Season 1 Ep 10 🎙️🎙️🎙️

Exploring the transformative power of scholarships in African Academia with RSIF’S-Bonface Nyagah

Postgraduate research is a journey of discovery and knowledge creation. It goes beyond simply learning how to think and delves into the realm of producing new knowledge. To embark on this journey, one must build upon existing knowledge, using it as a solid foundation. However, it is crucial to recognize that the pursuit of new knowledge requires support.

On this episode of Mazungumzo- African Scholarly Conversations, we are joined by Boniface Nyagah, a program manager and capacity-building specialist who shares his incredible journey from engineering to managing 300 postgraduate scholarships annually and explore the power of scholarships in shaping the future of African academia.

Mr. Bonface Nyagah is a program manager and capacity-building specialist with over 18 years of experience in the non-profit sector. He is the Capacity Building Officer for the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund, ⁠RSIF @ICIPE⁠ where he implements the RSIF capacity building strategy and coordinates capacity-building efforts for PhD scholars in African Host Universities. He also serves as the safeguarding officer for the project and supports the establishment of collaborations with international partners.
Here are key things to listen out for:
Career journey: Mr. Nyagah’s started his career as a production engineer and transitioned into programme management and a capacity building officer. He recounts how he joined German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as an assistant administrator and gradually took on more responsibilities.

Management of Scholarships: Mr. Nyagah discusses his role in managing the DAAD scholarship program, which expanded from 30 to 300 scholarships annually for East Africa. He highlights the increased competition and high quality of applicants for the scholarships, leading to the need for additional support and resources for early career researchers.
Supporting early career researchers: Mr. Nyagah emphasizes the importance of supporting early career researchers beyond financial assistance, including access to resources, supervision, and publication guidance. He acknowledges the challenges faced by scholars in terms of research-based obstacles and the need to improve scholarly communication skills.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Joy Owango:
Welcome to Mazungumzo – African Scholarly Conversations where are joined by an expansive list of African policymakers, science communication specialists, innovators, and tertiary institution leads who contribute to the realm of scholarly communication. I’m your host Joy Owango, the Executive Director of the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), based at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
This week’s guest is Mr. Bonface Nyagah a program manager and capacity-building specialist with over 18 years of experience in the non-profit sector. He is the Capacity Building Officer for the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund, RSIF @ICIPE where he implements the RSIF capacity building strategy and coordinates capacity-building efforts for PhD scholars in African Host Universities. He also serves as the safeguarding officer for the project and supports the establishment of collaborations with international partners.
Bonface Nyagah:
Thank you so much Joy, and thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure.

