̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Spotlight on international development

African universities reap fruits of fly research

tdk25 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 05:00:12 +0000

Drosophila melanogaster, better known as the humble fruit fly, has emerged as the unlikely basis of an attempt to help to stem a “brain drain” from African universities.

While they may be loathed by many as a relentlessly irritating pest, fruit flies are nevertheless being used as an ally by a team of researchers who believe that they could play a role in cultivating research talent in Africa, and in preventing its loss to the rest of the world.

Under a new project, called “DrosAfrica”, fruit fly research labs are being established at institutions in Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya. ̽��ֱ��hope is that the training and research that these centres undertake will nurture a community of biomedical research scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa, and inspire other universities to follow suit.

Despite their unglamorous reputation, fruit flies are of great value to scientific research and have played an often overlooked role in some of the biggest biological breakthroughs of the past 100 years. As an example, the first jet-lag gene, the first learning gene and the first channel proteins were all identified in flies.

About 75% of known human disease genes have a recognisable match in the genome of fruit flies, and this makes them ideal for research on subjects such as cellular development and the causes of complex conditions, such as neurodegeneration, psychiatric diseases, and cancer.

In Africa, where postgraduate scientific research in universities is often limited by financial constraints, or a lack of resources and infrastructure, Drosophila could therefore be a valuable tool. They are, after all, both cheap and – as people working in the food or restaurant industries tend to know only too well – available in plentiful supply.

Dr Isabel Palacios, a Fellow of St John’s College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and one of the founding academics behind DrosAfrica, argues that this could help to resolve a shortage of scientific talent emerging from the continent. African researchers make up only 2.2% of the world’s academic research community as a whole, and Sub-Saharan Africa contributes just 0.6%. Lacking the tools needed to undertake world-class research, many African researchers also leave their own countries and move to better-resourced institutions, leading to a “brain drain” effect that has deprived their home nations of skilled researchers.

“Students at African universities who start a PhD often find that they can’t really do much research and end up lecturing and teaching instead,” Palacios said. “Our big idea is to use fruit flies as the basis of affordable, meaningful research projects for people who are at this stage in their academic careers. That should enable us to create a biomedical research community that doesn’t really exist at the moment.”

̽��ֱ��inspiration for DrosAfrica came from workshops organised in 2011 by Lucia Prieto Godino, at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and the Nigerian scientist, Professor Sadiq Yusuf at Kampala International ̽��ֱ��, Uganda, at which Palacios and others taught. These set out to equip scientists and faculty members with the knowledge and skills needed to undertake research in biomedical science and state-of-the-art cellular biology using fruit flies. Although DrosAfrica is an independent initiative, Palacios continues to collaborate with Godino. More workshops are now being planned in Kenya and Nigeria for 2016.

Participants are given guidance on how to set up their own research project to study topics such as cancer, the immune system, or infectious diseases. ̽��ֱ��workshops also provide opportunities to network with other researchers from across Africa who share similar interests, and allocate each participant a mentor who helps them further develop their own ideas and experiments. An online learning community has also been established, to promote interaction between alumni and the sharing of resources and information.

̽��ֱ��workshops have also now led to the establishment of new laboratories in various African Universities undertaking fruit fly research. According to a follow-up survey conducted by the DrosAfrica group, labs have been set up at the ̽��ֱ�� of Nairobi in Kenya, focusing on host-pathogen interactions in various diseases; and at Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda, where MSc and PhD students are learning to use Drosophila in teams carrying out research on subjects such as antimalarial drugs, depression, epilepsy, and the role of nutrition in controlling stress.

A project to establish a Drosophila unit at the International College of Health Sciences and Liberal Arts, Nigeria, by one of the senior DrosAfrica alumni, is also being supported by the group.

In addition to doing research, these centres are planning to run their own workshops in the near future, which Dr Palacios hopes will enable the initiative to spread to other African institutions. She likens the model to that of Spain where, 40 years ago, top scientific research labs were few and far between. Almost by chance one lab started working on Drosophila and there are now several dozen of research centres – including some of the best Drosophila labs anywhere in the world – training emerging Spanish scientists.

“What we would really like to achieve, and what we are now beginning to get, is a situation where researchers are setting up their own labs and running ambitious experiments without having to leave Africa itself,” she said. “ ̽��ֱ��work that they are undertaking has the potential to have a real impact on human welfare.”

̽��ֱ��DrosAfrica project involves academics from the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol and Bath in the UK, the ̽��ֱ�� Pablo Olavide in Spain, and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Cicencia in Portugal, and Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda. ̽��ֱ��project is supported by the Cambridge-Africa Programme and the Alborada Fund. Further information about the DrosAfrica project can be found at: http://drosafrica.org/.

