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Second edition of Next Einstein Forum Africa Science Week begins in 35 countries
KIGALI, Rwanda, 10 September 2018 – The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in partnership with Robert Bosch Stiftung, today announced the beginning of NEF Africa Science Week in 35 African countries throughout the months of September, October and December 2018. NEF Africa Science Week are led [...]
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Cities must lead the clean energy drive, says report
Did you know, that poor households in cities spend 14-22% of their income on energy? As urban growth intensifies energy use, cities must lead with efficient fuels and renewables. Cities can implement practical solutions to meet the need of the urban under-served through development models that slow carbon emissions & shift to cleaner cooking fuels [...]
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Cities must lead the clean energy drive, says report
May 17, 2019 | Blog
Did you know, that poor households in cities spend 14-22% of their income on energy? As urban growth intensifies energy use, cities must lead with efficient fuels and renewables. Cities can implement practical solutions to meet the need of the urban under-served through development models that slow carbon emissions & shift to cleaner cooking fuels [...]
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Scientists have created a silicon beating heart
May 7, 2019 | Blog
Researchers have created an artificial, silicone heart to help combat the shortage of donor hearts. The silicone heart has been developed by Nicholas Cohrs, a doctoral student in the group led by Wendelin Stark, Professor of Functional Materials Engineering at ETH Zurich. It looks like a real heart. And this is the goal of the first [...]
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Young African Robotics Designers Sparking at Pan African Robotic competition in Senegal (PARC 2018)
May 6, 2019 | Blog
Technology is taking part everywhere in this modern era of time, specially to face the challenges that require a sustainable development and help less fortune communities to have the privilege of standard living conditions. Africa by its high potential and promising future should be in the front line for implementing the technology that help local [...]
Black Holes, Africa and the Future of Astrophysics
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In a major scientific breakthrough, astronomers on 10 April 2019 unveiled the globally anticipated image, which reveals a halo of hot gas and plasma around the event horizon of a black hole. This discovery confirms, yet again, the predictions from Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and includes the contributions of scientists from Africa. The involvement [...]
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Africa Must Produce Technology
April 30, 2019 | Blog
Maths and science key to future, writes Neil Turok. Angelina Lutambi was born into a peasant family in Tanzania’s Dodoma region, where HIV and Aids has decimated much of the population. Her future could easily have been bleak – but Lutambi had a keen aptitude for maths. Today she is a senior research scientist at [...]
African Higher Education Summit in Dakar, Senegal
March 10, 2019 | Blog
Live Event: The African Higher Education Summit Dakar, Senegal Join global policy makers, entrepreneurs, academics and international development partners as they develop a common vision geared towards transforming Africa’s higher education system. Dr. Khumbah: “Technical mastery differentiates the developed world from the underdeveloped.” Dr. Green: “Africa has no time to waste. We need to look at initiatives [...]
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At Davos 2019, NEF Experts Examine How to Accelerate Innovation in Africa
March 1, 2019 | Blog, Multimedia
By building a home-grown scientific and technology capacity, added to a pan-African ecosystem of knowledge and innovation, Africa can get past most of the stumbling blocks hindering its development, said experts from the Next Einstein Forum at Davos 2019. The experts took part in ‘Conversations in coLaboratory’, a space for world leaders to engage in [...]
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I have no doubt the next great scientific minds will be from Africa
February 5, 2019 | Blog
Low levels of investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education have the potential to gravely affect Africa’s growth, impeding the competitiveness of many of its nations on a global scale. It is time for a wake-up call. There are signs the continent is thriving economically. But is it sustainable without a workforce that will build [...]
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The Next Einstein Forum publishes first issue multidisciplinary journal Scientific African and accompanying Scientific African Magazine
December 20, 2018 | Blog, News
Kigali, Rwanda – 20 December 2018 The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) – Africa’s global forum for science in Africa – is pleased to announce the launch of the first issue of Scientific African, and its sister publication Scientific African Magazine. Published quarterly, Scientific African is a peer-reviewed, open access, inter- and multidisciplinary scientific journal that is dedicated to [...]