Joy Owango:
It is a pleasure to have you here. Tell us about your background and career path to your current position.
Bonface Nyagah:
Many thanks, Joy, it’s a pleasure, again, indeed. It’s been quite a career path for me. Originally, I was trained as a production engineer, and when I finished that, then, of course, as an engineer, you start looking for engineering related work, but this was not forthcoming. Somehow, through a friend, I stumbled on to the German Academic Exchange Service, who had just gotten a vacancy, and the vacancy was for an assistant administrator. I joined the German Academic Exchange Service, the regional office for Africa, which is here in Nairobi, as an assistant administrator, supporting the program officers leading the various programs that the DAAD Nairobi then was doing. And while there, of course, I was interacting with lots of academics, for the first time in my life, I would see and meet Vice Chancellors up close, and Joy, you don’t know what those things do to you. When you meet a professor, who you only saw on the news or read on the newspaper, standing in front of you, you’re shaking hands, you’re listening to their story. And that kind of rekindled their hunger I had before I did the engineering to kind of pursue something that would be enabling me to have a bit more impact. Because I must say the engineering had a lot of influence from my parents, especially my father, who is an engineer and has always been in retirement is an engineer. And now I saw this is a space where I can think I can interact with people, I can see what the program is and how it’s moving and how people are kind of coming out of that whole pipeline. So of course, I must say I had very encouraging colleagues there. And they would even allow me to kind of shadow for them when on leave. They would give me instructions on what to do, and they were kind of inducting me slowly into program management. I wouldn’t say I was seeing it, but perhaps they were seeing it better. And they would leave things in my hands that would be put as the out of office person for their various roles. Down the line, I think I did that for about four years. One of the colleagues then kind of needed to move on in life to something else. And I remember having a conversation with her in one of those last annual cocktails and she called me aside and we’re having a side chat and she revealed to me something that had been going on and I didn’t know that she was leaving. And she told me in her kind of departure interview and all these she had been I asked her if she knew somebody, or could propose someone who could be kind of recruited to this, and top of her head, she just said my name. You know Joy that those things are key when people speak your name in rooms when you’re when you’re not even there. That for me, was life changing and career shaping because I remember, not so long after she left, I was called in by the then director. The director mentioned to me this whole story again, that the colleague is leaving and so on. She asked me if I knew and I said, Yeah, I’ve been informed that she’s leaving. And, and of course, that’s normal life that people move on to other things. And then she said, well, she recommended you for this position that she’s leaving vacant, and I don’t know if you’re interested. This for me was, I think, the one very critical question that anyone has ever asked me in my career, if I’m interested in a higher position with higher responsibility. So of course, I took it, and the director was graceful enough, even said, she will allow me six months to try it and If felt it’s too much, we could discuss or maybe I could go back to my other job, and they can recruit someone, and well, the rest is history. I took the challenge, and, of course, this comes with a bit of more income. So I said, well, I might as well use this extra income to get me, you know, a training that is not engineering that is more inclined to this work. And I dove in again, into a degree program, a part time degree program where I would do my work, and at the end of the day, attend class. And I was doing that faithfully until I came out of it. So I’m sure in this podcast, you can allow me since it’s about higher education, I can say I graduated from Strathmore University, Kenya. And I did a Bachelor of Science in Management and Leadership. So that kind of placed me in a good position because it was a double major, and I majored in management of non-profit organization, and in public administration. So then, that way, I felt also kind of this synchronized me pretty well into program management, all the while, actually, I was managing a program for scholarships, Postgraduate Scholarships, the whole value chain of scholarship program from, calls to advertising to marketing, to handling applications and then awarding, onboarding, maintaining those scholars until we kind of hand them out as alumni. When they finished they are either PhD or Masters. However, a couple of years down the line, I think, if I’m not wrong, it could have been back in 2008. The German government then because then DAAD is from Germany, there came a minister, I think it would be equivalent of a minister of interior. And of course, this, they were visiting the nation, they visited the presidency and all those kinds of protocols that can happen when a higher ranking official of a government visits another government. And, and then there was a pronouncement that Germany wanted to give, I think, 1000 Postgraduate Scholarships to Africa, and this was a program that would run for a couple of years. And by 1000, I mean, 1000 Postgraduate Scholarships annually in Africa, so this was quite huge when you think of 1000 for sub-sahara Africa. So, of course, then the political side of things ended and then the nuts and the bolts was now where will the 1000 go? And of course, he also announced that DAAD was squarely in charge of this scholarships. That boiled down to 300 Postgraduate Scholarships in East Africa.

Joy Owango:
For context, this was the famous competitive postgraduate’s scholarship that early career researchers in East Africa compete for.

Bonface Nyagah:
Exactly. This is what is called the in-country programme. It’s called in country because you study in your country or within the region. It was allowed that a fraction of those could go across, maybe a Kenyan goes to Tanzania, Tanzania, and goes to Uganda, and so on and so forth. And, and you realize that was about a third of those scholarships coming then to, to East Africa. And that meant to my desk. So I was being graduated from an intake of what, 30 Postgraduate Scholarships to 300. I could say, 1,000%? Then, of course, we sat with management, and they are very kind managers there. And there was an in-depth discussion on how this would be managed now that we are responsible for not just Kenya as individuals, program officers, but also for the East Africa region. As you can see, now, my career was now growing, and I had to now start managing not only a bigger portfolio, or scholarships, but also a few other institutions that are not that are not necessarily in Kenya, and even now, there was a team that I had to take lead off.