Fruit flies are proving the unlikely source of a new initiative to help improve postgraduate research opportunities in Africa, with the support of Cambridge academics.

Students at African universities who start a PhD often find that they can’t really do much research and end up lecturing and teaching instead. Our big idea is to use fruit flies as the basis of affordable, meaningful research projects for people who are at this stage in their academic careers.

Isabel Palacios

Drosophila melanogaster

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New evidence of suicide epidemic among India’s ‘marginalised’ farmers

fpjl2 — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 08:51:14 +0000

A new study has found that India’s shocking rates of suicide are highest in areas with the most debt-ridden farmers who are clinging to tiny smallholdings – less than one hectare – and trying to grow ‘cash crops’, such as cotton and coffee, that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations.

̽��ֱ��research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India’s agriculture sector following the ‘liberalisation’ of the nation’s economy during the 1990s. Researchers say that policy intervention to stabilise the price of cash crops and relieve indebted farmers may help stem the tide of suicide that has swept the Indian countryside.

This latest work follows on from a recent Lancet study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), which showed Indian suicide rates to be among the highest in the world – with suicide the second leading cause of death among young adults in India.

In 2010, 187,000 Indians killed themselves – one fifth of all global suicides.

However, while the Lancet study revealed suicide rates in rural areas to be almost double those of urban areas, and the most common method of suicide to be deliberately ingesting pesticide, the LSHTM authors did not believe they had enough evidence to show suicide rates are higher in farmers.

Suicide rates vary sharply across the different Indian states. Building on the LSHTM study, researchers from Cambridge and UCL analysed suicide figures of 18 Indian states – as well as national crime and census statistics and surveying done by the Ministry of Agriculture – to create data models that investigated whether case studies of “farmer suicide” that concentrate on a few suicide hotspots could be generalised across India.

̽��ֱ��team, from the Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Sociology and ̽��ֱ�� College London’s Department of Political Science, say they have found significant causal links showing that the huge variation in suicide rates between Indian states can largely be accounted for by suicides among farmers and agricultural workers.

Farmers at highest risk have three characteristics: those that grow cash crops such as coffee and cotton; those with ‘marginal’ farms of less than one hectare; and those with debts of 300 Rupees or more. Indian states in which these characteristics are most prevalent had the highest suicide rates. In fact, these characteristics account for almost 75% of the variability in state-level suicides.

̽��ֱ��researchers say the results of their statistical analysis support many case studies and reports from the field and suggest there is a suicide epidemic in marginalised areas of Indian agriculture that are at the mercy of global economics. ̽��ֱ��study is recently published online in the journal Globalisation and Health.

“Many believe that the opening of markets and scaling back of state support following the liberalisation of the Indian economy led to an ‘agrarian crisis’ in rural India – which has resulted in these shocking numbers of suicide among Indian agricultural workers,” said lead author Jonathan Kennedy.

“Small scale farmers who cultivate capital-intensive cash crops – which are subject to massive price fluctuations – are particularly vulnerable to accruing debts they can’t repay. Many male farmers – who are traditionally responsible for a household’s economic well-being – resort to suicide because they can’t support their families.”

̽��ֱ��researchers found that suicide rates tend to be higher in states with greater economic disparity – the more unequal the state, the more people kill themselves – but inequality as a predictor of suicide rates paled in comparison with cash crops and marginalised, indebted farmers.

̽��ֱ��state of Kerala – one of the most developed in India – has the highest male suicide rate in India. If Kerala were a country, it would have the highest suicide rate in the world.

Areas such as Gujarat, in which cash crops are mainly cultivated on large-scale farms, have low suicide rates. This is because wealthy cash crop farmers have the resources to weather difficult economic periods, says Kennedy, without falling into debt and ruin.

Another outlier is West Bengal, which has high numbers of smallholders but an average suicide rate: but this is an area in which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – who have an “unrivalled commitment” to improving the lot of poor farmers – have had a strong political influence over the past four decades.

̽��ֱ��researchers say their study points to a vicious cycle of Indian smallholders forced into debt due to market fluctuations. While 300 rupees – the debt figure analysed in the study – only amounts to $5, the government defines a mere 25 rupees as an adequate daily income in rural India.

̽��ֱ��shame and stress of no longer being able to provide for their families has resulted in hundreds of thousands of male farmers, and in many cases their wives too, taking their own lives by drinking the modern pesticides designed to provide them with bountiful harvests – a truly horrific end as the chemicals cause swift muscle and breathing paralysis.

