FABI and Founding-Future Africa Director Prof. Bernard Slippers attended the inaugural West Africa Science Leadership Programme (W-ASLP) leadership training workshop held in Accra, Ghana from 21-23 July. The workshop was hosted by the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana. This is the first regional chapter of the Africa Science Leadership Project (ASLP) to be launched with the East, North and Southern African ones to follow by early 2020.  

The three-day science leadership workshop offered a comprehensive career development and leadership initiative for early-career scientists in West Africa. The programme was done in joint collaboration between WACCBIP, the African Science Initiative (ASI) and the Africa Science Leadership Programme (ASLP) of Future Africa at the University of Pretoria. The program was jointly funded by these organisations, with additional support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung. 

ASLP is a joint initiative of Future Africa and the Global Young Academy (GYA), delivered in partnership with Inclusive Innovation, and funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The programme aims to develop early-career academics in thought leadership, team management and research development which are essential to the professional and career growth of African research leaders. The programme also aims to create a network of African science leaders, connected throughout the continent of Africa, and across all academic disciplines. This is a platform that will help to increase the visibility of African contributions to science and promote the production of impactful and responsible research geared towards finding innovative solutions to complex problems in Africa.

The workshop was organised by Dr. Lydia Mosi, Head of Department for Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana and a 2018 ASLP Fellow, Dr. Connie Nshemerierwe an independent science and policy facilitator and co-chair of the GYA and Prof. Bernard Slippers, the founding Director of Future Africa and the ASLP Programme. ASLP Fellows, Drs Leshi Oluwatosin, Priscilla Kolibea, and Victorien Dougnon, acted as mentors at the workshop. The leadership program was attended by a total of 18 early-career academics from Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The vision is to use this initial workshop as a spark to expand the implementation of science leadership programs in the region.