Joy Owango:
So now here you are working with these postgraduate students for what I’m assuming is Eastern Africa.

Bonface Nyagah
It is Eastern Africa, because it was beyond the East Africa community. If your peer was within our kind of space, a bit of the South Sudan, though, then they were still Sudan.

Joy Owango:
So now, so when, when this means minister, said that he wanted at least 1000 PhDs coming out of Africa every year, you already had an option of 300. And I’m assuming other DAAD offices had their own targets to meet as well.

Bonface Nyagah:
Yes, actually, they were not just PhDs. They were both masters. Yeah. So give and take, I would say then at least, if I remember, the ratio was something like maybe two thirds were masters, and a third, maybe PhD. And I say that loosely, because it could have been anything between 50% aside or towards two thirds 1/3. However, this now came to be managed here in Nairobi, 300 of those annually. If every year we would advertise, together with my team that I was team leader, and of course, with the support of the Management here in the DAAD office in Nairobi. 300 Postgraduate Scholarships, and we would work towards filling those positions. But I must say that filling those positions was never a challenge.

Joy Owango:
Oh, that’s good to know.

Bonface Nyagah:
Yes, it never had any one point became a challenge. Actually, we always had more applicants than available the slots. And every year, the quality of the applicants became better and better and better, the competition became stiffer. I could see the selection committees getting even a much more harder time to make critical decisions whether to give it to Mr. X or Y . So and of course, after serving at DAAD for 15 years. It came a point where I also needed to transition and I found that place to transition to was at ICIPE. ICIPE had competitively won the management of the PASSET-RSIF. PASSET is Partnerships for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology. And it has a flagship program called Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund which is a purelly doctoral scholarship program. Right so I transitioned from DAAD to, I managed a similar program and I came into PASSET-RSIF where, presently, I work as a capacity building officer.

Joy Owango:
This is a very interesting journey. You’ve been working, first of all, with the idea of supporting early career researchers and supporting their pipeline, it just goes beyond advertising and making sure they do the program and graduate. You mentioned that you are supporting them in their pipeline. So in this case, it’s the pipeline as they are going through their research programs, so their research lifecycle. Take us through what you are doing, basically, how are you supporting the early career researchers in in their research lifecycle, granted that they are already working, doing their projects, or conducting their research in their respective universities. Early career researchers need support, especially when it comes to product producing good quality research outputs, understanding how to be competitive, post graduation, how to increase their visibility. So basically, what I’m talking about is the scholarly communication aspect of it. Because what I know is that during your tenure at DAAD, and it’s something that you’ve also extended to your position at the PASSET-RSIF program, you’ve been very keen on supporting early career researchers in producing goods called scholarly communication outputs. So, take us through how that idea came about, and what you have noticed over the years in supporting early career researchers in improving the research output, especially those who have been funded by some of these projects.

Joy Owango:
Thank you so much Joy, indeed, you must agree with me, and perhaps even our listeners here will agree that it’s one thing to want to do that PhD or to want to do that Master’s, MSC MBA, or let’s generally call it a postgraduate degree. But then when you’re doing a postgraduate degree, it’s, beyond, you know, just learning how to think it is producing knowledge, covering new knowledge. So and for you to discover new knowledge, new knowledge sits on existing knowledge, and you use existing knowledge as a base. So that was always clear. For DAAD, it is clear even for RSIF, where I am at the moment that the young researchers, need support, and the support, I don’t mean that you’re paying their stipend on time or listening to their issues. You have to avail to them additional resources, without the assumption that they will be given or provided for by their universities. It calls for deliberate efforts to provide this. And I remember clearly, at least in my tenure at DAAD, we used to have these conversations with the scholars just to see what challenges they are going through that are beyond you know that I have my stipend the fees paid, but then as a person when you’re doing research, there are research-based challenges that cannot even be cured with money. What are they going through? Do they feel they’re getting enough supervision? Or are they being supported enough by the supervisors? Do they have access to the necessary resources and ebooks? Can they access any publications that they feel is right for their work? Are they able to publish? Do they even know how to publish now that it’s a prerequisite before they graduate, they maybe a paper is needed, or to some universities need three, and you know, writing the paper is also not just writing the paper, you know, you want one with a higher impact you want to be visible, maybe if you are a specific type of scientist, you want to be with those scientists who are of your area of interest. And there’s no way you’re getting there if they are published in very high impact and you want to go to an unknown journal, you know, how do you write to that quality that is needed? So, those questions we used to have posed to the scholars and then we would discuss and then it dawned upon us that something had to be done. So and of course, really I always am thankful for the management at DAAD then always and even now I see it, they have their ear on the ground, they listen to the feedback they are getting from these callers. And I remember us, you know, shopping around, and we were shopping around and looking so who can deliver, you know, this kind of thing even on a pilot

