Cambridge-Africa Day 2014
- The photographs for the 1st annual Cambridge-Africa Day can be viewed here
The 2014 Cambridge-Africa Day was held at Emmanuel College on 30th October 2014
The keynote address was given by e Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz
On 1 October 2010 Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz became the 345th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was Chief Executive of the UK's Medical Research Council from 2007. From 2001 to 2007, he was at Imperial College London, and served as Principal of the Faculty of Medicine and later as Deputy Rector. Concurrently with his position at Imperial College, Sir Leszek was also Governor of the Wellcome Trust (2006-2007), Chairman of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration's Integrated Academic Training Awards Panel (2005-2007), and Chair of the HEFCE RAE Main Panel A Assessment Panel.
Professor Borysiewicz was knighted in the 2001 New Year's Honours List for his contribution to medical education and research into developing vaccines, including work towards a vaccine to combat cervical cancer.
Programme for Cambridge-Africa Day
30th October 2014, Queens Building, Emmanuel College
8:45 – 9:15 Registration (Harrods Room, Queen’s Building)
Introductory Session
Chair: Professor Sheila Bird OBE (MRC Biostatistics Unit; THRiVE Mentor)
9:15 – 9:20 House-keeping Announcements
9:20 – 9:25 Welcome: Dame Fiona Reynolds (Master of Emmanuel College)
9:25 – 9:30 Brief word from Dr Jennifer Barnes (Pro-Vice Chancellor for International Strategy, University of Cambridge)
9:30 – 9:50 Introduction to the Cambridge-Africa Programme: Professor David Dunne (Director of the Cambridge-Africa Programme)
9:50 – 10:30 Keynote Address: Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (Vice Chancellor, University of Cambridge)
10:30-11:00 Tea/Coffee Break, Old Library
Session 1: Technology and Entrepreneurship - Let’s Talk Africa
Chair: Professor Jaideep Prabhu (Judge Business School; CAPREx Collaborator)
11:00 – 11:25 Dr Jack Lang (Computer Laboratory and Judge Business School, Cambridge; Bye-Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of the Raspberry Pi Foundation).‘Raspberry Pi in Africa’
11:25 – 11:50 Professor Paul Alexander (Department of Physics, Cambridge). The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project in South Africa
11:50 – 12:10 Mr Patrick Hoffman and Mr Kelvin Wong (Cambridge students; co-founders of the Cambridge Development Initiative). ‘Student volunteering with a difference, in Tanzania’
12:10 – 12:35 Dr Sharath Srinivasan (Director - Centre for Governance and Human Rights, Cambridge) ‘Africa’s Voices project’
12:35 – 13:00 Professor Sir Brian Heap (Adviser, ‘Smart Villages’ project; Fellow of the Royal Academy; Former Master of St Edmunds’ College, Cambridge; Former President of the European Academies Science Advisory Council;) ‘Biosciences for Farming in Africa; Smart Villages Entrepreneurship
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch, Old Library
Africa-related posters can be viewed in the Harrods Room (Queen’s Building)
Session 2: Cambridge and African Researchers Working Together
Chair: Professor James Wood (Head, Department of Veterinary Medicine; Cambridge-Africa Programme Leader)
14:00 – 14:10 Brief word from Professor Sir Eldryd Parry, KCMG, OBE (Founder of the Tropical Health and Education Trust - THET; alumnus of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge)
14:10 – 14:35 Dr Theresa Manful (University of Ghana, Legon – CAPREx Fellow) and Professor Mark Carrington (Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge) collaborating on research into ‘the epidemiology of lifetime infections with trypanosomes in individual cattle in Ghana’
14:35 – 14:55 Dr Kennedy Amone-P’Olak (THRiVE alumnus from Gulu University, Uganda; now at the University of Botswana). Researching ‘The mental health consequences of a protracted and violent armed conflict on youth in Northern Uganda’ and was mentored by Professor Peter Jones (Head, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge)
14:55 – 15:15 Dr Helen Nkabala Nambalirwa (Makerere University; CAPREx Fellow) collaborating with Cambridge researchers Dr Emma Wild-Wood (Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide) and Professor David Maxwell (Faculty of History; Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge) on ‘Contesting scripture: re-reading violent biblical texts with returning Lord’s Resistance Army combatants in Acholi-Land’
15:15 – 15:40 Professor Gordon Dougan (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute – WTSI; Co-PI for the Wellcome Trust Cambridge-Centre for Global Health Research, WT-CCGHR) ‘The WTSI’s and Africa’
15:40-16:05 Tea/Coffee Break, Old Library
Session 3: Food Security in Africa – How Are We Contributing?
Chair: Professor Chris Gilligan (Department of Plant Sciences; Co-Chair of the University of Cambridge’s Strategic Research Initiative in Global Food Security)
16:05 – 16:30 Dr Richard Osei-Amponsah (University of Ghana, Legon – CAPREx Fellow) and Dr Carole Sargent (Department of Pathology, Cambridge) collaborating on researching the ‘genetic diversity and genomic selection of the Ashanti dwarf pig of Ghana’
16:30 - 16:55 Professor Sir David Baulcombe, FRS (Head, Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge) ‘Engineering resistance to maize lethal necrosis: an emerging threat to food security in Africa’
16:55-17:00 Concluding Remarks: Dr Pauline Essah (Coordinator of the Cambridge-Africa Programme and the WT-CCGHR, University of Cambridge)
17:00 – 19:00 Drinks Reception for all in the Old Library (with live music from African band - Afro Tema)