The Next Einstein Forum launches search for Africa’s top scientific talent for prestigious Fellows Class
November 13, 2018 | Blog
We’re thrilled to launch the search for the third Class of NEF Fellows, 2019 – 2021. Application to the NEF Fellows programme is open to Africans from around the world – including those who currently reside in the Diaspora – in all fields of science, including the social sciences and technology fields. Applicants must be [...]
IBM Files Patent for Blockchain-Based AR Helper System
November 7, 2018 | Blog
IBM has filed a patent for a blockchain-based system which will prevent players of augmented reality games entering physical spaces that are undesirable. Augmented reality is a technology which adds layers to physical reality. An example is Zombie GO, an AR game which places zombie in real life or perhaps the most famous example, Pokemon Go. AR can have [...]
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L’Afrique prend sa place dans l’avancée de l’intelligence artificielle
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La grande majorité des experts en IA se trouvent en Amérique du Nord, en Europe et en Asie. L’Afrique, en particulier, est à peine représentée. Ce manque de diversité peut non intentionnellement enraciner les biais algorithmiques et construire une discrimination pour les produits dérivés de l’IA. Ce n’est pas le seul défi : moins de [...]
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Africa’s future needs a better research culture and not just for scientists
November 5, 2018 | Blog
Of the many developmental challenges facing Africa, scientific research doesn’t often rise to the top of the discussion agenda, though thankfully that has been changing with high profile initiatives like the Next Einstein Forum. And yet research and development will be key to the kinds of improvements that African citizens need and expect. The priorities, or [...]
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Look to Africa to advance artificial intelligence
October 25, 2018 | Blog
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing society as profoundly as the steam engine and electricity have done. But unlike past technological revolutions, the AI revolution offers a unique chance to improve lives without opening up and exacerbating global inequalities. That will require widening of the locations where AI is done. The vast majority of experts are in [...]
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Gov’t pledges 1% GDP to support STEM education
October 9, 2018 | Blog
Government has pledged a minimum of one per cent of GDP towards the promotion of research and development expenditure of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the country. Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has said in many advanced countries, conservative estimates have it that the direct and indirect contribution of [...]
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Second edition of Next Einstein Forum Africa Science Week begins in 35 countries
September 10, 2018 | Blog, News
KIGALI, Rwanda, 10 September 2018 – The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in partnership with Robert Bosch Stiftung, today announced the beginning of NEF Africa Science Week in 35 African countries throughout the months of September, October and December 2018. NEF Africa Science Week are led [...]
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Women’s Education Is Needed To Advance Society- Graça Machel
October 3, 2017 | Blog
While there is a considerable gender imbalance in STEM fields, there are increasing numbers of women in these fields exercising their civic duty and finding solutions to global challenges. Female scientists are developing vaccines and women tech coders are creating technologies that are changing the world in which we live. Women simply being present at the [...]
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Ugandan Electrochemist among Africa’s top scientists solving global challenges selected for the Next Einstein Forum
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Uganda’s Dr Justus Masa, a scientist from Kyambogo University/Ruhr-University Bochum was also announced among other 15 fellows for this year’s Next Einstein Forum programme, in the second cohort class of 2017-2019. Moris Atwine writes in enstartup that, Masa’s research aims to use electrochemistry to create green and sustainable energy systems for both portable and grid-scale energy conversion and storage, [...]
Why we’re adding Black Mathematician Month to our calendars
| Blog
Last week of October the 30th, marked Black History Month in the UK, an annual event to highlight the ongoing struggle for equality and to educate people on the achievements of members of the African diaspora. A reason why Black Mathematician Month has been added to black history month calendars, to start promoting black mathematicians and [...]
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Scientists say space science critical for development
September 29, 2017 | Blog
Scientists are appealing to policy planners to begin integrating scientific data into development plans in order to realize benefits to society. According to the researchers meeting at the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development, scientific data generated from the outer space, is key to dealing with the cyclic disasters that have been occasioned [...]
