Mazungumzo - African Scholarly Conversations

In this episode, Professor Gatiti shares profound insights into the essential role of librarians, showcasing their transformative power in managing and organizing data effectively. As we gear up for the 26th SCESCAL 2024 Conference, hosted by the Kenya Library Association, Professor Gatiti's perspective couldn't be more timely. He advocates for the enhancement of information resources and services in Africa, promising an enlightening exploration of librarianship through his unique lens and expertise.

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In this episode, we are honored to be joined by Professor Flora Fabian-Mbatia, the founding Vice Chancellor of Mwanza University in Tanzania. Prof. Fabian is a passionate mentor dedicated to shaping the future of early-career women in science. From her formative years, where her father's support defied societal norms, to her pioneering work in anatomy and biomedical sciences, Prof. Fabian-Mbatia has been a trailblazer in advocating for gender equity in academia.

Join us in celebrating her journey and the collective efforts towards a more equitable and inclusive future in academia and beyond.

Be part of this transformative journey – because when you mentor her, you empower her.

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In this episode, Dr. Gracian Chimwaza, the founding director of the Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA), narrates his 24-year journey in leading capacity development and research projects across African countries. He emphasizes the importance of addressing societal challenges through information and knowledge exchange. This episode provides an opportunity to learn about the challenges, triumphs, and the evolving role of librarians in scholarly communication in Africa.

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This episode explores DOAJ's efforts to collaborate with African countries, promoting accessibility, open access policies, and launching digital platforms as it celebrates its 20th year. We are joined by Prof. Kamel Belhamel, the DOAJ Ambassador for North Africa, who shares his insights on the representation of African journals in DOAJ, the complexities of language diversity and the role of open access in the African scholarly landscape.

Professor Kamel holds the position of Full Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bejaia, Algeria. Beyond his teaching role, he has been an Ambassador for North Africa with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) since 2016 and is the Editor-in-Chief of the DOAJ-indexed Algerian Journal of Natural Products.

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Season 2 Premiere: We begin the second season of Mazungumzo- African Scholarly Conversations, by taking an explorative journey into Dr. Rana Dajani`s work and life. Driven by a deep commitment to literacy and women empowerment in STEM, she has taken on various key roles that are part of her dedication. Her resilience and strive to go on with her passion for science led to her undertaking her PhD studies in the United States. Dr. Rana has a strong dedication to fostering a culture of reading in children through her initiative, "We Love Reading," that opens up children to the world of books. Her life's work serves as an inspiration and a motivating factor for individuals to discover their passions, prioritize their goals, and make a lasting impact on their communities. In this episode, we delve into her remarkable journey and her pivotal role in bridging the gap between science and education, driving meaningful change, and advancing women's representation in STEM fields.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023. This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia, with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

Episode Highlights:

(00:02:12) An interactive session is introduced, focusing on Open Science's various aspects, including infrastructure, ethics, and integrity. Participants are encouraged to share their views on research integrity, ethics in social and natural sciences, copyrights, data protection, intellectual property rights, and the need for collaboration in building robust infrastructural support systems. The goal is to gather input on how to engage partners and institutions to establish a cohesive Open Science infrastructure that can benefit academic communities.

(00:05:17) During the discussion as presented by Nabil, participants shared insights and feedback on Open Science, with a primary focus on increasing awareness and taking action within their institutions. Key points included encouraging participation in platforms like the African Open Access Platform, establishing standard procedures and policies, and recognizing the importance of science communication and journalism in promoting Open Science. Concerns were raised about global systems dominating over local initiatives, and the need for increased African contributions to institutional repositories.

(00:08:49) Ms. Roheena Anand presented discussions from the online community. Firstly, there's a strong call for greater awareness and education about open science within institutions, recognizing its educational value. Participants emphasized the need to address contentious issues, particularly intellectual property (IP), and find local solutions to challenges like ranking systems relying on closed databases. A significant concern raised is the resource costs associated with open-source software, emphasizing the need to invest in professionals who can maintain infrastructure knowledge and prevent knowledge loss when individuals leave institutions.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023. This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia, with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

Episode Highlights:

(00:02:12) Ms. Joy Owango welcomes Dr. Lucienne Abrahams whose topic agenda will focus on research infrastructure and how it digitally enables open science.