Added Kennedy: “ ̽��ֱ��liberalisation of the Indian economy is most often associated with near-double digit growth, the rise of India as an economic powerhouse, and the emergence of wealthy urban middle classes. But it is often forgotten that over 833 million people – almost 70% of the Indian population – still live in rural areas.

“A large proportion of these rural inhabitants have not benefited from the economic growth of the past twenty years. In fact, liberalisation has brought about a crisis in the agricultural sector that has pushed many small-scale cash crops farmers into debt and in some cases to suicide.”

Latest statistical research finds strong causal links between areas with the most suicides and areas where impoverished farmers are trying to grow crops that suffer from wild price fluctuations due to India’s relatively recent shift to free market economics.

It is often forgotten that over 833 million people – almost 70% of the Indian population – still live in rural areas

Jonathan Kennedy

Vinoth Chandar

Agriculture is the backbone of India

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On the fly: African summer school on insect neuroscience

lw355 — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:41:47 +0000

When Cambridge PhD student Lucia Prieto Godino met Professor Sadiq Yusuf, a Nigerian scientist from the Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda, she learned that most neuroscientists in Africa use rats as a model system – and the seed of an idea was planted.

“Rats are expensive model organisms with very limited accessibility to genetic manipulation. Drosophila, however, are easy and inexpensive to breed and maintain in the lab, and the wealth of genetic tools available for the study of the brain makes it an attractive model organism used by many scientists in the West,” she explained. “But without training, it can seem a major step for researchers to change to this approach.”

Now, Dr Prieto Godino (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the ̽��ֱ�� of Lausanne) and scientists from several European universities are gearing up to hold their third summer school in Uganda to help early career scientists learn how to work with flies. To date, 34 scientists from six African countries have taken part in the three-week, hands-on programme that combines both theoretical and laboratory sessions.

One participant said: “This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science; actually I can say this course serve as an eye opener to us.” Another said: “I will carry the knowledge I have gained in the course of the workshop to other places.”

Crucial to the course’s successful organisation was the presence of a local committee in Uganda led by Sadiq Yusuf, together with fundraising by Prieto Godino to pay for the shipping of donated equipment and reagents to Africa and full scholarships for course participants. Additionally, researchers from several European universities, including Cambridge zoologists Professor Mike Bate and Dr Berthold Hedwig, have volunteered to teach at the summer school, which is now supported by the International Brain Research Organization.

“As the three weeks of the first course progressed, we realised how much of a difference could be made over there, and we decided to found an NGO to formalise and channel our future efforts in improving higher education and research in Africa. In January of 2012, with Sadiq as our African partner, we founded ‘TReND in Africa’, which stands for Teaching and Research in Neuroscience for Development in Africa,” said Prieto Godino.

TReND in Africa co-founder Dr Tom Baden, who along with Prieto Godino was a PhD student in the Department of Zoology and is now at the ̽��ֱ�� of Tübingen, said: “In TReND in Africa, we aim to provide young African university graduates with the global perspective on science and society that we have enjoyed all our lives thanks to the privilege of going through a Western education system.”

̽��ֱ��summer school is still one of the main activities developed by TReND in Africa, but activities are rapidly diversifying. Current projects include furnishing labs in Africa and supporting the development of the first MSc course in Neuroscience in Uganda in collaboration between the Kampala International ̽��ֱ��.

TReND in Africa shares ideology and collaborates with the Cambridge in Africa programme, which views strengthening of Africa’s indigenous scientific research base as crucial to the identification of its disease control and public health priorities, and to the discovery of appropriate solutions.

“Providing higher education and research capacity building locally in Africa is essential for the development of its societies,” Prieto Godino added. “It empowers the local production of knowledge and the capability of addressing local problems and challenges in a more adequate and cost-effective manner.”

A programme created by Cambridge researchers is teaching African scientists how insects can be powerful yet inexpensive model systems in neuroscientific research.

This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science.

Summer school participant

TReND in Africa

Summer school participant

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Harnessing the power of research to benefit developing countries

gm349 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:36:33 +0000

On Thursday 2 May, the CEO of the GAVI Alliance, Dr Seth Berkley, will discuss how to harness the power of research to expedite the development of vaccines appropriate for developing countries and improve access to them.

Dr Berkley’s talk will set out how the GAVI Alliance’s public-private partnership model brings together donors, developing countries, industry, civil society and academia to solve the challenges of reaching every child with vaccines no matter where they are born.

