Africa-Europe research collaboration gains more momentum

More than 200 leading researchers from Africa and Europe convened in South Africa this week to take stock of the first year of a unique collaboration aimed at tackling major global challenges.

The Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE) initiative, a partnership between the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, held its inaugural conference at Stellenbosch University (SU) from 30 September to 2 October 2024.

The conference took place 15 months after the two networks launched their first 17 clusters, followed three months later by another three, and by the 21st cluster last month.

Each CoRE is made up of researchers across both continents, and is co-led by academics from universities in Africa and Europe. The initiative now includes partners from 120 institutions in 42 countries.

‘Nothing like it’

“This is a very special initiative. There is nothing like it in the world, and I am very impressed with what has been accomplished so far,” Professor Sizwe Mabizela, the chairman of ARUA, told the participants at the conference dinner at the end of the first day. He is also vice-chancellor (VC) of Rhodes University (RU).

His sentiments were echoed by Professor Anders Hagfeldt, the chairman of The Guild and VC of Uppsala University (UU) in Sweden, who said: “We are on a mission that is challenging but extremely rewarding – and the good news is that we are doing this together and over the long term.”

The clusters were set up with an initial 10-year outlook. They are organised into four interdisciplinary groupings coinciding with the key priorities of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), as captured in the AU-EU Innovation Agenda, which was adopted last year – public health, the green transition, innovation and technology, and capacities for science.

‘Shared humanity’

There were two keynote addresses at the conference – by Professors Thuli Madonsela, chair of Social Justice at Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa, and Funmi Olonisakin, vice-president of King’s College London (KCL).

Madonsela, the former public protector of South Africa, used the African concept of ubuntu to emphasise the shared humanity of all people. That means social justice should be the aim of the collaboration in the research clusters, she argued.

‘Academic movement to change the world’

Olonisakin urged participants to embrace their role as change-makers in a burgeoning academic movement aimed at changing the world through impactful research and equitable collaboration.

Highlighting the origins of the CoRE initiative, Olonisakin emphasised that the two networks – ARUA and The Guild – were not in existence a mere decade ago. Their emergence (in 2015 and 2016 respectively) and the subsequent partnership, she argued, signifies a deliberate effort to forge a new path in scientific research, one that prioritises societal impact and equitable partnerships between African and European institutions.

She also stressed the importance of embedding intentionality and purpose in research endeavours, ensuring that knowledge creation translates into tangible benefits for communities. And she challenged academics to move beyond research for its own sake and to actively engage with stakeholders in seeking solutions to pressing global challenges.

‘Equitable partnership’

Acknowledging existing structural inequalities between African and European universities, Olonisakin said that the framework of equitable partnership guiding the CoRE initiative helps to bridge these gaps. She emphasised the need for nuanced approaches to capacity-building, ensuring that it becomes a two-way street that benefits researchers on both continents.

It was Professor John Gyapong’s first conference since he took over as secretary-general of ARUA following Professor Ernest Aryeetey’s retirement at the end of July. “We came together to ensure that we increase the research we do, that it is relevant and that it impacts society,” Gyapong said.

Professor Jan Palmowski, the secretary-general of The Guild, provided further context for the collaboration, highlighting its significance within the broader landscape of Africa-Europe relations. He said that, in this regard, the CoRE initiative is “mission accomplished” for the two networks.

Both secretaries-general praised the progress in the clusters since the launch of the initiative in June 2023.

Progress so far

The conference provided the CoREs with the opportunity to discuss their own activities, but also to get to know the other clusters better and explore synergies between them.

The clusters reported that they partly used the past year to establish themselves and organise their activities. An example is the CoRE on health and genomics in Africa, which appointed coordinators at three participating universities – Stellenbosch, Tübingen and Bern – launched a website and social media accounts, and established a searchable database of people, activities and funding in their field.

In terms of research output, several achievements were highlighted, with some of the clusters having already published academic articles.

RU’s Professor Jen Snowball reported that the CoRE that she co-leads has launched a new publication, the African Journal of Creative Economy.

And Professor Eka Ikpe of KCL said her CoRE is gathering contributions for a forthcoming book that is to form part of the series, “Peace, Society and the State in Africa”.

