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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
| Blog
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
| Blog
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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Dr. Nkem Khumbah on the state of STEM in Africa
February 6, 2015 | Blog
“Just about every African country, regional community…African leadership institution has talked about science and its role in development…but their conversation around science has not been matched with what they say they will do…we need to go from intent to practical outcome…” Dr. Nkem Khumbah, NEF’s Executive Curator Can you suggest one practical way that an [...]
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Davos 2015: Some Critical Issues
February 4, 2015 | Blog
The World Economic Forum held its 45th Annual Meeting for 2015 in Switzerland from January 21st to the 24th. Among the key highlights under the theme “The New Global Context,” according to Business Report, included: 1) Growth and Stability: Economic recovery after the financial crisis was discussed and solutions posed. 2) Crisis and Cooperation: How [...]
Nigerian professor Francisca Okeke Predicts Weather
December 2, 2014 | Blog
Breaking the barrier of the male-dominated field of physics, Professor Francisca Okeke explains how she predicts meteorological weather and climate using satellite data. On her career goals: What other challenges did you face as you progressed in your career and have you noticed any changes since you started out in this career with regards to [...]
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New Malaria Vaccine Shows Promise in Kenya
November 16, 2014 | Blog
The NEF is excited to announce breakthroughs in scientific discoveries in Africa. A recent article highlighted that a new malaria vaccine shows promise in Kenya. The RTS vaccine prevents the malaria parasite from infecting, maturing and multiplying in the liver, from which it typically re-enters the blood and infects red blood cells. “We saw a [...]
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“Africa Needs Science, Not Aid”
November 10, 2014 | Blog
The claim is a bold one. Africa needs science, not aid. While Africa continues to experience an economic boom, with Nigeria leading as the continent’s largest economy, its growth is based largely on extraction of natural resources by foreign firms rather than boosting industrial productivity. Authors Nkem Khumbah and Melvin Foote make the point that [...]
‘Exciting’ drug flushes out HIV
July 25, 2014 | Blog
HIV can become part of someone’s DNA and lie dormant for decades, making a cure impossible. Early stage research in six people, reported at the Aids 2014 conference, shows that low-dose chemotherapy can awaken the virus. Experts said it was a promising start, but it was unlikely the drug would work on its own to [...]
GM’s potential in Africa impeded by ‘dysfunctional debate’
July 24, 2014 | Blog
Opportunities to enhance crop yields and reduce poverty in Africa are being lost because of a “polarised public debate” on the continent, according to a report released this week (21 July) by international policy institute Chatham House. Genetic modification (GM) research projects remain stuck at the field trial stage due to governments’ fears keeping the [...]
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Cambridge diagnostic tool offers on-the-spot HIV testing to millions living with HIV in Africa
July 23, 2014 | Blog
A new trans-formative point-of-care diagnostic which gives instant results for the detection of genetic material from the HIV virus is being rolled out across Africa. The small, highly portable machine – known as SAMBA II – will help transform the lives of millions, especially HIV exposed infants who have a one in two chance of [...]
Equipping girls with science to drive change
July 22, 2014 | Blog
From behind the walls of a humble-looking building in Bali, a residential neighbourhood of Doula, Cameroon’s fast-paced economic hub, comes a steady, low hum. It emanates from around 20 women — avid learners immersed in scientific theory and hands-on practice. Read more [...]
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New vaccine against five livestock diseases in progress
July 21, 2014 | Blog
Scientists in South Africa are developing a combination vaccine with the potential to offer protection against five major livestock diseases. Read more [...]
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Gender equality for the environment: An unfinished agenda
July 17, 2014 | Blog
The first-ever United Nations Environment Assembly, that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, last month (23-27 June), came at a historic conjunction of events, as the international community discusses a new generation of Sustainable Development Goals and a post-2015 development agenda that will build on earlier successes and address gaps left over from the Millennium Development [...]
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UN to unveil panel for ‘breakthrough’ Technology Bank
July 16, 2014 | Blog
A “breakthrough” UN initiative for transferring technology and building scientific capacity in the least developed countries (LDCs) will move closer in “a matter of weeks” when a panel to flesh out the proposals is announced, says an official close to the process. The high-level panel will consist of around a dozen experts from various backgrounds, [...]
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Opening up development ‘Without Borders’
July 15, 2014 | Blog
Balthazar Sieders and Mike Martel spend their days cycling along the coast of Africa, stopping here and there to offer free advice on computer coding to people who need it. The duo have called themselves Coders Without Borders, and they’re part of a trend. More than four decades after Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was formed, [...]
Focus on Poverty: More nutrition science or political will?
July 14, 2014 | Blog
The second Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) has just been launched, providing detailed evidence on efforts to reduce hunger (ten indicators) and undernutrition (12 indicators) in 45 developing countries. [1] The data show that the richer among these countries often do better — more resources should, after all, mean better outcomes. They also show [...]
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Local communities ‘sidelined’ in development research
July 11, 2014 | Blog
Development research remains far too academic and disconnected, with a “minuscule fraction” ever reaching local communities in a useable form, experts say. The research community rarely succeeds in transmitting knowledge to the people their work is supposed to help, said speakers at the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes’ meeting in Bonn, Germany, [...]
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How to build research partnerships that benefit farmers
July 10, 2014 | Blog
Agricultural research for development spans a broad spectrum of activities — from ‘upstream’ research, generally at universities or advanced research institutes, to much more ‘downstream’ research by plant breeders to put better crops in farmers’ hands. As a result of this spread, activities can become fragmented, with little communication between specialised teams along the research [...]
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NEF on Flickr
NEF Community of Scientists Annual Meeting- Day3