GAVI leverages expertise across a variety of sectors, including innovative financing for development, supply chain management, the development of mobile phone platforms for the collection of epidemiological data, mathematical modelling of infectious disease and health economics and policy.

Prior to joining GAVI in 2011, Dr Berkley was the founder, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) for over a decade. His talk, ‘Harnessing the power of science research and the public and private sector: a 21st century model for international development’, is the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research’s inaugural lecture.

Dr Berkley’s talk will be followed with a presentation by the world-leading flu expert, Professor Derek Smith, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Modelling, Evolution and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers after the talks.

̽��ֱ��evening begins at 5.30pm at the Howard Lecture Theatre, Downing College, Cambridge (map). If you would like to attend, please RSVP: http://wt-cghr-cambridge-gavi-lecture.eventbrite.com/

Professor David Dunne, Director of the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research and host of the lecture, said: “By partnering with globally important organisations such as the GAVI Alliance, Cambridge’s multi-disciplinary research and technology communities can have a more profound effect on international development, public health, and the lives of people in the developing world.”

“As an innovative public-private partnership, the GAVI Alliance works to harness the expertise and experience from a range of sectors to help us to improve access to lifesaving vaccines for children in developing countries,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance. “Our partners range from WHO and UNICEF to donors – including the UK government – implementing countries, vaccine manufacturers, civil society organisations, and academia.

“We have made great progress in the past decade, but the stark reality is that 22 million children born every year around the world don’t receive the immunisation they need against potentially fatal childhood illnesses. Supply chain management, improving the quality of vaccine coverage data and developing vaccines that remain highly effective outside of cold storage systems are just some of the challenges which, if they can be overcome, would have a huge positive impact on GAVI’s ability to reach more children.

“Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� has an outstanding reputation for academic research, coupled with its commitment to Africa, which makes it an ideal forum to set out the challenges and opportunities in improving access to immunisation in developing countries.”

̽��ֱ��GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership which aims to immunise a quarter of a billion additional children in the developing world with life-saving vaccines by 2015. With GAVI support, countries are now introducing new vaccines against the primary causes of two of the biggest childhood killers in the world: pneumonia and severe diarrhoea. Together these diseases account for 30% of child deaths in low-income countries. It was established in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK government and others to improve access to immunisation.

̽��ֱ��Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research status was awarded to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in February of this year. ̽��ֱ��Centre plans to capture and capitalise on the extensive basic biomedical and health-related research capacity across many departments and research institutes in Cambridge. It will make this fully available for research capacity building and knowledge exchange partnerships with African universities and institutes, as a means of improving the health and welfare of those in low- and middle-income countries.

CEO of GAVI Alliance to give Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research inaugural lecture

We have made great progress in the past decade, but the stark reality is that 22 million children born every year around the world don’t receive the immunisation they need.

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance

Harnessing the power of science research and the public and private sector

gavi_2012_olivier_asselin

Vaccinations in Ghana

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Cambridge named one of Wellcome Trust’s Centres for Global Health Research

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:25:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��Wellcome Trust has named the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge as the site of one of its five Centres for Global Health Research.

̽��ֱ��Centres will be located at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the Bloomsbury Universities, ̽��ֱ�� of Liverpool in partnership with ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow, Imperial College London and ̽��ֱ�� of Sussex. ̽��ֱ��Wellcome Trust has committed more than £3m to these Centres over the next five years.

Centres for Global Health Research are intended to support researchers working in public health and tropical medicine to develop their careers, and foster interchange between institutions in the UK and those based in low- and middle-income countries.

Scientific infrastructure, research training and mentorship are weak and under-resourced in many parts of Africa, contributing to a failure to apply modern technologies and medical advances to the health challenges still facing much of the continent. Because of these many difficulties, the Centre in Cambridge will be working with researchers in parts of Africa.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Centre plans to capture and capitalise on the extensive basic biomedical and health-related research capacity across many departments and research institutes in Cambridge. They will make this fully available for research capacity building and knowledge exchange partnerships with African universities and institutes, as a means of improving the health and welfare of those in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Support for the Centre does not include research money but gives some core funds to allow them to mentor and guide African researchers interested in building an academic career in these fields to compete for high-quality fellowships applications to such schemes as the Wellcome Trust programme.

Professor David Dunne, Director of the Cambridge Centre, said: “ ̽��ֱ��strengthening of Africa’s indigenous scientific research base is crucial to the identification of its disease control and public health priorities, to the discovery and successful application of appropriate solutions, as well as to overall development.

“Our aim is to use Cambridge’s outstanding research capabilities and influence to support the development of African biomedical science and global health research through co-coordinated, cross-faculty research strengthening and scientific training activities, and collaborative research partnerships.”

