The French government-owned National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the main organisation for basic research in that country, has spent €2.3 million (about US$2.6 million) over the past two years funding scientific research projects across Africa, one of the major achievements of the research organisation that is gradually establishing itself as a significant research partner for the continent.

At a conference titled, ‘Catalysing East African Science through scientific partnership’, hosted by the CNRS and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) on 16 April in Nairobi, Kenya, the scope of the evolving partnership was outlined.

The organisation has also opened a second CNRS representative office in Nairobi – in addition to the one in Pretoria, South Africa, and has also set up a dedicated Advisory Council on Africa.

The opening of CRNS’ second Africa office in Nairobi is also part of the organisation’s multi-annual cooperation plan with Africa, according to Antoine Petit, the CNRS chairman and CEO.

This is after the research funder realised its institutional links with partners in African countries were relatively weak, which necessitated a review of its cooperation strategy with the continent.

The choice was also informed by the fact that East African countries “are highly dynamic in terms of the quantity and quality of their scientific publications”, and Kenya’s significant level of political stability since independence, coupled with its success of a service economy “which produces innovations that are replicated throughout Africa”, Petit said.

‘Scientific encounter’

The event was also meant to establish a ‘scientific encounter’ between researchers funded by the CNRS multi-year cooperation roadmap, and grantees of the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence or ARISE a research and innovation support programme implemented by the AAS in partnership with the African Union and the European Union.

“At the moment, 21 universities in Africa are in partnership with the CNRS partner in projects funded by the multi-year cooperation roadmap. We are funding at least 100 projects of different scales on the continent,” Hazard told University World News.

“The universities are spread across Africa, from South Africa to Morocco. We use the pan-African approach and this number will expand for as long as the scientific partnership is based on quality. We don’t have a country approach but a scientific project approach,” he further disclosed.

He described the AAS as a pan-African organisation, with a major role to play in identifying and elevating African scientific talent. “In French, we speak of a vivier – a reservoir of emerging talent – and that’s what the ARISE programme represents,” said Hazard. “Africa is one of the places where the future of science will emerge,” he added.

The CNRS is working closely with AAS to craft a roadmap for structured partnerships, the ultimate aim being to co-create research initiatives that are both locally rooted and globally relevant, he revealed.

People and infrastructure

The first ARISE cohort was made of 47 scientists from 38 countries and received around half a million euros each over five years, amounting to nearly €23.5 million, building strong teams, while improving research infrastructure in their institutions.

He stressed the need for research funding sustainability beyond the grants and highlighted the importance of national science granting institutions in ensuring long-term support for African scientists. “African governments must fund both people and infrastructure. It’s about enabling excellence and building networks both locally and globally,” he pleaded.

During the event Dr Bridget Mutuma, a fellow of the ARISE programme, and researcher, department of chemistry at the University of Nairobi, presented her ground-breaking work in converting plastic waste into low-cost carbon ‘nanoreactors’ for water purification and pollutant monitoring in a show of potential of African-led science to solve pressing local challenges.

The ARISE programme has enabled her to set up a laboratory, acquire equipment and train postgraduate students, not just from the University of Nairobi, but from across the region, she told the event.

According to Dr Boniface Ushie, the programmes officer at the AAS, the ARISE programme has, so far, been successful in terms of financing research and promoting the visibility of African science.

It has enabled researchers to do their work from home in Africa, using locally available resources, a big shift from the norm where they usually depended on foreign laboratories for such work.

The European Union, according Dr Laurent Bochereau, its science counsellor to the African Union, was committed to fostering science, technology and innovation partnerships with the African continent, and will offer any support to the local scientific community to enable them to do their work.

Original article written by Maina Waruru and published in University World News.