Scoping Africa-UK Physics Projects For Collaboration & Innovation With UKRI

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) - alongside the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in Kenya, came to Inclusive Innovation with a challenge: How could they best prepare the physics community across the UK and six Sub-Saharan African countries for a major new funding opportunity—the Africa-UK Physics Partnership (AUPP) Programme?

Led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and in collaboration with the Institute of Physics (IoP), the AUPP Programme is all about building strong, long-term research partnerships between the UK and Africa. The goal is to support international collaborations tackling key scientific and technological challenges while strengthening Africa’s growing science, technology, and policy landscape.

A recent report on the state of physics research in Sub-Saharan Africa underscored the urgency of this effort. Physics is often seen as a tough field, which leads to low student retention, limited career pathways beyond teaching, and the fact that only 5% of research programs in the region involve physics.

To help shift this dynamic, UKRI turned to our team to co-design and host an in-person workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal? To connect early to mid-career researchers, spark new collaborations, and provide the tools and networks needed to develop bold, well-prepared proposals. More than just a networking event, this workshop was about elevating the visibility of physics research in Africa and laying the groundwork for a stronger, more connected research community for years to come.

The value that the Inclusive Innovation team brought to the event was significant: their extensive experience was so valuable in structuring the event, facilitating an inclusive space for all attendees to feel comfortable and contribute effectively, sympathetic to delegate’s cultural differences, skilfully pacing the process and leading delegates to a point that new collaborations emerged. That all this was done in a highly professional, flexible way against the backdrop of external factors meaning that the event had to be changed from in-person to online at a week’s notice, was deeply impressive. We would not have achieved anywhere near as good an outcome without the Inclusive Innovation team guiding the journey. Thank you! Stephen Loader, Head of Cross-Cutting and International Programmes,Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

The workshop’s primary objectives :

1. To build connections and relationships between participants from different countries, creating relationships that foster multilateral collaboration
   

2. To enable researchers to exchange knowledge and “pitch” initial ideas to each other with view to attracting wider interest and collaboration
   

3. To prepare participants to respond to the forthcoming call(s) for proposals.|
   

4. To drive the strengthening of physics research on the African continent.

Adapting To Last Minute Complexity: Political Instability

With just one week to go until the multi-day, in-person workshop, we were given news of political instability in Kenya. To ensure the safety and well-being of all participants, the decision was made to pivot the entire event to virtual. 

The team ramped up our planning and succeeded in getting the participants to commit to attend and the event continued as planned. This enabled our client to continue the momentum gathered to date, without the need to reschedule and delay the opportunity.

After several weeks of collaboration and planning, due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to switch our event to an online format. The facilitators made this switch seamlessly bringing a whole new set of communication tools and techniques, including innovative use of Zoom. We witnessed participants fully engage with the technology - and each other - in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. From our perspective the event was a great success, and this is echoed in the feedback from participants. Gillian Gray, STFC/UKRI

The Outcome: 13 Funded Projects Across Climate Change, Sustainable Energy & Capacity Building

Despite the last minute agenda redesign from in-person to virtual, this event was a resounding success. With our focus on community and connection at the forefront of the agenda design, we were able to achieve:

• The formation of genuine, long term collaborations between African and UK physics researchers.
  

• The development of the international networks and quality initial research project ideas.
  

• Stronger interest and commitment from participants toward future funding opportunities.
  

• High-quality funding applications that reflected equitable partnerships.

I appreciated being able to share experiences with participants from the UK and other African countries. This was the most engaging virtual experience I have ever been involved in. The organizers did a good job to making up for what would have been an in-person meeting. George Amolo, Kenya

As a result of this initiative, we are thrilled to announce that 13 projects have now been awarded part of the £10.7 million Africa-UK Physics Partnership (AUPP) Programme funds. 

Find out more about the successful projects, including Sharing the sky: using a global robotic telescope network for capacity and research community building in East Africa and Temperature-sensitive Earth-abundant catalysts for green hydrogen production here.