Joy Owango:
Because at this point it was unheard of.

Bonface Nyagah:
I remember, when you said science communication, people would ask- What is this? Is it just communicating and, you know, even some of those callers, they wanted to go to an international conference, then they are told you have to bring a poster. They didn’t even know how you put together a scientific poster. And we were shopping around and trying to find who can do this here for us in Africa, how can they deliver? And I must say we were very happy Joy to have found you.

Joy Owango:
At that point, I think we have about five years.

Bonface Nyagah:
Yes, you and the TCC Africa group. You were there, of course we found a few others who also existed and we didn’t know about. And there’s even a very big one that actually trains librarians. That’s why they were founded. It was called ITOCA (Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa) from South Africa. But you see them they had a target clientele and was just training the librarians or tooling or retooling the librarian. So there were a lot of discussions on what to do. And I think if I remember, clearly, we came to a conclusion that TCC Africa could do something, ITOCA could do something, everybody could do something in a specific region, everybody got their region. And later, we would compare the ones in charge, you would compare what the feedback we are getting from the scholars from one trainer like TCC, and from what it’s saying. And we slowly after that pilot phase, I think we came to a conclusion that TCC could do it at a larger scale, and we were happy that you guys were able to do it. Of course, that then changed a lot the whole experience of those doctoral students, you could see they become bold.

Joy Owango:
They’re more confident.

Bonface Nyagah:
Exactly. They’re more confident, they know what to when they need to publish, they are not scared to publish those papers. They do it. Some of them, went over and beyond the required 2 some would do 4, other 6, name it. And of course, as you said, the visibility was key. I mean, you know, teaching scholars how to be even visible on social media, you know, you’re now a scientist who’s becoming if you’re not even there yet. How are you visible to other scientists in your area of interests? Yeah. So those things are key. And it’s something that even in my present role, I coordinate. And you mentioned it when you introduced me, we have that capacity building strategy of the RSIF. And I’m more than thrilled to implement it, because those are the very things you know, that we do there so that PhD scholars or postgraduate scholars feel empowered enough and bold enough that they have the right tools, you know, it’s one thing to have a toolbox, but if it doesn’t have the right tools for the right job, then it doesn’t even help. That’s all. And that’s what we do. We even refer to our work with our strategy, the capacity building strategy of the RSIF. Informally, we call it a toolbox. And we give specific tools that empower the scholars.

Joy Owango:
So basically, what you’ve done is beyond just offering the funding for the early career researchers is also create an active ecosystem where these early career researchers are confident enough to go through this the research lifecycle, ask the right questions when it comes to where they need to publish, how they can improve their visibility. And that is extremely important for early career researchers as a foundation to get into the the future of their careers. But then beyond that, I noticed that you have another role. You’re a safeguarding officer and I’m curious to know what does it mean to be a safeguarding officer I know the postgraduate processes is a very lonely process. Okay, more so especially if you’re doing your PhD program, 100% of the time you’ll be interacting with your supervisor. Then there are also these various cultural dynamics, gender dynamics that come to play when you’re interacting with your supervisor, and also mental aspects and mental awareness that needs to be questioned or put into play when you’re going through your Postgraduate process. So tell me, knowing all that encompasses just going through a postgraduate degree, it’s just not doing the research itself. It’s what that person is going through in the back end. How does being a safeguarding officer come to play? And what does that involve involved, especially for these early career researchers?