(00:02:47) Dr. Lucienne Abrahams , the Director at the LINK Centre in the University of the Witwatersrand, discusses the concept of digital research infrastructure in South Africa, emphasizing its role in advancing open science and open data initiatives. The SA-DRIP platform (subject to potential name change), which aims to facilitate research practice, particularly in six domains: biodiversity and climate change, digital humanities, learning and human development, health surveillance and promotion, energy science and innovation, and mathematical, statistical, computational, and data sciences. Dr. Lucienne highlights the importance of open access to data and the collaborative nature of the platform as they unveil a high-level visual representation of this proposed digital research infrastructure. This discussion underscores the need for mobilizing data, promoting collaboration, and fostering interdisciplinary research across these domains.

(00:16:48) Ms. Ellen Tise, the chairperson of the board of Sunlink ,the Consortia of all South African Libraries, begins her discussion with focus shifting from the influence of librarians to the influence of libraries in open science. She highlights libraries' historical significance and their leadership in open science, particularly in open access and open data. She emphasizes that open science isn't a new concept, defining it as accessible and reusable science. Ms. Ellen outlines four criteria for libraries to assess their involvement in open science and suggests actionable steps for libraries to contribute to the open science movement.to assess their engagement in open science and suggests actionable steps to contribute to the movement, underlining libraries' pivotal role in promoting transparency and accessibility.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023. This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia, with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

Episode Highlights:

(00:02:12) Ms. Joy Owango begins the session highlighting the day's topic as the Infrastructural Aspect of Open science and proceeds to welcome the first speaker of the day.

(00:03:06) Professor Madara Ogot is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ubuntu Alliance for Research and Education Networking (UbuntuNet) highlights the critical role of the UbuntuNet in supporting open science and digital transformation in Eastern and Southern Africa. He delves into laying out the Network`s structure and most importantly what infrastructure they have on open science, the Mutinet Open Science Cloud.The Professor`s discussion highlights UbuntuNet's pivotal role in supporting open science, fostering collaboration, and providing vital infrastructure and services to advance research and education across Eastern and Southern Africa.

(00:16:52) Dr. Clifford Ntomani, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Research Foundation overseeing National Research Infrastructure Platforms, discusses their efforts to establish research infrastructures that empower scientists and develop human and technological resources in support of their science agenda. He highlights the foundation's strategic expansion of research infrastructure, with two key streams: one for humanities, arts, and social sciences and another for digital research infrastructures spanning all disciplines. Dr. Clifford highlights on Prof. Abraham's upcoming talk that will aim to define the scope of these essential digital research infrastructures. This initiative includes active consultation and collaboration with the research community in South Africa and across the continent, enhancing accessibility and capacity for researchers.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023. This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia, with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

Episode Highlights:

(00:02:12) Participants were greeted by Ms. Joy Owango, the executive director of the Training Center in Communication, as they convened to discuss Open Science infrastructure and Open Data. The session focused on regional and national perspectives regarding the support of higher education through Open Science Infrastructure.

(00:04:14) Dr. Peggy Boateng from the African Academy of Sciences initiates the discussion by outlining the Academy's mission and programs designed to advance Science, Technology, and Innovation for sustainable development in Africa. She underscores the Academy's commitment to promoting UNESCO's open science principles and highlights the positive impact they anticipate it will have on the region and continent. Dr. Peggy passionately advocates for the adoption of UNESCO's open science framework to establish an African Open Science Platform, benefiting researchers, particularly women, and fostering innovation and progress.

