IST-Africa / IEEE Networking Event Focused on Research Collaboration with Africa in Belfast

IST-Africa and the UK and Ireland Chapter of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) collaborated with the University of Ulster to organise an evening networking event focused on research collaboration with Africa in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 28 October.

Hosted by University of Ulster on the Jordanstown Campus, this event was attended by representatives of IST-Africa Partners from Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tunisia and Uganda.

Following a welcome by Dr Jane Zheng, University of Ulster Jordanstown, Paul Cunningham (Coordinator, IST-Africa) presented an overview of the research capacity of the research and education community in each of the IST-Africa Partner Countries.

Each of the 40 plus participants (including the IST-Africa participants) introduced themselves before Paul presented Information on the European Commission funded Horizon 2020 Call (ICT-39) with €11 million funding focused on research cooperation with Africa, with a submission deadline of 14 April 2015.

Paul then took questions from the floor in relation to ICT-39 and suggested that participants interacted with IST-Africa partners represented to identify collaboration opportunities.

Seven universities from the UK (Queens University Belfast, University of Kent, University of Ulster) and Ireland (Dundalk Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Maynooth University, National University of Ireland, Galway) presented their research capacity.

This was followed by brief presentations by IEEE UK and Ireland Chapter Chairs about their respective activities in the areas of Consumer Electronics, Computers, Control/Communication, Social Implications of Technology Chapter and Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

The evening concluded with Open Q&A and active networking. This was a very productive event which offered the opportunity to identify new partners.