The National Institutes of Health is investing about $74.5 million over five years to advance data science, catalyze innovation and spur health discoveries across Africa.

Under its new Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) program, the NIH is issuing 19 awards to support research and training activities.

DS-I Africa is an NIH Common Fund program that is supported by the Office of the Director and 11 NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices.

Awards will establish a consortium consisting of a data science platform and coordinating center, seven research hubs, seven data science research training programs and four projects focused on studying the ethical, legal and social implications of data science research. Awardees have a robust network of partnerships across the African continent and in the United States, including numerous national health ministries, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, and other academic institutions.

“This initiative has generated tremendous enthusiasm in all sectors of Africa’s biomedical research community,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “Big data and artificial intelligence have the potential to transform the conduct of research across the continent, while investing in research training will help to support Africa’s future data science leaders and ensure sustainable progress in this promising field.”

The University of Cape Town (UCT) will develop and manage the initiative’s open data science platform and coordinating center, building on previous NIH investments in UCT’s data and informatics capabilities made through the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) program. UCT will provide a flexible, scalable platform for the DS-I Africa researchers, so they can find and access data, select tools and workflows, and run analyses through collaborative workspaces. UCT will also administer and support core resources, as well as coordinate consortium activities.

The research hubs, all of which are led by African institutions, will apply novel approaches to data analysis and AI to address critical health issues.

The research training programs, which leverage partnerships with U.S. institutions, will create multi-tiered curricula to build skills in foundational health data science, with options ranging from master’s and doctoral degree tracks, to postdoctoral training and faculty development. A mix of in-person and remote training will be offered to build skills in multi-disciplinary topics such as applied mathematics, biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical informatics, analytics, computational omics, biomedical imaging, machine intelligence, computational paradigms, computer science and engineering.

A $14 million grant from the Adaptation Fund, an international capital source focusing on helping the world adapt to the climate crisis, is about to help a major part of Africa adapt some of its key food crops for the much hotter world of the future and its weather extremes of drought and flooding.

The contract award which will make this possible is a four-year grant awarded to Cornell University and its Climate Resilient Farming Systems program. It will be focused on adapting the current rice crops to be more resilient to global heating and increase production of the staple staple crop for smallholder rice farmers across 13 West African countries.

The Scaling up Climate Resilient Rice Production in West Africa (RICOWAS) project’s goal is to apply principles of the novel Climate-Resilient Rice Production (CRRP) approach, in order to increase rice productivity, create rice self-sufficiency, and adapt to climate change in West Africa.

The Sahara and Sahel Observatory will oversee the overall project, while the Rice Regional Center of Specialization, hosted by the Institute of Rural Economy in Mali, will manage it on a regional level. Working in partnership with the rice center, the Cornell program will provide technical assistance, scientific insights and support.

RICOWAS represents a follow-up to a World Bank project that was implemented from 2014 to 2016 and continues this work across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo through national institutions in each country.

“Climate change doesn’t stop at the national borders,” said Erika Styger, who leads the Climate Resilient Farming Systems program in the Department of Global Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and is a principal investigator of RICOWAS. The project’s teams will coordinate across diverse governments, language barriers, and climate and agroecological zones to collaborate across the region, Styger said. Togo, for example, contains three climate zones.

“By creating an enabling framework to work and exchange [across these countries] we can create a regional community of practice and reinforce each other’s capacities,” she said.

The CRRP approach is based on the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methodology in combination with location-specific Sustainable Land and Water Management (SLWM) practices, and if indicated with Integrated Pest (and disease) Management (IPM).

SRI is based on an agronomic framework that includes: encouraging early and healthy plant establishment; minimizing competition among plants; building up fertile soils rich with organic matter and beneficial soil biota; and carefully managing water to avoid flooding and water stress. By applying these principles together, rice plants are healthier and more productive with deeper, larger roots and more, fuller seeds (grain).

The principles remain the same for all rice systems and climate zones, though the practices to implement them may vary based on location. By combining SRI with SLWM and IPM practices, farmers will be equipped with the best techniques to adapt to climate change while increasing their rice productivity.

West Africa produces more than two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa’s rice, mostly by low-income smallholders. In recent years population growth and rising per capita rice consumption has outpaced production and has led to increased imports from Asia that account for close to half of the rice consumption in the region. Prices have also been volatile, subject to sharp and steep hikes.

Along with climate change, these pressures led the Economic Community of West African States to launch a 2013 effort aiming to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2025. RICOWAS is part of that effort.

The Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of the Republic of Senegal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen ties between educational institutions and advance cooperation in research and the exchange of students and academics between the two jurisdictions.

“Our government values this partnership with Senegal and is proud to be signing the first MOU in the history of our province with a French speaking country,” Advanced Education Minister Gene Makowsky said. “Our province is committed to building relationships with countries around the world to strengthen intellectual and cultural linkages through research, dialogue and exchange.”

International students bring a global perspective to Saskatchewan and create opportunities for research and innovation. This MOU has an objective to collectively develop recruitment marketing strategies in French speaking countries to promote the development of the Fransaskois community, while also increasing the visibility of Saskatchewan’s French programs on the world stage.

“I welcome the signing of this cooperation agreement with the Government of Saskatchewan, which bolsters the strong cooperative relationship maintained by Senegal and Canada,” Minister of Advanced Education, Research and Innovation, Government of the Republic of Senegal Cheikh Oumar Anne said. “I hope that it will become a foundation on which we can build new academic and scientific relationships between our institutes of higher learning and research, and through which we can promote the Francophonie in our respective institutions.”

Recently, the Government of Saskatchewan announced its International Education Strategy, which includes a number of initiatives related to global engagement, capacity building and leadership. This will enhance the province’s profile over the next five years to attract key international markets and to help position the province as a destination of choice for international students.

The International Education Strategy, developed in partnership with the post-secondary sector, will assist institutions to attract international students in innovative ways, while meeting commitments outlined in Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan. A key component of the strategy will include supporting the growth and sustainability of French post-secondary programs in Saskatchewan through targeted recruitment in key French language markets.

Between the province’s two universities and Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Saskatchewan’s post-secondary institutions have 568 active agreements with international post-secondary partners.