(00: 22:18) Professor Ramos Ismael discusses open science and university rankings. He explores how open science practices contribute to a university's competitiveness and visibility, ultimately affecting its performance compared to other universities. He argues and explains that research assessment has been traditionally conducted and that the competitive ranking of universities is working against open science.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023.

This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023.

This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023.

This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

This episode features highlights from the two-day Southern Africa Regional Open Science Dialogue held at the University of Pretoria in April 2023.

This engagement brought together higher education stakeholders from Southern Africa who explored key themes over the two days, such as rethinking research assessment and incentivization in academia with the aim to foster the adoption of Open Science and Open Access principles within the region.

The workshop is part of an ongoing series of high-level Open Science dialogue workshops targeting institutional leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of raising knowledge and awareness on the importance and best practice of Open Science and Open Access, and increase the number of Open Science mandates within higher education institutions.

In this episode, we delve into a world where science and journalism intersect, uncovering the profound impact that they have in shaping a more informed society. Spearheading this mission is Verah Okeyo, a renowned science journalist, teacher, and communicator who has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between scientific advancements and public understanding specifically in healthcare. She recognizes the responsibility of science journalists in promoting scientific literacy and believes that science journalism has the potential to inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators, igniting a passion for discovery and problem-solving. Discover the power of storytelling, community engagement, and collaboration in shaping a world where science thrives and everyone has access to life-changing knowledge.

Verah Okeyo is a communications specialist, a teacher, and an award-winning science reporter. She has been a journalist for nine years, at Nation Media Group, one of the largest private media houses in East and Central Africa. Her reporting mostly focused on global health, humanitarian, gender, and environmental issues in the company's print and digital departments.

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Postgraduate research is a journey of discovery and knowledge creation. It goes beyond simply learning how to think and delves into the realm of producing new knowledge. To embark on this journey, one must build upon existing knowledge, using it as a solid foundation. However, it is crucial to recognize that the pursuit of new knowledge requires support.

On this episode of Mazungumzo- African Scholarly Conversations, we are joined by Boniface Nyagah, a program manager and capacity-building specialist who shares his incredible journey from engineering to managing 300 postgraduate scholarships annually and explore the power of scholarships in shaping the future of African academia. 

On this episode of the podcast, we had the privilege of catching up with Dr. Mac-Anthony Cobblah, an accomplished leader in academic librarianship, as he shares his insights on librarianship and leadership, especially when it comes to promoting open science within the realm of scholarly communication in African universities. He holds the position of chair for Academic and Special Libraries at the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AFLIA), as well as University Librarian and Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana.

Dr. Cobblah speaks about the need for sustainability in research and the impact it has on future generations. He questions what literacy we are leaving for the next generation and urges higher education and research institutions to get involved in research that has a lasting impact and can transcend beyond our generation.

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While there has been a shift in how Open Science is perceived in Africa, ‘Open’ is still being misconstrued to mean that it is a loose and unstructured approach to scientific research, without restrictions or regulations. This is not the case. What people have failed to understand is that Open Science not only promotes research credibility by promoting transparency and reproducibility but also promotes research sovereignty and data ownership by allowing researchers to retain control over their data and research findings.

This episode’s guest, Mr. Abednego Corletey, the senior IT Officer for the Association of African Universities (AAU), speaks on the current research trends in Africa, highlighting Open Science awareness and implementation as well as how the Association of African Universities (AAU) is not only pushing for its adoption but also creating an enabling environment to support the process.

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For many years, African libraries have been struggling to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of access to scientific information and resources. This has led to a situation where valuable research findings are often shelved and not shared with the wider scientific community, and libraries are forced to operate with limited resources, hindering their ability to provide quality services to their users. In this episode, we are joined by Mr. Lazarus Gallant Matizirofa, the Deputy Director of the Department of Library Services at the University of Pretoria, to discuss among other things, how African libraries are embracing open science to address the challenges of shelved research and poor library funding. Mr. Matizirofa is a true pioneer in the open scholarship community, working tirelessly to promote open-access publishing and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.

