“I feel much more empowered as a young researcher. It was such a wonderful event with amazing friends, tutors and mentors,” said Moreen Brenda Gatwiri, a Masters student at the University of Embu. “Most beautiful moments of learning and meeting new peers and professionals who share the same vision.” said Mariam Usman, a Masters student at Makerere University, Uganda. These are the words of two, out of 24 participants from Sub-Saharan Africa, who took part in the 2022 Summer School in Computational Biology for Sustainable Environment Research, in Watamu, Kenya.

The two-week long event took place from 7th to 15th September 2022. It increased young African researchers’ knowledge on key modelling and data science skills required to excel at solving highly complex questions, leading to an empowered group, ready to be solution-oriented in a vast variety of fields, while being gender cognizant.

“Our goal is to transfer and interlink knowledge in computational biology with environmental, ecological, and ocean conservation research themes. This initiative will lay the foundations for future international and multidisciplinary collaborations between all involved partners.” Dr. Fiona Moejes, Marine Microbiologist and Marine Conservationist, CEO Mawazo Institute and one of the co-organisers and speakers at the summer school.

German Prof. Dr. Anna Matuszyńska of Computational LIfe Science at RWTH Aachen University, was a co-organiser and speaker at the Summer school and detailed that modelling will simplify finding solutions to issues like climate change. “No one should be left out due to gender, educational background or technological literacy in finding solutions to climate change,” she added.

Dr Marilyn Ronoh, who is an Applied Mathematics and Infectious Disease Modelling lecturer at the University of Embu, encouraged local and international experts from diverse disciplines to combine efforts towards equipping emerging researchers in Africa with scientific skills in programming. “We will collaborate with local conservation groups to understand the history of their rich data in marine life and possibly use this data to train our young researchers. We will also form collaborative research teams that will continue to use programming skills acquired in this summer school to solve further issues in sustainable research.”

Participants were acquainted with various approaches to modelling biological data and constructing computational models of biological systems, to better understand the ecosystem. “Due to our joint expertise, we will focus on applying these skills to marine research thanks to the data made available by Local Ocean Conservation (LOC), a local marine conservation organisation based in Watamu” said Dr. Ronoh.

Ochieng Adhiambo, a Masters Student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, noted that continuous involvement of the critical stakeholders in research is essential. “We should be able to transfer knowledge from the researcher to people who are affected by the research such as local fishermen,” he said.

The summer school culminated in real-life environmental scenarios, a Hackathon, where participants joined forces to "hack" over 2 years’ worth of turtle nesting and data on turtles provided by Local Ocean Conservation. This was a unique opportunity for the students to apply knowledge and methods learnt during the Summer School and present the results to the local community that live on the Mida Creek in Watamu and contributed to the collection of the data.

So far, the impact of the Summer School is being felt beyond the participants. Rose Damaris Angulu, an intern at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) has already begun teaching her colleagues the basics of R, an open-source programming language for statistical computing and graphics.

In addition, their knowledge of the ocean ecosystem and how different participants from different disciplines can collaborate to come up with sustainable solutions was increased. To quote one participant, Margaret Wangui Muriuki, a PhD student at the University of Nairobi and a Mawazo Learning Exchange Fellow, “collaboration between organisations, even competing organisations, community, private sector and government can be beneficial to tackle similar challenges, by coming under an umbrella body that can be more effective in marine conservation.”

The summer school was designed to create a space for thinking, learning and sharing of ideas and this was achieved by providing a very practical curriculum, lots of hands-on support from a dedicated team, and plenty of social activities. Some of the participants even learnt how to swim during the summer school! We also supported two of our participants to travel with their young children and provided on-site childcare. We truly created a safe space encouraging participants to ask questions and share ideas.

The 24 participants have formed a strong and interactive network of like-minded individuals and are already sharing opportunities and advice over WhatsApp platform. The group is planning to open a messaging board where they can continue to troubleshoot and ask questions. This is an impactful way of utilising the knowledge acquired, sharing ideas while nurturing more young researchers on computational biology.

The event was made possible through the financial support from Volkswagen Foundation’s “Knowledge for Tomorrow” Programme and co-organised by the Mawazo Institute and the Computational Life Science group, RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

We are excited to announce that two of our Mawazo Learning Exchange (MLEx) Fellows have completed their PhDs. After several years of hard work and determination, Lilian Namuna Kong’ani (Kenya) and Thérèse Umuhoza (Rwanda) both graduated on Friday 23rd September 2022 from the University of Nairobi where they were conferred doctorate degrees.

Through our MLEx programme, we supported Lilian and Thérèse by providing them with training courses that meaningfully and evidently increased their performance in their doctoral programs. These courses include; budgeting and financial management, academic writing, publishing and grants management, participatory action research as well as policy engagement for researchers.

In addition, through the Mawazo Fellows Fund, Ms. Kong’ani, who explores the use of mediation in resolving developmental conflicts, purchased a laptop which she used to write academic  articles, conduct data handling and defend her thesis. 

Lilian also received funding through the Fellows Fund to attain certification in Arbitration. The funds made it possible for her to attend the mediation training at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators where she received certification as a mediator in conflict resolution. This will increase her competitiveness and career prospects in conflict resolution. 

Mawazo is happy to have contributed immensely to these milestones which saw Ms. Kong’ani awarded a Doctorate in Environmental Governance and Management. Ms. Umuhoza, who is a research epidemiologist with a focus on tropical and viral infectious disease research and development programs, was bestowed a Doctorate in Tropical Infectious Diseases. 

We believe that the adequate knowledge, vast networks and collaborations the two Fellows have garnered during their PhD journey has equipped  them to turn their big ideas into action and make the world better in a big way.

“I want to change the world a little with my work,” says Lilian. Through her research, Lilian will advocate for policies that will allow use of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to facilitate amicable resolution of conflicts between development actors and communities. “The use of mediation best practices will promote the sustainable resolution of the inevitable mushrooming developmental conflicts and good environmental governance even beyond Kenya.”

We share some of Mawazo's current favourite reads (videos, and podcasts), including selections from our Blog and News page:

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