Bonface Nyagah:
Thank you, Joy. You’re right. I’m also a safeguarding officer. And whenever donors put funds, there is a necessity to have a safeguarding person. I could start a bit on the outside before I come to the higher education space. If for instance, a donor gives funds to construct a road, or a port or an airport, it means this has a social impact. Positive or negative, it could also have an environmental impact. It could improve or destroy the environment where this has been put up. So there’s always a necessity to have a safeguarding officer of safeguarding focal points, meaning these are people who offer a safe space where the constituents around a certain projects or program could come and air freely without judgment, their grievances. And if they are valid grievances, if they are valid issues, they can be sorted. If it is a road, maybe the road is being proposed to pass near the source of water. Maybe it’s contaminating the water, maybe us as the dwellers of this place have an issue with this. So how does that get sorted? This is the same now when we come to higher education, you find that funding is given, stipends will be paid faithfully, and all the payments that should go to support the financial side of a scholarship. However, they’re soft things. For instance, if a scholar was aggrieved against their supervisor, or against something that they’re going through, maybe they might feel I’m doing this kind of science and my lab is really, really lacking. And this is causing a lot of, you know, anguish, because as much as we do science, at least, the right tools required to be in place. And you find that sometimes in our universities, the tools are there, but they’re completely dysfunctional, and then sometimes you get the feeling it is known by our administration, but then nobody seems to be actioning it to sort it out. So what does a student or postgraduate student or doctoral student do, or has to do when they are in this kind of situation? They are willing to do the work, but the machines to do it, or what is needed to execute the work is not there, then they should have that free space, to be able to complain, and not have any form of retaliation from the university. And we see sometimes it can happen when, say, you report your supervisor or your senior, and then they retaliate by either castigating you or pushing you aside or the sideline, or you walk around University and fingers are being pointed at you, maybe you’re branded an informer. So that’s why then the safeguarding becomes necessary. So that’s what I do. Even just to check that the student is still in the proper space of mind to be able to do that. Sometimes the scholar might feel really burnt out. And they maybe they’re just looking for a break. They want a break and a real break of just leave, maybe they’d be the one to ask for academic leave, you know, maybe I want to stop for nine months or what, how do we handle this? So then the safeguarding officer comes into play to help also, you know, sometimes negotiate these things in line with the statutes of the university. So as a safeguarding officer, I have to remain aware of what the rules are, especially postgraduate rules of the university. So that even if a scholar would like, to report something or something done to help for them to be able to work better than everything is within those regulations. And how we do it here at RSIF is I work with my peers, each of those host universities, African host universities have been really, really gracious that they have identified, sometimes even a very high academic who is the safeguarding focal point, meaning, if a scholar is abused or aggrieved, they could rush to that one first before even reaching out to us. So we work together for the well being of the scholars and making sure that they remain aware that there is a free space where they can rant or complain about certain issues that they feel are not moving or working towards the better meant or for them to achieve their goals in doctoral studies.

Joy Owango:
Okay, so clearly, you will get support from the from the doctoral students, but what about the universities, what has been their response with you coming in as a safeguarding officer, especially when it comes to handling some of these tethy issues, let’s say in supervision of students, the mental awareness of the students, how has it been received by some of the hosts by their host universities,

Bonface Nyagah:
I must say, they have been very open and received it with open arms, because we’ve realized also universities are not in the business of keeping doctoral students there. Most of them are even staff members of this university. So the sooner they can finish, the university is looking at this person as a resource. This is this is someone who wants they finish, and they start teaching and supervising. So they have embraced this. And this is something that really, really makes us happy. And they are very quick, when there are issues. I think we have a very short turnaround time, when there are issues to be sorted, they’re always open to discuss, they’re always open to implement whatever we agree will be done. So that kind of embracing then it’s kind of a mind shift completely, because I think in the old days, if you complained about supervisor or about something, you might never, never finish your studies. But then, you know, this is a different way of doing things a completely different way, which is good.

