By Nellie Peyton
Understanding the genetic makeup of black tea is a pressing goal for scientists in southern Africa. The graduate students supervised by Zeno Apostolides, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Pretoria, have identified a DNA sequence that is associated with drought tolerance in the plant, and their ongoing research could be applied to produce drought-resistant varieties of other crops in Africa.
Although such work is relevant and promising, it falls outside the priorities of South African government funding, Apostolides said. Graduate students at the University of Pretoria must seek support elsewhere, and in this case, their research grants come all the way from Princeton.
This month, the Regional Initiative in Science and Education or RISE, a program run by the Institute for Advanced Study, received its third and final grant from the Carnegie Corp. of New York. Since 2008, Carnegie has given RISE more than $15 million to train scientists and engineers in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The main objective of the initiative is to staff universities in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Arlen Hastings, director of the Science Initiative Group at the institute. “There is a real shortage of qualified staff.”
RISE oversees five networks that operate in nine African countries. Apostolides said that while there is no shortage of qualified staff at the University of Pretoria, this system enables him to help students and faculty at other institutions. The Southern African Biochemistry and Informatics for Natural Products Network, or SABINA, to which Apostolides belongs, distributes its scholarships in Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa.
“RISE networks are making a big difference because the scholarships offered are based on academic merit, gender equality and a balance of students from member countries,” Apostolides said.
He added that many of his students, both South African and international, would not have been able to pursue postgraduate study without RISE funding.
By 2016, Carnegie grants will have supported about 200 master’s and doctoral students through graduation.
Hastings was proud to note that of the 64 students who have graduated, 41 are now on the staff of African universities.
Most of the rest are continuing their studies in Africa; two are studying for doctorates in the United States and planning to return.
“All of them are doing work that has real relevance in Africa,” said Hastings. “That’s part of what mitigates the brain drain.” The widely varied areas of research include water resources, oceanography, drug development and nutrition.
Another factor that keeps these scientists in Africa, according to Hastings, are the academic communities formed by the RISE networks.
A portion of each network’s funding goes toward conferences that bring together students and faculty from different universities.
“SABINA opened up a door for strong research collaborations especially between me and researchers in South Africa,” said Sylvester Lyantagaye, a professor of molecular biology at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He explained that these collaborations have allowed him to acquire more research grants from other agencies.
Adushan Pillay, a South African doctoral student who works on cancer imaging and therapy, said RISE funding allowed him to “survive financially” during the duration of his Ph.D. studies and “make valuable connections with many foreign scientists.”
What lies ahead for this initiative? No future sources of funding have been confirmed, said Phillips Griffiths, chair of the Science Initiative Group, but he is optimistic that other organizations will step up to help RISE continue its mission. Possible future partners include U.S. universities, the European Union, the World Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
SIG also is talking to organizations in Africa in hopes of transferring more of its administrative responsibility overseas. Already, the Institute for Advanced Study is “pretty hands-off,” Hastings said. Leaders of the five African networks decide independently how to distribute their grant money and select their students.
Although RISE is currently based in sub-Saharan Africa, it may eventually expand throughout the continent. The primary limitations so far have been linguistic, Hastings explained, but a partner in French-speaking Africa could change this.
“What we’re really trying to do is make it more of an African-owned, Africa-centric initiative,” said Hastings. “We would consider it a success if we put ourselves out of business here.”
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