Professor Sharon Peacock, Deputy Director of the Cambridge Centre and Chair of the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Initiative, said: “This award is indicative of the gains already made through THRiVE and other initiatives in Cambridge in creating effective exchange partnerships with African universities and institutes, and provides important strengthening to the infrastructure in Cambridge that will be required to support further development of this programme.”

̽��ֱ��‘Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa’ (THRiVE) partnership is a collaboration between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and seven East African universities and institutions. Makerere ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda is the lead university for the THRiVE Consortium, and Professor Nelson Sewankambo (Co-PI for the Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research) is the Director.

THRiVE aims to strengthen institutional research capacity in East Africa, and to support the next generation of East African researchers to become internationally competitive and self-sustaining scientific leaders, seeding a regional research community with the critical mass to address African health priorities. More information about THRiVE (and other capacity building programmes) in Cambridge is available at https://www.cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/thrive/.

Centre will support researchers working in public health and tropical medicine.

̽��ֱ��strengthening of Africa's indigenous scientific research base is crucial to the identification of its disease control and public health priorities, to the discovery and successful application of appropriate solutions, as well as to overall development

Professor David Dunne, Director of the Cambridge Centre

Dr Sabina Wachira

Dr Sabina Wachira, a THRiVE postdoctoral fellow from icipe in Kenya, who visited her Cambridge mentor (Dr David Spring of the Department of Chemistry)'s lab in 2012

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̽��ֱ��life of borders: where China and Russia meet

amb206 — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:50:00 +0000

China and Russia are growing economic and political powers that share thousands of miles of border. Despite this proximity, their practical, local interactions with each other — and with their third neighbour Mongolia — are rarely discussed. There is no better place than the border to compare the remarkably dissimilar ways that economic development, the rule of law, citizen rights, migration and inequality are managed. It is here that many incipient trends are emerging. On one hand, the border is where cultural differences and divergent international strategies become evident; on the other hand, it is where new partnerships are developing.

Last month saw the launch of a new project, “Where Rising Powers meet: China and Russia at their north Asian border”, within the Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit, in Cambridge's Division of Social Anthropology. ̽��ֱ��project will run for three years under the leadership of Professor Caroline Humphrey, a renowned expert on the region. Professor Humphrey will head a multidisciplinary team of 16 researchers who will carry out research at various sites along the border, from Mongolia in the west to Vladivostok in the east. ̽��ֱ��researchers are all specialists in their field, with years of experience of research along this strategic border. Several of them are native to the region.

̽��ֱ��new research programme builds on an earlier project that ran from January 2010 to January 2011. It brought together anthropologists, sociologists, economists and stakeholders with specialist knowledge of the region into productive dialogue. Their work was presented at two workshops where multiple political, economic and sociocultural dimensions of the border were explored. ̽��ֱ��workshops led to the publication of Frontier Encounters: Knowledge and Practice at the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian Border (Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, 2012), the first book in English to focus on the border between China and Russia.

̽��ֱ��researchers contributing to the new project are drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds and national institutions. Among them is Dr Natalia Ryzhova, an economic sociologist at the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science. Her research has shown that while Russian media have consistently associated criminal networks at the border with the Chinese, in reality many of these networks have emerged through partnerships between Russians and Chinese, who both exploit legal loopholes and navigate a complex bribery system.

̽��ֱ��past two decades have also seen the renewal of ancient ties between the indigenous populations on either side of the border. For most of the Soviet period, and particularly during the final three decades when the border was sealed shut and heavily militarised, there was very little contact between them. Yet the region is home to many ethnic groups, such as the Mongols and Buryats whose traditional nomadic lifestyle did not recognise national boundaries. When the border reopened in the early 1990s, divided communities were able to renew their kinship ties. Many of these groups, such as Mongols, Evenki or Koreans, have been able to exploit their connections and take on the role of middlemen.

Another member of the research team is Dr Sayana Namsaraeva, herself a Buryat. She will examine the practices of ethnic traders and the personal and professional ties they weave with their co-ethnics beyond the border. She will also map out the cross-border routes taken by people and their commodities. This kind of research is crucial to an understanding of the enduring significance of the cultural and ethnic links that have historically underpinned the region and continue to do so. Dr Namsaraeva’s research will also highlight the many ways in which communities on either side have developed along divergent axes, and the different worldviews they have come to adopt as citizens of Russia, China or Mongolia.

