With the Africa Charter fully endorsed by around 130 institutions now (most recently by the GW4 Alliance), our work is not only concerned with just growing this community, but also with supporting it to become a Community of Action and expanding wider engagement with the Charter’s transformative agenda.
This autumn PARC chair Isabella Aboderin has engaged diverse constituencies and stakeholders in events in the UK and Europe, talking about how a more equitable research ecosystem can have global benefits.
Going Global this autumn
An autumn highlight was October’s Going Global conference session on the role of values-driven partnerships with Africa in a volatile world. Isabella gave a presentation on what an inclusive and value driven partnership framework could look like, explaining what the Africa Charter would achieve.
She raised questions about the implications of thinking about power imbalances and what true equity would mean in educational partnerships. These were considered in a rich, open, and generative discussion on a panel that included the Minister of Education for Nigeria and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos.
She also chaired the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research panel “Tackling the World-Wide Gambling Epidemic. What Can We Learn from Africa?”.
Then, back in Germany at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Isabella discussed knowledge equity at the DAAD KIWi & BUA Policy Talk “(How) can African-European science diplomacy promote equitable partnerships?”. This was a fascinating discussion with a stellar panel delving into the need for systems-level change.
“Transformative research partnership is not about Africa, it is about our collective future!”
– Isabella Aboderin, PARC
Then, at the Black History Month event at Bristol Business School Isabella suggested concrete ways for the Business School and others – particularly Africa-facing researchers (or those considering such collaborative research) to engage with PARC. This forms part of our wider project to build a network of scholars and others engaged in translating the Africa Charter into practice and policy.
A winter of speaking in Europe
Building on our work with European universities and our well-attended event in Brussels last November, Isabella has presented or will speak at three European events.
In Norway, she gave a presentation at the symposium Africa–Europe Research Collaborations, an event that actively draws inspiration from the Africa Charter, organised by University of Bergen and the university network Coimbra Group, in collaboration with The Southern African – Nordic Centre (SANORD) network.
In Belgium, Isabella will be giving closing remarks at the forthcoming international event on Europe-Africa research cooperation and Open Science: Strengthening sustainable and inclusive scientific publishing ecosystems in Africa.
It is organised by IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development) in collaboration with UNESCO, the European Commission (DG RTD and DG INTPA), CAMES, CRUFAOCI, AAS, and CNRS and other key EU and African partners, deepening the partnership between Europe and Africa in open science.
Finally, in Germany, she will be speaking at a panel during the 11 year celebration of the Global South Studies Centre, University of Cologne, discussing “Why Europe Needs the Global South?” What can we learn from one another, and how can we support each other through the crises facing academia?
The Africa Charter is underpinned by a long history of scholarship on the nature and implications of power asymmetries in academic research, and sometimes what signatories need is a way to interpret it for their own institutions – how to reflect on their current practices and identify what needs changing.
The more we can stimulate discussion about the charter, the more it will become a gateway to the global research ecosystem we would all like to see. Find out more here.