Making scientific capacity in Africa: An interdisciplinary conversation (Application for co-funding with CRASSH, Cambridge). (360G-Wellcome-104681_Z_14_Z)

The applicant and collaborator, together with a faculty research group at Cambridge, have successfully applied for an interdisciplinary conference at the university's Centre for Research in the Arts Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), on the 'Making of scientific capacity in Africa', to be held in Cambridge in June 2014 (13th-14th). This Conference is linked to the Faculty Research Group 'Civic Matter: Infrastructure as Politic' (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/programmes/civic-matter-infras tructure-as-politic), part of which was a panel about African laboratories - 'Scientific infrastructure'. (http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25117). The meeting brings together anthropological, historical, medical and other scientific perspectives, and drawing upon the experience gathered in large-scale collaborative African endeavours such as the THRIVE and CAPREx programs at Cambridge. (See website: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/2484/) The CRASSH budget does not allow for overs eas participants, which given the subject area, would be a grave omission. We therefore seek travel funding for four African colleagues who have been particularly successful in the field of academic capacity building in relation to medical issues. They will present papers on their experience, adressing questions such as what key elements of academic and scientific capacity for Africa are, and what can be learned from past experience in order to enhance future capacity building.