̽��ֱ��chasm between different worldviews is especially visible in border cities such as Blagoveshchensk in Russia and Heihe in China, which stand opposite each other on the banks of Amur River, separated by just 500 metres yet reflecting strikingly different cultures. These two cities have been a focus of research by Dr Franck Billé, co-ordinator of the project in Cambridge’s Division of Social Anthropology. His work looks at the ideological dimension of Sino-Russian interaction and t he tectonic shifts that accompany China’s rise as a world power. Whereas local Russians previously assumed a certain cultural superiority and saw their city as a beacon of progress and modernity in Asia, unparalleled numbers of Russians are now studying Chinese with the ambition to work in China.

These recent developments appear to reflect wider geopolitical and economic trends. While the Russian Far East has witnessed strong outmigration in the last two decades, China’s economic footprint has increased. As a result, Moscow has grown increasingly wary of Chinese involvement and is seeking to reassert its presence in the Far East. But regional centres do not always share the views expressed in capital cities. In many ways Vladivostok (meaning ‘Ruler of the East’ in Russian) symbolises this growing tension between central and regional powers. It is a city where important world and regional summits are being held, but it is also a city with a history of resistance against Moscow’s rule. Professor Humphrey’s work in Vladivostok will examine the crucial role of this strategic city in the context of a complex geopolitical background.

Frontier Encounters: Knowledge and Practice at the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian Border presents a wide range of views on how the borders between these countries are enacted, produced, and crossed. It also sheds light on global uncertainties: China’s search for energy resources and the employment of its huge population, Russia’s fear of Chinese migration, and the precarious economic independence of Mongolia as its neighbours negotiate to extract its plentiful resources.

̽��ֱ��volume is available in hardback, paperback and e-book. It can also be read for free on the publisher’s website, at http://www.openbookpublishers.com

More information about the project is available on the website www.northasianborders.net

A new project based in Cambridge’s Division of Social Anthropology is looking at interactions between China, Mongolia and Russia at the point where these nations meet – on the immense border that separates them.

On one hand, the border is where cultural differences and divergent international strategies become evident; on the other hand, it is where new partnerships are developing. 

John S.Y. Lee (flickr Creative Commons)

Chinese frontier guard at the Manzhouli-Zabaikalsk border

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Where are they now?

amb206 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:57:05 +0000

When a fatal earthquake hit the city of Christchurch in New Zealand in February 2011, the most severe in a series of catastrophic events, Kristen MacAskill was the other side of the world studying for an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD) at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��. Woken by a text from a friend, she spent the early hours of the morning on the internet following news updates. As a New Zealander, her immediate thoughts were for the safety of her family and friends back at home – and she was relieved to get a phone call from her mother who had been stuck in a high-rise building in the centre of the city.

Today Kristen is working as an engineer for the “Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team”, a group dedicated to rebuilding the ‘horizontal’ infrastructure of a devastated city, covering roads, waste water management, water supply and storm-water services. “Our team comprises people from a range of organisations delivering vital work that will cost in the order of $NZ2 billion,” she says. “Witnessing the deconstruction of the central business district is emotional, but it also presents Christchurch with huge opportunities to implement changes and shape a world-class city. For me, the experience of playing a part in this critical work is tremendously rewarding.”

When more than 170 engineers gathered in Cambridge last month to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the ̽��ֱ��’s MPhil course in Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD), Kristen, who was in the ESD class of 2010-2011, was among them. She was keen to meet up with old friends, meet mover and shakers in the world of sustainable engineering, and get up to speed with new developments and talking points in the field.

Like most ESD students Kristen had a good chunk of industry experience behind her before she embarked on the MPhil. After graduating from Canterbury ̽��ֱ��, Christchurch, where she took an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering followed by a Masters in Engineering Management, Kristen had worked in Australia in the transport group of a global engineering consulting company. She says: “I decided to take Cambridge’s ESD course because she wanted to develop a better understanding of how to implement sustainability concepts within engineering and business. Sustainability is difficult to define as an end goal, but the course gave me insight into expanding thinking using a sustainability philosophy – a process which will ultimately support better development outcomes.”

̽��ֱ��ESD MPhil was set up in 2002 by the Engineering Department with support from the Cambridge-MIT Institute in order to introduce concepts of sustainability and explore the context in which engineering sustainability must take place. Each year it recruits around 35 to 40 students and a total of nearly 300 engineers have graduated from the programme over its ten-year history. ̽��ֱ��students come from all over the world. ̽��ֱ��latest cohort included participants from Europe, Nigeria, Latin America, South America, China and Australia.

