As the managing director of the OeAD Jakob Calice, PhD, stated in his welcome speech, the idea of initiating an Austrian-African Research Network goes back to Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz Faßmann, Federal Minister for Education, Science and Research, and the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame.
It was established in order to create a long-term and stable basis for cooperation between Austrian and African universities and research institutions. While the network was initiated by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH) and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) were asked to launch it and therefore to prepare the first General Assembly.
63 African and 19 Austrian universities and research institutions participated in the meeting. Initially, all of them were accepted as official members by Univ.-Prof. Hubert Hasenauer, Rector of BOKU and first President of the Africa-UniNet. Once the network was constituted, the General Assembly discussed the statutes, the general and legal framework of the Research Network, and elected its national coordinators.
In the evening the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research invited the members to a festive reception, where the representatives of the various institutions had the chance to become familiar with each other and to discuss future collaborations after a cordial welcome address by the federal minister, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz Faßmann.
The second day of the meeting started with the election of the Africa-UniNet Board. 3 African and 3 Austrian members, among them 4 women, with notable experience and know-how were elected: Prof. Nzula Kitaka (Egerton University, Kenia), Dr. Zena M. Mabeyo (Institute of Social Work, Tanzania), Prof. Christian Anieke (Godfrey Okoye University, Nigeria), Prof. Dr. Belachew Gebrewold (Management Center Innsbruck), Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anke Bockreis (University of Innsbruck) and Univ.-Prof. Hubert Hasenauer (BOKU, Vienna).
Subsequently the Vice-President, Prof. Nzula Kitaka, was introduced by the president Hasenauer and acknowledged by the Board. The common vision and mission as well as the first activities of the network were discussed and specified with the first call to be opened in July 2020.
The day was concluded with the joint celebration at the BOKU ball in the Hofburg Palace, where the Board members were invited as guests of honor.
More information and details will follow.