Joy Owango:
It also says a lot about the cultural paradigm shifts in in Africa, because we come from a very concern, when I say conservative, you know, respect your elders, and your supervisors are older than you. And because of that cultural dynamic, young early career researchers would not raise their voice will not complain, will not raise an issue. The universities used to ride on that for very long time. So the fact that you’re saying this is changing, it means that the dynamics are becoming more adaptive with, with being cognizant on being aware of the needs of the early career researcher, just beyond being a student, but being a person, and making sure that they are able, you know, if you think about them as a person, they’re able to deliver their programs on time, and that is very good.
I will digress and ask a question in regard and ask the subsequent questions in regards to what I’ve observed in your career. And that is number one you want for DAAD and that was a Global North partner based in Germany in funding higher education in Africa, which has been historical really. Historically, the Global North has been supporting higher education in Africa, in providing the scholarships with what you’re seeing with DAAD. Then now, you’re with the PASET-RSIF program, which is similar to that in the sense that it is supporting doctoral students in Africa, but then it is a program that is funded by African governments. So what is your observation right now, in regards to Africa’s commitment to higher education, with looking at PASET-RSIF, as a case study, because what you’re seeing is that governments have actually contributed to this fund. They have also committed to saying to having a target of about 1000 PhDs, how many places?

Bonface Nyagah:
Actually, the vision is 10,000 PhDs
Joy Owango:
Okay, so this is a commitment by African governments, and they are paying for that. So what is your observation with Africa’s deliberate involvement in funding higher education and allocate various researchers, particularly doctoral students and what do you see it does for regionalization, where governments work together and also internationalization, highlighting to the global north what the continent is doing, so rather for us in the Global South what we are doing in supporting the education sector.

Bonface Nyagah:
Thank you, Joy. Indeed, I must say that this is first a paradigm shift, because as you rightly mentioned earlier, most African nations perhaps would get some form of funding from a partner in the North. Sometimes the partner would follow the dollar to the ground, and maybe they would send a manager there, to manage how these things are done. But then this is kind of a complete turnaround. So first of all, yes, the African governments are contributing the money, or the funds are from taxpayers money, which is then used to fund doctoral scholars. And in terms of the way you said, regional approach. And perhaps you will also see this as you read deeper on how the PASET-RSIF is made. It’s a complete shift where a country contributes a set amount of funds and then 20% of that is given to scholars who are coming from a non contributing country, while 80% is given to nationals of the contributing country. Even better, those callers don’t have to study in the country because their country contributed. But rather, they can move to any one of these host universities that make up the program. So that when you look at it, you see there is one end, where you’re helping qualified scholars from a country that are not contributing, and also your scholars are moving to other parts of Africa. So you can see that it’s kind of a regional thinking and regional approach. I mean, other than that, it’s a real commitment, if you asked me that, countries have taken this upon themselves to take charge of bringing people to a doctoral education, because it’s a realization that something has to be done. And I know you’re a proponent of a specific percentage of GDP being used towards research. Globally, if you look at the countries in the North, you might find their spending maybe 1.5 to 1.7, maybe even a bit more. I don’t know what the status is, at the moment of their GDP on research in Africa. I think it’s not even close to 1% yet.

Joy Owango:

Though they’re supposed to be getting to that 1%.

Bonface Nyagah:
Exactly. PASET-RSIF is one of those kinds of programs that kind of shifts this because then countries are contributing $2 million.

Joy Owango:
Annually?
Bonface Nyagah:
This $2 million is divided into 20 PhDs. So, and going by the fractions I gave you, it means they keep a team of those doctoral students, and only two are funded, who are not the nationals of that country that is contributing. For me, this is a complete change of how things are done. It is a beginning, actually, if you ask me on how things should be done, that Africa takes the reins of the knowledge economy of their economies.