Lazarus is a pioneer in the world of open scholarship and research visibility, with a wealth of experience in the field. He is a member of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Next Generation Repositories Working Group, and was a Technical Advisory Board member for the African Open Science Platform (AOSP) from 2017 to 2019. He also served as a member of the Steering Committee for the SA-EU Open Science Dialogue in 2018 and 2019.

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Today’s episode features the inspiring story of Professor Chioma Blaise Chikere, a visionary leader and scientist, who is breaking barriers and defying stereotypes in research. As a mother and African woman, she's on a mission to show the world the potential of women and the importance of giving them a voice. Hear her story of overcoming academic bias and progressing to a successful career in academia. Prof. Chioma proves that if you're not given a seat at the table, bring your own folding seat and create a space for yourself.

Professor Chioma Blaise Chikere is a full Professor in the Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Her area of specialization is Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology with a focus on the bioremediation of hydrocarbon-polluted matrices and biomining for hydrocarbon-degradative genes in hydrocarbon-degrading microbes using high-end sequencing techniques. She is the Director, Entrepreneurial Centre University of Port Harcourt, and was most recently appointed by the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) Wageningen, the Netherlands, as The Senior Country Ambassador for Nigeria.

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Kickstarting our podcast series this year is self-proclaimed ‘woman in science’, widely published soil scientist and the National Chairperson, the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) Nigeria Chapter, Professor Olayinka Nwachukwu. She talks about how her work with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) is promoting gender equality in science and technology in Nigeria, and how this can lead to more inclusive and sustainable solutions to local and global problems. She also shares her personal experiences as a woman in science offering advice to young women and early career researchers on the challenges and opportunities that exist particularly in Nigeria.

Visit the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) here:

If you are a researcher, you are probably familiar with the research lifecycle and all the challenges and opportunities that come with it. With this in mind, Eider Africa- a women-led social enterprise, has been working towards supporting researchers by providing a safe space for mentorship throughout the research life cycle and amplifying the voices of African researchers.

In this episode, Ms. Aurelia Munene, the founder of Eider Africa expounds on her journey in growing a vibrant community of research journal clubs and developing transformative inclusive research mentorship for African researchers who face unique challenges and barriers in their academic careers. Ms. Aurelia Munene is an international researcher in gender, sexual reproductive health, children, and youth, and a research mentor coordinator with over 15 years of experience in the development and humanitarian space. She is also a steward and research mentor at the AuthorAid research community. 

Learn more about Eider Africa here:

This episode features the genesis of a four-part regional blended workshop addressing the pushback and advocating for the Adoption and Implementation of Open Science and Open Access practices in member institutions of the AAU. It features various higher education stakeholders including Presidents, Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Directors of Research, and Libraries of African Universities. Leading the discussions are Roheena Anand of PLOS, Ana Persic of UNESCO, Geoffrey Boulton from the International Science Council, Olusola Bandele Oyewole the secretary general of the Association of African Universities, Tshiamo Motshegwa the director at African Open Science Platform (AOSP),  McAnthony Cobblah the Chair, Academic and Special Libraries at African Library & Information Associations & Institutions(AFLIA), Abednego Cortley of the African Association of Universities and Joy Owango of TCC Africa.

Do African Researchers understand what open access entails? What Open-Access Academic Publishing infrastructure is available in Africa to support researchers?

We are joined by  Elizabeth Marincola, from Africa Academy of Sciences Open Research, Matt Hodgkinson from Africa’s oldest Open Access publishing Hindawi and Osman Aldirdiri from AfricArxiv, Africa’s own preprint repository in this discussion.

‘You need to fall in love with and maximize the problem if you are looking to be able to come up with a brilliant solution”, asserts our guest, Ms. Agnes Tsuma as she narrates her journey coming into research innovation and commercialization. This episode features an engaging conversation that highlights the existing opportunities for early career innovators in Kenya, the current state of industry-academia linkage, and the strategic steps by KENIA to propel research outputs and technology from our institutions to the marketplace.

