AAU appoints experts to lead thematic research networks

In a move designed to bolster regional integration through research, the Association of African Universities (AAU), has appointed two teams of experts to lead two thematic networks within its African Universities Experts initiative, the first critical step in actualising the research network launched in July.

The two teams will each lead a network, namely the Agro-Processing and Food Network, and the Climate Resonance, Oceans, Sustainable Water Use, Marine Resources, and Fisheries Network, coordinating their activities across all regions of the continent.

The appointed academics and professionals will serve for periods of three years, which began in November 2024, leading activities to promote teaching, learning, and research in the fields, while encouraging the mobility of staff and students within Africa to foster joint research and collaborative proposal writing, as part of the broader Africa Research, Innovation, and Development (AfRID) Network.

Chairs named

The AfRID researchers component has now been renamed ‘African Universities Experts’, the objective being to ensure that researchers working in the same field of research are networked to foster partnerships among themselves.

The team for the African Universities Experts in Agro-Processing and Food Networks will be chaired by Professor Lateef Oladimeji Sanni, the executive director of the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute, with five members drawn from institutions in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.

In addition, the coordinating team for the Climate Resonance, Oceans, Sustainable Water Use, Marine Resources, and Fisheries Network will be chaired by Professor Shehu Akintola of the Department of Fisheries, Lagos State University, Nigeria. He will be supported by eight team members drawn from institutions in Mauritius, Benin, Togo, Morocco and Nigeria.

“The chairpersons or members serve for a three-year term starting on 10 November, 2024, and will oversee the network’s activities in the five regions of the continent, North, South, East, West, and Central Africa,” according to an AAU statement.

Additional networks are expected to be launched soon in different fields, including computer science, artificial intelligence, health and pharmacy, entrepreneurship, sustainable mining, social sciences, and in sustainable engineering, said Professor Olusola Oyewole, the secretary general of the AAU.

The networks will not lead to the creation of another Centres of Excellence initiative, he clarified, but the AAU will help researchers in different regions of the continent to collaborate, with the association, serving as facilitators, he added.

“The AAU invites institutions with aligned visions to partner with the association in this transformative initiative aiming to revolutionise Africa’s higher education sector,” he said.

“The newly appointed team members are poised to lead these networks with excellence and innovation and to drive forward the mission of enhancing academic collaboration and integration across the continent,” Oyewole added.

Promoting research partnerships

In July this year, the AAU launched the first of its thematic university experts’ networks, to accelerate research collaborations among African researchers in different universities.

The African Universities Experts in Climate Resonance, Oceans, Sustainable Water Use, Marine Resources and Fisheries network held its initial meeting virtually earlier in July, bringing together about 300 researchers drawn from universities across the continent.

The network was intended to also promote joint research, proposal writing, students’ and staff mobility, especially related to graduate examination, and enhance other activities that will elevate the interests of the network, said Oyewole.

“Many people in Africa are doing a lot of research but we cannot see much of the impact yet. We can change this by, among other things, promoting research partnerships so that universities are able to network, and researchers, too, are able to network,” said Oyewole.