The InfoPoint conference was organised on 6 June to discuss the One Plant Fellowship Programme (OPFP) aimed at establishing, enabling and strengthening a network of African and European researchers working on the broad challenges of African agriculture and climate change
Inspired by the AWARD programme, a career fellowship programme designed for African women scientists, the OPFP supports both the work of African researchers on climate change and agriculture, particularly those linked to problems encountered by smallholder farmers, and efforts to link the African and European scientific communities through science-career development fellowship courses combining mentoring, exposure trips and scientific training as well as networking opportunities for young researchers.
The objective of the InfoPoint session was to present the various components of the initiative and showcase some early results regarding the activities organised around the three cohorts of the programme. In total, 120 laureates from 14 African countries were selected out of 5,000 candidates. Among them, 50 laureates were selected to do an advanced science training in Europe. A total of 23 European research centres within 12 countries have agreed to host at least one OPFP laureate. These face-to-face collaborations between European and African researchers are meant to build capacities, foster long term network, project creation, consortiums and joint publications.
The event provided the opportunity to share insights on the role of science-career development programmes and how they can help to shape future climate change adaptation strategies and policies in Africa. Both programme implementers of AWARD and Agropolis Fondation presented their institutions, first results and challenges. Furthermore, a laureate from Nigeria who is the first young African researcher to start her Advances Science Training this year, provided feedback on her experience at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain.
