̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Carol Ibe

African plant scientists develop new skills in Cambridge to tackle problems at home

ag236 — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:32:25 +0000

Researchers and students gathered at the Sainsbury Laboratory on Tuesday 4 April for the inaugural African Diaspora Biotech Summit.

Among the participants were 17 postgraduate students and academics from six African countries who had earlier taken part in the Molecular Laboratory Training Workshop, held in Cambridge between 27 March and 3 April.

̽��ֱ��Summit and the Laboratory Training Workshop were organised by Carol Ibe, a second year plant sciences Ph.D. student (Newnham College) and Gates Cambridge Scholar.

Carol, who was born in the USA but grew up in Nigeria, is also the founder of JR Biotek, a non-profit organisation that aims to help train future African scientists and build African research capacity.

Opening the day's proceedings, she said:

"Today, we celebrate a unique gathering that brings together more than 70 students, academics and professionals across different disciplines from Africa and the diaspora to discuss the current state of Africa’s bioeconomy, and how we all may work together to find more practical solutions to the problems facing Africa and the African people."

Addressing her fellow African attendees, she added:

"It is time for us to take the lead in encouraging our governments to invest in quality education, training and capacity building, so as to provide our young people and future generations with the right knowledge and skills they need to compete in the global economy.

It is time for us to take the lead in influencing policy decisions that will support industrialisation that will create employment opportunities for our many unemployed graduates.

It is the time for us to take the lead in important discussions and actions that bring about good governance, and which create the right atmosphere for strategic investments in our countries in Africa."

Delivering the day's Welcoming Address, Prof. Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations, said:

“ ̽��ֱ��narrative is changing – from Africa catching up, to Africa leading. Less brain drain, more brain gain and brain circulation. Research mobility is critical to addressing the global challenges we all face.

̽��ֱ��complexity, the scale, and the urgency of the global challenges demand that we work together.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has developed one model of partnership that illustrates our approach to partnerships with African countries.”

Addressing the Workshop participants, who over the past ten days had gained new knowledge and skills through lectures and practical lab work, Prof Ferran concluded:

“You are the pioneers: not only as participants in this inaugural workshop, but because you will go back to your own countries and lead the way in developing innovative solutions to pressing problems.

And though you have been developing the same skills here, you will each return and apply them to issues that are unique to your own communities.

What you are doing today makes me optimistic for the future –the future of Cambridge, and the future of each of your countries.”

**Watch the film to see what the Molecular Laboratory Training Workshop 2017 was like for its participants.**

̽��ֱ��Molecular Laboratory Training Workshop 2017 and the African Diaspora Biotech Summit 2017 were supported by the JR Biotek Foundation, the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, the Gates Cambridge Foundation, the Global Food Security Strategic Research Initiative, and Trinity College.

Lab training workshop and biotech conference, organised by second year Ph.D. student and Gates Scholar, aim to build African research capacity in agricultural sciences

̽��ֱ��narrative is changing – from Africa catching up, to Africa leading.

Prof Eilís Ferran

African Diaspora Biotech Summit & Workshop 2017

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Carol Ibe: Making training for African researchers affordable

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 08:50:35 +0000

Carol Ibe, a Gates Cambridge Scholar who was born in the USA but grew up in Nigeria, is not only doing a PhD in Plant Sciences, but is also running her own non-profit organisation to help train future African scientists and promote joined up thinking on sustainable development.

Carol set up the JR Biotek Foundation in 2013, although the idea for setting up the organisation came to her while she was doing her first masters in the States in 2006. A year later she had launched her first training programme in biotechnology and biomedicine for students and laboratory scientists in Africa. She wanted to ensure that those participating paid minimal costs so the training could be open to as many research students in Africa as possible, and so she worked with partners to keep costs down. More than 60 people applied for the training workshop from 11 countries in Africa. Even though costs were very low, many could not attend because they lacked funding.

Carol had already completed two masters and worked for several years as both a molecular biologist and a research biologist before setting up the Foundation. Although she was working hard on the organisation, she realised she wanted to continue her academic research so she applied to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and tailored her research proposal to the work she is doing with her organisation.

“I started to think what area of training and capacity building could have the most impact in the continent,” she said. “Agriculture is key to Africa’s development because it is the largest employer of labour. Food insecurity remains a major problem. Soil conditions are deteriorating very rapidly and people are suffering on a daily basis. We need to train a new generation of scientists who can improve agricultural productivity and human health in Africa.”

Her PhD focuses on rice, the staple food of a large part of the world, and how to produce quality rice in places where there are poor soil and climate conditions. “Factors such as lack of funding and new technologies, poor infrastructure and poor market access hinder farmers from producing rice with higher yield and quality. If we can empower smallholder farmers to produce and sell more we can reduce poverty,” said Carol.

While she has been at Cambridge, Carol has been busy not just with her research but with forging partnerships which help achieve the goals she has set for the Foundation.

In April, the Foundation is holding the first African Diaspora Biotech Summit. ̽��ֱ��event will take place in Cambridge and will bring African graduate students, researchers and bio-industry leaders together to debate how research capacity, innovation and commercialisation can be strengthened across the continent.

It will bring together 70 African diaspora delegates from different disciplines and professions, including biotechnology and applied biosciences, policy, sustainable development and bio-entrepreneurship and will include a keynote address from Professor Lucy J. Ogbadu, Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency at Nigeria’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

̽��ֱ��summit will look at areas such as the role of modern bio-technologies in improving agricultural productivity and food security in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050 and the need to reform Africa’s tertiary education system to make it globally competitive. Carol says that too often previous initiatives developed outside Africa have failed to meet the need for which they are developed due to “a limited understanding of the depth of the problems facing African nations and the African people”.

In the lead-up to the summit, JR Biotek is running a Molecular Laboratory Training Workshop for Africa-based agricultural research scientists and academics. It will be held in collaboration with the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences. Eight PhD students will be awarded scholarships to attend the workshop and the Summit, funded by the BBSRC Global Challenge Research Fund and Trinity College, Cambridge. During the Summit, the Foundation will also hold the NextGen Africa Bioinnovation Pitch Competition which is designed to identify and celebrate bio-innovations made to improve lives and systems and to promote sustainable development in Africa.

Carol says: “I want to provide affordable quality training so scientists in Africa can be successful in their research projects. I know what they need because I have been there myself. I am also hoping that African governments and their development partners will start investing in research and development across all sectors in the continent, especially agriculture and healthcare because that’s how innovation, which we so desperately need in Africa, can come about.”

Do you have to choose between an academic career and activism? Gates Cambridge Scholar Carol Ibe is one of an increasing number of students are choosing to keep a foot in both camps.

I want to provide affordable quality training so scientists in Africa can be successful in their research projects. I know what they need because I have been there myself

Carol Ibe

JR Biotek Foundation

Molecular Lab Techniques Training

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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