Developed in close collaboration with expertise drawn from industry as well as from MIT, the course is designed for students from an engineering background. ̽��ֱ��programme recognises that engineers operate within an increasing set of constraints and deal with an ever-widening range of challenges. It identifies key aspects that are needed when approaching engineering problems from a sustainability perspective and indicates the methods and approaches used to develop the skills required.

To engage students in a broad range of activities, the course is divided into three components. All students take a core programme which delivers tools and understanding to complement the technical background of participants. Similarly, all students engage with Management of Technology and Innovation taught by Cambridge Judge Business School. They also chose four elective modules from a list of around topics offered by the Centre for Sustainable Development, the Engineering Department and other Departments within the ̽��ֱ��. ̽��ֱ��final component is a dissertation which often involves working with companies, government agencies and other organisations.

Jason Porter (who took the ESD MPhil in 2007-2008) is now a senior engineer working for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in Canada. He explains: “Many First Nations communities in Canada are similar to developing countries and have a much lower standard of living than typical Canadian communities. I provide engineering support to a group of these communities to help them develop close drinking water systems as well better housing and schools. Sustainable thinking is essential in this work as there are significant social and environmental issues and we have limited financial resources.”

For Jason, who took his undergraduate degree (Mining Engineering) at Queens ̽��ֱ�� in Ontario, the value of the ESD course lay in its exploration of the complex challenges that engineers and others face in terms of working towards sustainable solutions. “ ̽��ֱ��programme didn’t alter my basic philosophy but showed that you don’t always need a well-defined solution to make progress,” he remarks. “On a personal level, the most demanding aspect of the course was finding a balance between keeping up with the course work, spending time learning from fellow students, and enjoying all that Cambridge has to offer.”

Just over a third of the students who take the ESD course are from developing countries and many of those who come from developed countries go on to work overseas in development projects. Sinomnqa (Nomi) Bodlani (who also did the course in 2007-2008) works in Johannesburg as a senior analyst with Davies Consulting Associates. Much of her work is for mining companies whose activities have significant social and environmental impact on the communities and environment where they are located. Her day-to-day work involves identifying and implementing improvement opportunities at all levels of the business ranging from business support processes to environmental management and operational processes. This entails developing an understanding of a wide range of issues within overriding business strategy as well as actual operating realities.

Nomi did her first degree in mechanical engineering at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cape Town followed by a research post looking at the energy absorption and crash characteristics of steel materials. Nomi was a Mandela Magdalene Scholar (a Commonwealth Scholarship) at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and this enabled her to take the ESD course. “I had not been exposed to the concept of sustainability before and quickly understood that everything has sustainability implications. Now I approach anything I’m doing with the question: what does this mean from a sustainability point of view?” she says. “Coming from South Africa, a particular challenge was contextualising sustainability as identified in the first world to the developing world. An aspect of the course useful for my personal development was reflecting and sharing during group work which involved translating our experiences to something that others could learn from.”

James Dodds (another member of the class of 2007-2008) is a British national who spends much of his time working overseas as a renewable energy technical consultant for Mott MacDonald. He has recently been working in South Africa assisting the Government to procure several gigawatts of renewable energy generation: a programme that has been heralded by the World Bank as a leading example of a clean energy project in a developing country. “Cambridge’s MPhil in ESD is designed so that you learn through the experience of others. You’re encouraged to ask tricky questions and think independently. One of the best things about the course is its links with industry: you are hearing first-hand from leading industry professionals who come to give lectures and answer questions. I learnt more in one year at Cambridge than I have during five years of working in the industry,” he says.

“What the course made me realise is the vast scope that exists for better sustainability and the dire consequences of continuing with business as usual. Where people are in embedded positions, there is often no easy way to introduce sustainable ways of working – but people aren’t daft and if you get them to ask the right questions and look on longer timescales then they will bring about their own changes.”

At the end of their year in Cambridge, each cohort of ESD students presents summaries of the dissertations written as part of the course. Topics tackled by the class of 2012 provide a glimpse of the scope and reach of projects undertaken: they range from a study of sustainable management of waste water in Nigeria to an exploration of the use of bamboo as an alternative construction material in Ecuador, and from an analysis of incentives for green commercial building development in Hong Kong to research into sustainable energy for Ireland.

Last month graduates of Cambridge’s MPhil course in Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD) came back to the Engineering Department from all over the world to celebrate the programme’s tenth anniversary and catch up on developments.

Witnessing the deconstruction of the central business district is emotional, but also presents Christchurch with huge opportunities to shape a world-class city.