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Initiative to build African science journalism capacity
September 27, 2017 | Blog
Earlier this month, a two-year programme was launched, with an aim to build capacity of science journalists and improve science coverage in Africa, recognising the important role of science journalism in promoting Africa’s socioeconomic development. Sam Otieno in scidev, writes that the project will focus on strategic areas of the AAS including health and wellbeing, climate change, food security and [...]
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NASA Langley’s Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility Officially Opens
September 26, 2017 | Blog
Earlier this week, during a ceremony held in the Reid Conference Center, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, officially opened a new computational research facility, in honor of African American woman Katherine G. Johnson, who plotted key space missions to help advance the nation’s space program in the 1960s. In a ceremony that was [...]
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African scientists are punching above their weight and changing the world
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John Butler-Adam writes in academic rigour that over the past five years, Africa’s contributions to the world’s research that is, new knowledge have varied from a low of 0.7% to the present and highest level of 1.1%. However much there’re sum of knowledge journals and articles published by scientists and scholars in scientifically recognised journals each year, including Africa’s contribution, [...]
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Closing the technology and science gap essential
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Since the end of colonialism, African countries have suffered from a technology gap compared to their former colonial powers, which most African countries have been unable to overcome. African countries face the challenge of using technology to leapfrog industrialization, development and growth. This means African countries must pursue technology-led industrialization, development and growth. According to [...]
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Africa needs more engineers and makers
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Kamau Gachigi, head of Gearbox, Nairobi’s leading maker space emphasized that technology can help Africa prepare for a doubling of it’s population by 2050 during TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania. Africa needs more engineers and makers with practical digital fabrication labs to help people become more practical and more productive building economies that will sustain it’s population growth. [...]
AIMS Launches Fellowship Program for Women in Climate Change Science
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The AIMS Fellowship Program for Women in Climate Change Science seeks to foster increased female participation in and contribute to a more sustainable societal response to climate change. This Fellowship Program was made possible by a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada, www.idrc.ca, and financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through [...]
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A Gender Gap With a Deadly Cost: The Need for More Women Surgeons
September 22, 2017 | Blog
Katrina Nagin writes in restore that, five billion people worldwide are unable to access essential surgical care, suggesting that to address this global health crisis, there is need to encourage more women to join the operating table in order to help close global health crisis. According to the Global Surgery 2030 Report, five billion people lack access to essential [...]
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Astronomers have discovered a comet-like exoplanet that trails a huge, Rapunzel-like hair made of gas behind it
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Astronomers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland have focused the Hubble Space Telescope on an exoplanet that had already been seen losing its atmosphere, which forms an enormous cloud of hydrogen, giving the planet the appearance of a giant comet. During earlier observations in 2015, it was not possible to cover the whole cloud, whose [...]
Women influencing tech in Ghana
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In an industry where men outnumber women, the tech scene in Ghana has seen some tremendous growth over the years. From software development, training, influencing, blogging, engineering, to leadership roles with top global I.T giants, Anne Amuzu, CEO Nandi Mobile is one of the top women blazing the trail for women in this space in [...]
These nanobots can kill cancer cells in 60 seconds
September 21, 2017 | Blog
Researchers at Durham University in the UK have used nanobots to drill into cancer cells, killing them in just 60 seconds. They are now experimenting on micro-organisms and small fish, before moving on to rodents. Clinical trials in humans are expected to follow and it is hoped that the results may have the potential to [...]
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Guest Blog: The Damage Caused by the 93-Day Internet Blackout in Cameroon-Sophie Ngassa
September 14, 2017 | Blog
“For me, internet shutdown was devastating” Sophie Ngassa, a STEM advocate and a tech instructor for girls ages 10 to 18, teaches girls hands-on digital skills at the Center for Youth Education and Economic Development (CYEED). “My goal is to share my passion for STEM and to inspire them early on with the help of mentors, [...]
Meet Africa’s best young scientists and technologists
Earlier Last week, the Next Einstein Forum announced its second batch of fellows, class of 2017-2019, who among the 16, six are women best young scientists and technologists from the African soil. These are young innovators and emerging leaders engaged in research and technological development under the age of 42 years. Read more [...]
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