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Q: Can you give us a bit of background on HP’s collaboration with UNESCO for this initiative?
AP: HP has collaborated with UNESCO in a similar initiative for the South East European countries of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, to help address the migration of post-graduate researchers and highly specialised academics.
The African continent is suffering a constant exodus of academics and skilled professionals at a large scale. It is estimated that 30 percent of professionals from African countries work abroad and African countries have to invest $4 billion every year to replace these skilled professionals.
Using grid computing, the aim of our joint UNESCO initiative ‘Piloting Solutions for Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa” is to link up academics abroad with colleagues and students at their ‘home’ universities, to provide access to their expertise and academic specialists. An improved level of IT resources will also make it easier for the universities to attract and retain qualified academic staff.
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Q: Why the emphasis on Grid Computing?
AP: Grid computing is a very effective way to maximise IT resources and enable universities and research institutions to make massive distributed computations in areas such as bioinformatics, physics, molecular science and meteorology. Most efforts in grid computing are related to the ability to build infrastructures and use them for cooperative work. The grid is designed to render almost anything in IT – computers, processing power, data, Web services, storage space, software applications, data files or devices – a “grid service”.
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Q: How were the projects selected?
AP: We selected projects for their innovative approach and the potential impact of their research findings, but also looked at evidence of the strength of their relationships abroad as one of our project requirements is that universities already have a number of collaborative relationships with partner organisations that they can build on.
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Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about the individual projects?
AP: The projects come from a range of different disciplines. One of the grantees, the Centre for the Development of Renewable Energies in Algeria, will create a ‘Virtual Network’ of Algerian researchers working on solar power at home and abroad. Using video-conferencing, experts working in advanced laboratories abroad will lecture students in Algeria. The university will thus be able to offer doctorate-level teaching to its students and relay the classes to remote parts of Algeria.
Another project involves developing expertise in plant tissue culture techniques to design strategies for growing and improving Nigerian indigenous crops to make indigenous crops less vulnerable to environmental damage including drought, disease or pests.
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Q: What happens now that the projects have been selected?
AP: Beginning of May, we met with the grant recipients in Maputo, Zimbabwe to discuss timelines and details of delivering funding and technical support to the selected universities and research institutions. Later this year, I will travel to each of the locations to help assess requirements and plan the logistical delivery and set-up of our equipment.
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Q: What does HP’s support for the projects include?
AP: HP provides a combination of funds and equipment, helping the universities to set up wireless grid-computing networks to enable them to connect with other research institutions in their country or abroad. We will support the projects until end of 2008 at least, with the expectation that institutions have secured additional funding to be self-sufficient to continue their exchange and collaboration with their partners abroad.
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- Le Centre de développement des énergies renouvelables (CDER), Algiers, Algeria
The project involves the creation and strengthening of a ‘Virtual Network’ of Algerian researchers working on solar power at home and abroad. Using video-conferencing, experts working in advanced laboratories abroad will lecture students in Algeria. The university will thus be able to offer doctorate-level teaching to its students and relay the classes to remote parts of Algeria.
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- The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUT), Kumasi, Ghana
This project addresses the issue of energy supply and management. Uninterrupted energy supply is one of the key factors that would enable economic growth in Ghana. The project would enable the KNUT to set up a virtual workspace to connect academics abroad and at home, maximising the access to expertise for the researchers involved.
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- University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
This project involves developing expertise in plant tissue culture techniques to design strategies for growing and improving Nigerian indigenous crops to make indigenous crops less vulnerable to environmental damage including drought, disease or pests.
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- Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar-Fann, Sénégal
Creation of a series of post-graduate research programmes and appropriate resources in the fields of Science and Technology, Medicine, Arts and Humanities.
This involves an upgrade of the university’s IT network offering access to new information systems and services as well as high-speed internet access.
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- Chinjoyi University of Technology, Chinjoyi, Zimbabwe
This project aims to develop the academic discipline of energy engineering in Zimbabwe in order to address the challenges the country is facing when it comes to energy supply, consumption and environmental conservation. Researching and developing technologies that will meet the country’s energy requirement in a sustainable way is one of the key objectives for this project. Connecting with academic staff and researchers abroad will help bring insight on global trends and expertise on sustainable green energy.
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Global Citizenship Reports 2006 (*) |
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