa and Europe.
AERAP provides a framework for stakeholders from industry and academia to define strategic scientific research and technological advances needed to drive socioeconomic development and competitiveness in both Africa and Europe.
The forum, on the other hand, is a platform for the stakeholders to meet with policymakers and engage them to ensure environments that enable research to thrive in the European Union and Africa are sustained.
Disciplines that are prominent in the forum’s agenda include biodiversity, digital transition, green agenda, genomics, astronomy, agrifood, health, and research infrastructures, among others.
The NRF will participate in various thematic and roundtable sessions at the forum. Dr Thandi Mgwebi, the NRF’s group executive: business advancement, will speak at the Science Capacity Building session, while Dr Albert Chakona, acting managing director at NRF’s South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (NRF-SAIAB) will speak virtually at a session on Revitalising Aquatic Biodiversity: Integrating Modern Genetics with Global and Regional Conservation Efforts.
Dr Mgwebi will also speak at a roundtable featuring counterparts from institutions including the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South African Medical Research Council, South African National Energy Development Institute, South Africa’s Agriculture Research Council, Kenya’s Agha Khan University, Morocco’s Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and AERAP.
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Other institutions that will participate in the fourth forum include the EU Commission, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Kenya, the European Centre for Development Policy Management, Zambia’s Ministry of Health, the Finnish Environment Institute, the Centre of Expertise Water Technology in the Netherlands, and many others.
Reflecting on the thematic session she will join, Dr Mgwebi says the NRF must share its experience and position on science capacity building.
She said, “As South Africa’s premier science council, the NRF is at the coalface of science capacity building in the country. We fund postgraduate students and researchers across our science system to ensure that they are enabled to conduct research. This research, in turn, has a direct impact on the lives of people in the country. It is research for the public good, hence public institutions should be at the forefront of supporting it and creating an enabling environment. We must share with our science counterparts across Africa and the world how our successes on this front come about. We also look forward to learning from the successes of our science counterparts.”
The forum will also prove important to the NRF’s efforts to create and sustain opportunities for strategic science and innovation collaborations.
“In addition to being a dynamic platform for engagements with policymakers, the forum provides great opportunities to foster new and support existing partnerships for the advancement of research in South Africa and our continent. One of the aims of the forum is to improve scientific collaboration between Africa and Europe,” concluded Dr Mgwebi.
