Programme

Venue
CSIR ICC (Diamond)

Host
Stellenbosch University (SU)

This session will address Africa’s urgent challenge of investing in STI, presenting new data and evidence on STI funding in and for the continent. With support from the Canadian IDRC, the NRF-DSTI Centre of Excellence in Scientometrics and STI Policy (SciSTIP), hosted by the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at the University of Stellenbosch, has led the most comprehensive study to date of African STI funding flows, covering both domestic and foreign sources of support and including information on the African STI investments of different types of funders from across the world. This work offers unique insights into major investment trends, shifting funding priorities and gaps, the dynamics of funder relations, the performance of existing mechanisms, and more.

The evidence on STI funding in and for Africa, which will be presented during the session together with a demonstration of SciSTIP’s open access funding dashboard, also opens up critical questions for Africa’s STI leadership: What is the real scale and structure of STI funding across African countries? Who are the key actors and what are their agendas? Where are the funding bottlenecks and opportunities for reform? How can funding be better mobilised and coordinated—domestically and internationally—to support African-led STI agendas?

Moderator
Dr Heide Hackmann (CREST, Stellenbosch University)
Dr Jackie Kado (Network of African Science Academies)

Speakers
Prof Johann Mouton (SciSTIP, CREST, Stellenbosch University)
Dr Judith Omumbo (Science for Africa Foundation)
Prof John Gyapong (African Research Universities Alliance)
Dr Thandi Mgwebe (NRF and African Science Granting Councils Initiatives)
Prof Lise Korsten (African Academy of Sciences)