Joy Owango:
They are making a deliberate effort in building their knowledge economies by investing in their higher education sector, providing funding for doctoral training and creating doctoral students. What do you think is the future for such programs like the PASET-RSIF, do you see more programs coming up? Initially, we had programs like the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), which was focusing on agriculture, but it is on host universities that are focused on supporting doctoral students in agriculture, or we have programs like the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) Program, which is focusing on health sciences, but you see, there’s something unique about the PASET-RSIF program because it is multidisciplinary and we have governments committing to it. This is the one unique factor about it. The other programs are a mixed model, but this is this is purely continental commitment in supporting the higher education sector and, and doctoral training. What do you see as the future for early career researchers in Africa and Africa being a knowledge economy with such programs?

Bonface Nyagah:
Well, that’s an interesting one. Yeah. I mean, if this is anything to go by, I see the future being very different. I see and imagine governments will intentionally put money where they need the knowledge economy to wake up, for example, if a country feels the need to better their agriculture, I see a situation where governments will deliberately have doctoral scholars or postdocs or other level of researchers funded to get the knowledge and immediately to apply. Perhaps, something you had asked earlier, which I didn’t shed light to was on how such programs get the international aspect. So for example, what I’ve seen, we are doing here at the PASET-RIF as we do our work is we run a sandwich program, this doctoral sandwich program then allows a scholar to be in the African space, they can do the experiments here, but then they get a chance to visit another university or institutions of research, or sometimes even industry, abroad. And by abroad, I mean, out of Africa, or in Africa, in an institution that is more at the international level. And they get to sit there or be there and do part of their lab work or research or writing. Even networking is key for a short period, running, say between 6 months and 12 months of their PhD program, depending on the need. That for me, then brings the internationalization aspect of this program into this because what you’re saying is this is a scholar who has been exposed not only to the culture in Africa, but they have also had to go to another place where perhaps they do things in a different way. It might not be necessarily the best way. But it’s a different way. It’s a different culture. They get to meet scientists who are in a different space who are thinking differently, in that larger field of study and research. That does something to you, when you visit another country and see how people do things, or they do things in a way that challenges how you do your things, then you really start coming into that internationalization wheel.

Joy Owango:
Yeah, that’s true. I mean, this has been a very interesting conversation because we could talk on and on about this. I’m really happy with the journey you’ve made. And I’m really excited with what you’re doing at PASET-RSIF particularly with the safeguarding program, and also obviously with the scholarly communication support for early career researchers. And with that, thank you so much for tuning in and do have a lovely day. Goodbye for now.

Bonface Nyagah:
Thank you so much joy and goodbye.

Outro
Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Mazungumzo podcast. Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all our channels. For more updates and for candid stories by researchers, policymakers, higher education leaders, and innovators on their journeys. See you in our next episode.

Listen to the full episode and explore more episodes from the #Mazungumzo podcast on the following platforms:

Spotify (Available Globally):  https://open.spotify.com/episode/0k4I0GVvbPtX6ldwKejrQY?si=635aa84aca994af6

Apple Podcasts (Globally): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-10-exploring-the-transformative-power-of/id1652483621?i=1000616975568

Anchor (Available Globally): https://anchor.fm/mazungumzo—african-scholarly-conversations

Afripods (Available in Africa): https://afripods.africa/episode/ep-9-sustaining-scholarly-commun/77519ec6-4eb7-4c6a-8056-d5e0ed91e5a1

Pandora (Available in Europe & United States): https://lnkd.in/dpWaXHa5

Stitcher (Available Globally): https://listen.stitcher.com/yvap/?af_dp=stitcher://episode/304439502&af_web_dp=https://www.stitcher.com/episode/304439502&deep_link_value=stitcher://episode/304439502

TCC Africa-Training Centre in Communication News Room (Available Globally): https://lnkd.in/d2y7ZBMD

#Sciencecommunication #researchvisibility