A new way to equip Africa’s science labs: get students to build their own

Louise Bezuidenhout, University of Oxford

Water urns become bioreactors with this clever design. Jeffrey Barbee, Alliance

How does one train science students without equipment? As a sociologist of science specialising in African countries, this is a question I get asked with sad regularity.

How, African science, technology, engineering and maths educators ask me, can the next generation of globally competitive scientists be trained using teaching laboratories that lack even the most basic equipment?

Science in Africa: homegrown solutions and talent must come first

There’s more and more good science news coming from Africa

It’s been a recurring refrain: Africa still lags woefully behind the rest of the world in generating new scientific knowledge.

As figures collated by the World Bank in 2014 show, the continent – home to around 16% of the world’s population – produces less than 1% of the world’s research output.

How scientists listening to the earth can unlock Africa’s many riches

Why Africa needs a science synthesis centre to tackle complex problems

A synthesis centre in Africa would get an African perspective on global socio-environmental challenges.

Scientific research often requires sophisticated equipment like radio telescopes or laboratories. This infrastructure is essential for scientific discovery. But another form of infrastructure is now essential too: synthesis centres. These specialise in bringing together experts across academic fields and geographies.