A lack of Africa-generated scientific evidence is hampering effective policymaking and weakening Africa’s trading position, said Lise Korsten, president of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).

Korsten, appointed last year as the first woman president of the institution, spoke to SciDev.Net on the sidelines of the Transatlantic Big Science Conference last month (27-28 June) about the academy’s efforts to address these issues. These include creating African science diplomacy networks, engaging with the diaspora, and repairing ties with other research academies.

Drawing from her own research area of food security research, she said data on anti-microbial resistance in human, animal, and plant health mostly comes from developed regions of the world, creating a knowledge gap for both African researchers and policymakers.

“Africa must speak with the united voice, we can’t be fighting each other.”
Lise Korsten, president of the African Academy of Sciences

“We are using global data to make decisions in Africa which is not fit for purpose,” she said.

“This knowledge gap leads to policy missteps, hindering Africa’s ability to compete in the global market.”

Korsten:-speaking at the Transatlantic Big Science conference. Credit: DESY and Carnegie Science -from the AAS website. Credit: AAS
AAS president Lise Korsten speaking at the Transatlantic Big Science conference. Credit: DESY and Carnegie Science

Korsten said a lack of science-based policies was affecting the continent’s global competitiveness in areas such as food production.

“If you want African countries to start trading, changing their economies and growing their exports, they must comply with basic international food safety regulations and requirements,” Korsten said.

“Because we have no food safety policy, there’s nothing to work with.”

Building networks
Korsten believes that promoting science diplomacy can change this paradigm.

Under her leadership,  she says the Academy is establishing its own science diplomacy programme, starting with the Nile River Basin Project, an initiative that brings together African scientists and policymakers.

The Academy will host a workshop in August for AAS fellows and world experts in areas such as hydrology and water security to speak with policymakers.

Korsten envisages a network of scientists working across borders, sharing data, and informing policy across the continent. She stressed the importance of creating a forum for scientists to collaborate, adding: “I believe it will create, like with COVID, a better understanding of the importance of science.”

Korsten also believes that building global science partnerships is key to a robust scientific base in Africa and says the continent’s diaspora is s a valuable resource in this.

The AAS is developing programmes to incentivise experienced African researchers abroad to return and mentor young scientists and contribute to building centres of excellence.

“They can apply for funding to come back to their country to then support young scientists to grow,” she said. “They want to give back.”

Funding hurdles
However, Korsten acknowledges the challenge of obtaining funding when it comes to building science networks.

“If your government doesn’t see it as a priority, then it’s going to be very difficult to build it in your country,” she said.

She hailed the collaboration between the University of Pretoria and Future Africa to build global partnerships for African research, funded by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation.

But she acknowledged that not all countries can invest in creating science networks.

“I think it’s a matter of having enough money in the country to invest into that, versus a literal food security issue,” she said.

For Korsten, the African Union is best positioned to address the funding gap in resource-poor countries but she noted that science barely featured in the AU’s Agenda 2063, released in 2015.

Learning from the past
The AAS itself is also still recovering from a major funding and staff cut. In 2021, some AAS members set up a parallel organisation called the Science for Africa Foundation due to the Academy’s perceived poor management. A 2022 SciDev.Net investigation found that the split led to donors suspending millions of dollars of AAS funding.

Korsten acknowledged the difficulties, but said: “There’s always two sides to the story. Your strength is from acknowledging mistakes, correcting forward and building back better.”

The AAS is now stabilising and consolidating their activities, she said, adding: “We’ve decided to just buckle down, work hard, build the trust back, and get more people involved.”

This includes finding ways to cooperate with other regional science associations, said Korsten, citing as an example a partnership with the Frontiers Research Foundation to establish an African equivalent of their Frontiers Planetary Prize. 

“Africa must speak with the united voice, we can’t be fighting each other,” she said. “It’s in our interest to work together.”

This extends to working with academies of science within Africa that have poor resources and are inactive, says Korsten. “We first of all want to support them,” she said. “You know that African saying, if you want to go fast, you walk alone. You want to go far, walk together. That’s now the strategy, to walk together.”

Original article written by Fintan Burke and published in SciDev.Net.