• We should reflect the ‘productivity/sustainability’ agenda for Africa, which needs to find ways of maximising its (temporary) demographic dividend but in a world facing climate change and the assisted technology 4th (industrial) revolution. There are colleagues at Warwick working on these issues from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives.
  
• Visits to African nations have resource implication for the partner – it requires people to do things to facilitate the visit and depending on the proposed project to garner what is needed for its development. We find ways to pay for this and provide things that the host would find useful in addition to working specifically on co-design of the proposal. This should be something they want, not what we think that they would want. It doesn’t have to be elaborate.
  
• The critical thing is to have a strong connection with a place and a champion there who will carry the project forward. I can't emphasise enough how much this depends upon personal contact. Make a reconnaissance visit to a group of 'possible' partners, weighing them up and identifying contacts etc.
  
• Some potential partners will have a high proportion of staff who are teaching after having completed a masters but do not yet have a doctorate.