0
0
Accra, Ghana
The event will develop the scientific skills of African scientists to foster a stronger scientific community across the continent
Today, 16 June, marks the opening of the 2026 TWAS Skill Building Workshop in Accra, Ghana, running until 18 June. Organized by The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS), the event brings together 26 early-career scientists supported through the Seed Grant for New African Principal Investigators (SG-NAPI) Programme.
The workshop, a component of the SG-NAPI program, supported by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space of Germany (BMFTR), aims to strengthen research capacity and foster collaboration across the continent.
Participants come from 13 countries: Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Over three days, participants will engage in expert-led sessions on scientific writing, responsible AI in science, science communication, the importance of mentoring, and transdisciplinary research for sustainable development in Africa. The program also includes networking activities designed to spark new partnerships and collaborative projects, as well as a keynote lecture by Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor. Known as the ‘father of the Internet in Africa,’ he established Ghana’s first Internet service provider in 1994 and played a major role in implementing the new technology throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
“This workshop reflects TWAS’s commitment to strengthening not only individual researchers but also the wider systems that support science and education in Africa. The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the absence of effective diagnostics, treatment, and vaccines underscore the importance of investing in skills, collaboration, and capacity to help create the conditions for lasting impact,” said TWAS President Quarraisha Abdool Karim.
The SG-NAPI grant is a TWAS program, launched in 2021. It helps early-career researchers who have obtained their PhD abroad and have recently returned to Africa or will shortly return to an academic position in their home country. Grants up to USD 67,700 are awarded to promising high-level research projects in agriculture, biology, chemistry, Earth sciences, engineering, information and computer technology, mathematics, medical sciences, and physics carried out in African countries that TWAS has identified as lagging in science and technology.
The awarded projects have a significant transformative potential and are carried out in one of the eligible countries. To date, the program has launched five calls and assigned 124 grants.