Agnes Tsuma is a research, innovation, and grants management professional with 10+ years of multifaceted experience with well-established international institutions. She is currently the Manager of Innovation Commercialization at the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA), and was a TCC Africa trainee in 2021.

Visit the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KENIA) here:

In today’s feature episode, speakers from African Journals Online (AJOL) Susan Murray, Kate Snow, and Kylie Van Zyl demonstrated the pertinence of Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) in the fostering discoverability of African research outputs and journals as well as how to practically implement the DOI’s within the journals. The meeting was hosted by Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa) executive director, Joy Owango.

Sub-Saharan Africa [is said to] account[s] for 13.5% of the global population but less than 1% of global research output. Part of the problem is that there is low visibility of its research output. Open access repositories have created a paradigm shift in enhancing African research output. Where are these repositories and how can we take advantage of them? How should African researchers make use of these repositories to increase their visibility?

Catch up with Jo Havemann, Mark Hahnel, Mark Snyders, Stephanie Kitchen, and Joy Owango, the panelist of the session to find out more!

In this episode, we get insights from Titi Ajay- Doing a Ph.D. in Africa, and Andy Nobes- AuthorAID on research capacity support systems that exist for Ph.D. Scholars in Africa.

One of the impacts of the globalization of higher education is the creation and rise of global rankings and its effect on the competitive nature of universities as we know them. Join Joy Owango, Lisa Bonney- Institutional researcher at the University of Johannesburg, Denyse Webbstock- Senior Director at the University of Johannesburg, and Prof. Ahmed Bawa - CEO, Universities South Africa as they debunk the influence of university rankings on the strategic decisions they make in regards to how they use the results to increase their visibility, attract top talent, funding and collaboration.

There are 526 journals indexed in the African bibliographic database African Journals Online (AJOL). Of these 526 journals, 32 countries have submitted their publications in the database.

This episode features the webinar titled, 'What Does it Take To Produce High-Impact African Journals?', where guest speakers Raoul Kamadjeu of PAMJ, Susan Murray of African Journal Online (AJOL), and Joy Owango of TCC Africa debunk why it is seemingly hard to produce and sustain good quality journals and what it takes to produce high impact and credible journals.

Former TCC Africa trainee, Mr. Kenneth Monjero fondly known as Dr. Fun, shares how his passion for science communication has inspired his academic journey and led him to promote the accessibility of science and scientific innovations to better the lives of children and youth in Africa through his organization, Fun & Education Global Network. Fun & Education Global Network seeks to improve lives globally through interactive learning experiences, sharing information, mentorship, and teamwork to better the lives of children, teens, and youth.

Kenneth Monjero is a biotechnologist working with Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO Biotech). He is also the Lead of KALRO Children Science Centre and postgraduate in Crop Science from the University of Nairobi. 

Visit the Fun & Education Global Network website here:

https://www.fegne.org/

'Open Science will happen whether you're on it or not as the world moves through an era of digitization,' affirms our guest, Dr. Nokuthula Mchunu, the Deputy- Director of the African Open Science Platform (AOSP) and a Senior Researcher from the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa in the Biotechnology Platform. 

In this episode, Dr. Mchunu shares her perspective on where Africa, and especially South Africa, falls on the shift toward the Open Science movement, the importance of stakeholder involvement from researchers, scientists, industries, legislators down to the ordinary citizen in drafting and implementing the science and innovation policies and how Africa can position herself to actively contribute to the global scientific community while aligning this openness with the protection of the Indigenous Knowledge ecosystem.

She also shares on how the Africa Open Science Platform (AOSP) is working to mobilize the scientific community in Africa in responding to the imperatives of open science and the opportunities of the digital revolution and promoting the value and exploiting the potential of specifically Open Data.

Resources referenced in this episode:

https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol

https://aosp.org.za/memberships/

Visit the Africa Open Science Platform (AOSP) website here: 

https://aosp.org.za/about-us/

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