Africa

Priority area: Public Health

Non-communicable diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide, usually co-exist with other chronic health conditions in the same individual giving rise to multimorbidity. There is lack of data on the burden or clustering of multimorbidity at the population level, or context-specific evidence to guide integrated, optimal prevention and management of multimorbidity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

The Multimorbidity CoRE will leverage digital technology and artificial intelligence to address key gaps in quantification, clustering, trend prediction and evaluation of new interventions to improve diagnostics, safety, and effectiveness of interventions for prevention, treatment, and control of multimorbidity in SSA.

To ensure sustainability, this CoRE will collaborate with governments, industry, and partner agencies to enhance training of the next generation of health care practitioners across the spectrum of patient care for multimorbidity in all partner countries. The CoRE will explore precision medicine approaches as a next-step strategy towards addressing multimorbidity in SSA.

Priority area: Innovation & Technology

As a truly global platform, the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) will address food systems challenges by (1) conducting collaborative research on food systems transformation, (2) assuring continuity through a 10-year collaboration, (3) pooling resources for scale and impact, and (4) significantly bolstering capacity in African institutions. Collaboration will span disciplines, geography, and sectors, enabling solutions that transcend unilateral approaches.

The 10-year activity plan is aligned with three pillars: education, research, and technology transfer. The plan draws on the broad fundraising and rich network capabilities inherent in the Cluster membership. Building on the sound foundation of already established partnerships and programmes, extensive collaborative research and capacity building are envisaged, with a particular focus on early career researchers embedded in joint projects. By ensuring that the next generation scientists operate within a global community that co-creates solutions with multi-sectoral stakeholders, the Cluster will make substantive contributions to addressing challenges in African and European food systems.

Priority area: Innovation & Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods have become powerful tools for addressing societal challenges in almost all areas of life. This development is fuelled by improved connectivity, increased computational power, and data access. Applications of AI will play an essential role in achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by tackling problems in a multitude of areas, like climate change, food security, education, public health, access to energy and clean water, and, in the areas in the social sciences and humanities, social justice to name a few.

While the SDGs and many connected societal challenges are global, the capacity for utilising AI methods and research in AI and Data Science still needs to be improved in Africa. The goal of the Cluster is to strengthen the capabilities for research and postgraduate training in these areas at key universities in Africa and initiate research projects in areas of global relevance.

Priority area: Capacities for Science

This CoRE will undertake an interdisciplinary approach to address peace and security challenges at the intersection of the environment, technology, and political (in)stability, focusing on four crosscutting intervention areas: (1) knowledge generation and dissemination, (2) capacity building and cohort building across the academy, (3) dissemination, and (4) practice in Africa and Europe.

The approach will be systematic, participatory, decolonised, and solution-oriented. The pathways to change include the development of research databases, supervision capacities and joint PhDs, research workshops, policy dialogues and peacebuilding interventions.

Existing knowledge systems show that identity and inequality influence peace and conflict in Africa, because they interact to underline access to income, environment, political participation, and technology. Despite the growing global significance of environmental sustainability and technological proliferation, their nexus with identity and inequality have not been adequately studied in African peace and (in)security discourses. This Cluster fills this gap by centring them as important contributors alongside peace and security.

Priority area: Green Transition

The global landscape for management of our water resources is changing. Increasing demand, industrialisation, climate change and increasing entwining of social and ecological systems means traditional water resource management (WRM) is not meeting the challenges of our changing environments. Furthermore, disconnects between science and practice, means innovative research and technological advances often don’t translate to practical WRM.

Decisions about future WRM are therefore highly uncertain, increasing risks and vulnerability for people and environment. Research is needed to consider existing governance and policy gaps, challenges with conventional approaches to WRM, technological innovations, peoples’ relations regarding water, and future potential water related risks. Future WRM needs to be transformative in order to become sustainable and have relevance for Africa and Europe. This Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) focuses on exploring different solutions, learning opportunities/exchanges and pathways to innovation, policy and investment in WRM in Africa and Europe, and solutions that build long-term meaningful capacity within WRM.