Kristen MacAskill, graduate of Cambridge's Engineering for Sustainable Development programme

Kristen MacAskill

Kristen MacAskill at work in Christchurch, New Zealand

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Breaking sex education taboos in Africa to tackle AIDS

lw355 — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:59:40 +0000

In the absence of a cure or vaccine for HIV/AIDS, educating children about safe sex is regarded by many as the primary means for prevention – the United Nations and others have described it as “the social vaccine” – but the question of how best to do this has long been debated.

̽��ֱ��need for such efforts remains acute but is fraught with difficulty as deep-rooted socio-cultural, religious and moral constraints remain barriers to effective sex education across Africa and beyond.

Over a two-year period, a team of researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Centre for Commonwealth Education, along with others in the UK and three countries in Africa, approached the problem by thinking beyond the classroom and asking a fundamental question: how much do children know already?

“We worked with children at grade 6 in primary school [median age 12] because this is the final year of compulsory education in the countries we were working in, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, and also because of a common perception that primary age is too young – that educating this age group is a risk rather than a protective factor,” said Dr Colleen McLaughlin, who leads the ASKAIDS project.

“Perhaps one of the more surprising findings was that their sexual knowledge was already wide-ranging.”

̽��ֱ��researchers used a technique called ‘photo-voice’, providing children with cameras to make a record of the people, places and things from which they learned about sex, love, AIDS and relationships – the resulting images are powerful and revealing (https://youtu.be/-837AuKdZwE).

“ ̽��ֱ��young people have a vigilant awareness of a highly sexual world around them, including prostitution, pornography and drug-related sex, and a fairly sophisticated knowledge of adults’ sexual practices,” said McLaughlin. “So much so, that it’s clear that children are at risk if treated as innocents in HIV/AIDS education.”

Asked to give their perceptions of current AIDS education classes and how they desired these classes to be, the children described how the curriculum centred on the giving of factual information – facts that they found difficult to connect to the confusing and mysterious world around them. Moreover, they felt that they couldn’t share their own knowledge with adults.

As one South African schoolboy from grade 6 put it: “ ̽��ֱ��teachers are careful with us because they think we are still young… They think we are going to be naughty or sometimes experiment what they told us... [but] who wants to experiment with AIDS?”

“When the teachers, parents and members of the community were presented with the findings, they were surprised and concerned at the extent of the young people’s knowledge,” explained researcher Dr Susan Kiragu.

“They thanked us for coming because it gave them a kind of ‘permission’ to talk about this sensitive, almost taboo, area, without feeling they were corrupting the children.”

̽��ֱ��project created what the researchers call a dialogic space; an opportunity for the children to ask questions based on what they already know, and for the teachers and the parents to respond openly and honestly.

“ ̽��ֱ��format we devised for the dialogues was engaging, interactive and rooted in the reality of the children’s experience – what is in fact simply a model of good sex education,” explained McLaughlin. “Because we want this to be a sustainable programme that will continue long after the duration of the project, we packaged the findings as a toolkit to support teachers through the process.”

In addition to in-depth interviews and focus-groups, conducted with children and adults separately, the researchers invited children to create their own mini-documentaries – involving group work and role-playing – to make up part of the toolkit. For example, in Kenya, the pupils portrayed moral stories about HIV/AIDS, such as pupils sneaking out of class to have sex, or a mother trying to influence her daughter to stop schooling and join her in prostitution.

“These role plays enabled pupils to voice their views, no matter how sensitive or incriminatory, in a de-personalised way,” said McLaughlin. “Overall, we found that children want a more interactive sexual education that allows them to engage with their own knowledge – and talk openly about their lack of knowledge.”

“They are concerned that the information they get is unrealistic and all too aware that it doesn’t reflect the world in which they live."

̽��ֱ��toolkit and a process for curriculum development is now being trialled in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania. As the researchers gather the results of the trial over the next few months, the hope is that their innovative programme has offered the means to deliver the “social vaccine” by transcending cultural barriers to learning.

̽��ֱ��Centre for Commonwealth Education, Faculty of Education, is funded by the Commonwealth Education Trust.

Old Enough to Know: Consulting children about sex and AIDS education in three African countries, by Colleen McLaughlin, Sharlene Swartz, Susan Kiragu, Mussa Mohamed and Shelina Walli, is published by HSRC Press: Cape Town, South Africa.

New research focusing on educating young people about sex and HIV/AIDS in Africa is using innovative techniques – such as ‘photo-voice’ and role-play – to discover what African children know about sex and where they learn it from.

It’s clear that children are at risk if treated as innocents in HIV/AIDS education.

Dr Colleen McLaughlin

ASKAIDS Project

Centre for Commonwealth Education at the Faculty of Education

Photo-voice image from the AskAIDS project

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