Solving hard problems requires community engagement in broad experimentation and learning.

A dark cloud holds over several parts of Africa when we ask: What scientific breakthroughs exist here? One overgeneralisation is to say nothing! – due to the disappointment that many believe the African continent has offered them in this area. On the other hand, positivists overdramatise few highlights of breakthrough and are always futuristic when it comes to making this process a norm rather than the exception. Searching online does not produce much results, especially for Nigeria. Results offered are dominated by ancient discoveries dating as far back as 35,000 B.C. Two ideas exist here – either a decent amount of breakthroughs are happening but they are not well communicated or scaled. The other idea is that too little is happening. Both are important problems.

Let’s take a step back. Why is it important for African countries to do quality research and contribute to the evolution of science? We can start by underlining the fact that the application of scientific knowledge is fundamental to better economic and health outcomes. Without a strong research base, innovation often stagnates or fails to address local challenges effectively. That means when done appropriately, people are better off when there is abundant scientific knowledge that addresses the challenges they face. As a countinent, heavily troubled by underdevelopment, scientific breakthroughs offer a path to addressing local problems and accessing wealth. This is not to oversimplify that great innovations are all you need to untangle the quagmires of African societies. However, we can argue that it is core.

We can follow this argument with, why do these scientific breakthroughs need to happen in Africa and by Africans. The world is progressing with concentration of scientific power in specific countries, why can’t we contribute something else e.g. labour?

First, we are once again realising that without significant input by Africans to globalised technologies, such technologies would undermine our needs. There are very few products in the world that transcends all cultures by default. Usually when a solution thrives in a place, elements of the cultures of the beneficiaries refine the solution and how it is evolves in those environments. A recent example is the emergence of AI solutions, where most of the research data used in training AI models were skewed to specific peoples. Many initiatives were immediately set up to start to correct the various anomaly (some arising from ethical gaps and bias) whether through advocacy, policy, or innovation. To benefit meaninfully from global solutions, we have the responsibility to contribute to global knowledge on how these solutions must be built and also importantly, contribute to the development of local knowledge in those fields.

“yet when you look at almost everything we value, it’s downstream of scientific progress. Without scientific progress you don’t get it.”

Secondly, are you not curious about the intellectual dark matter that might exist here? What knowledge is the world missing due to dysfunctional research systems in many African countries. With a population of over 1 billion people, how can we be comfortable to assume important pathways are not sitting in these under-developed spaces? That is saying something for a continent where extractions of resources underline many economies. What powerful ideas can we extract from our minds. The positive for developing continent that consistently churn out important ideas is that they eventually become very powerful, and that is generally a threat to current hegemonies. This is unlike the extraction of mineral resources where most of the people in affected regions end of poorer, in conflict and constantly abused – and the environment is generally worse off.

Finally, as general knowledge become more and more accessible to the world, now more than ever, the quality of questions we ask, and our commitment to navigating/exploring the unknown, will be key in building a prosperous future.

Now that we have established why this is important where do we start?

I think it is fairly established that breakthrough innovations do not stem from the effort of a lone innovator couched in private caves. Therefore to build a conveyor belt that consistently through out significant solutions, we must think about building a system. This system will thrive on

1. a diverse network of people that are motivated and care to do careful, deep and intensive work – this would include researchers, private organisations, government officials etc.
2. the appropriate incentive system to keep the group motivated and resourced.
3. a process (or processes) that keep the system in optimal flux.
4. inspirational leaders that are curious, low ego, technical, and good network builders.
5. Steady flow and efficient allocation of resources.

At ResearchRound, we are taking first steps in Nigeria.

WHERE DO WE START

In a place like Nigeria, where useful data in fairly inaccessible or out of date or sufficient, you still need a decent picture of the landscape. Who has expertise in what field and what are the currently working on? What is everyone doing at this time to help research get done. Who is filling what pivotal positions in the ecosystem. What does the ecosystem look like and how do we reach people who are doing the real stuff.

This information is quite elusive. In one sense, it is available in various forms such as profiles on university websites and platforms like Google Scholar, websites of motivated organisations/initiatives, disjointed policy documents etc. However, this information is not organised.

I’ve started exploring this question with ResearchRound. In the past, we’ve used a scattergun approach of doing public calls for applications and see if people bite. What we can’t tell through that is if we are targeting the right group of people consistently with our messaging. Organising the system might allow us know where capacity gaps are urgent and the best ways to activate the researchers in the ecosystem. This will guide our what questions we ask next.

Through this series of blogs, I intend to share more about the questions we are asking, the progress we are making, and our general understanding of building/rebuilding a viable research workforce.

Habeeb X