Regarding capacity development, the clusters reported on various initiatives, such as workshops, seminars and webinars. The CoRE on inequalities, poverty and deprivation held a summer school in Kenya in July.

It was attended by masters degree students, PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows and early-career researchers, and featured interactive lectures by academics from partners in the cluster, including the universities of Cape Town (UCT), Ghana, Nairobi and Groningen (UG).

Transdisciplinary research and community engagement are important concepts in the CoRE initiative, and some of the clusters reported good progress in this regard.

The CoRE on food environment actions for the promotion of health said it has created local “clusters of clusters” of relevant structures and initiatives around Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden and Cape Town in South Africa.

Future plans

The clusters have been working on their plans for the next decade, which was described as unusual in the field of research, where projects usually just last a few years. The intentions shared by the CoREs created plenty of excitement at the conference.

The CoRE on renewable energy said its ‘moonshot’ included the creation of a Hydrogen Valley Campus Southern Africa (HyCASA) in Stellenbosch, in collaboration with UG and its other partners.

The CoRE on artificial intelligence announced its ambition, not only to admit 100 PhD candidates per year, but for this intake to be 100% female. This would be its contribution to help correct the gender imbalance in data science and related fields, Professor David Sumpter of UU said.

PhD programmes

All of the clusters are working on postgraduate training. In some of them, participating universities have concluded agreements for joint degree programmes. And all of them are making plans for expanded doctoral training.

The intention is that this will link up with the 16 collaborative PhD programmes recently announced by ARUA, which is aimed at delivering 7,000 new doctoral graduates in seven cohorts over 10 years.

Funding

The clusters spent a lot of time the first year on efforts to secure funding for their activities, and the conference received reports of successes that have already been achieved.

Some clusters got internal funding from institutions in their network, like the CoRE on health, gender and sexualities, which received grants from the universities of Oslo and Mauritius.

Others secured funding from external sources, like the CoRE on advanced infectious diseases research and training, which got grants from Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sean Rowlands, senior policy officer of The Guild, made a presentation about research grants and opportunities, focusing primarily on the European research funding landscape. The session, which elicited a lot of interest, was also streamed over the internet.

He said there are multiple opportunities that fit the different strengths and needs of the clusters, and that the clusters are well placed to leverage European funding because they were designed to coincide with the priorities outlined in the AU-EU Innovation Agenda.

Dr Laurent Bochereau of the Delegation of the EU to the AU in Addis Ababa concurred. He encouraged the clusters to apply for funding from instruments associated with programmes like Horizon Europe and its Africa Initiative, Erasmus+, as well as the EU’s Global Gateway, particularly its ringfenced Africa Investment Package.

Policymakers

Bochereau was part of a panel discussion featuring policymakers from the two continents involved in the collaboration between ARUA and The Guild. He reiterated Europe’s commitment to an equitable partnership with Africa, as expressed by the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in both her terms.

Botho Kebabonye Bayendi, the AU’s director of strategic planning and delivery, also welcomed the CoRE initiative. She said it fitted in with the AU’s theme for 2024, which is education.

In addition, the research conducted in the clusters will help the AU realise its Agenda 2063. In the second decade of its implementation, “We are no longer talking about the Africa we want, but about the Africa we are creating,” she said.

Daan du Toit, deputy director-general for international cooperation and resources at South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation, congratulated ARUA and The Guild with the CoRE initiative.

“It’s an important science diplomacy success because it responds to global challenges with new instruments for cooperation, bringing people, countries and continents together,” he said.

Two continents, one vision

SU VC Professor Wim de Villiers said it was “an honour” for the university to host the conference. Two of his deputies also spoke at the conference.

Professor Sibusiso Moyo, who looks after research, innovation and postgraduate studies at SU, said the initiative is in line with the famous quotation by former South African president Nelson Mandela that “education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”.

And Professor Hester Klopper, responsible for strategy, global and corporate affairs at SU, said ARUA and The Guild were “making history” with their CoRE initiative, and that the conference was “very valuable in building trust” between the participating institutions and individuals.

The conference proved to be a unifying event, bringing together two continents, two university networks, and diverse voices with a shared vision: to harness the power of collaborative research and education to address shared challenges and build a better future for all.