Africa Diaspora Academic Network – United Kingdom (ADAN-UK) Trustee Report: 01 June 2020 – 31 May 2021
1. About ADAN-UK
ADAN-UK was created to enable African academics to harness their capabilities and help solve pressing development and governance needs across the Africa continent. The network offers a platform for constructive discussion leading to improved policy advice, partnership engagement, practical outcomes, and cross pollination of best practices both in Africa and the UK.
Our aim is to foster and sustain a community of practice in the United Kingdom dedicated to promoting, debating and advancing practical solutions to Africa’s development and governance challenges through research, learning, training and exchange of information and ideas.
The network strategic objectives are:
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i. To serve as a hub of expertise on a wide range of educational, cultural, and sociopolitical and economic issues affecting Africa for UK-based policy makers, institutional leaders, civil society and development partners;
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ii. To actively engage in and contribute to national and transnational collaboration and partnership initiatives that spur innovation and knowledge exchange across UK and Africa;
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iii. To empower and strengthen the visibility and capacity of ADAN-UK members to readily identify, actively engage and thereby influence the dominant agendas, discussions, and programs of the UK government and higher education institutions relating to Africa;
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iv. To engage as equitable partners with key UK based academic institutions, policy makers and development partners when providing advise on, or the development of ideas, information and application tools that support positive policy development and practise on Africa;
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v. To actively engage with and influence UK’s informal and formal research agenda and activities on all aspects of Africa and advise on rigorous and appropriate interpretation and dissemination of research findings and their use to underpin initiatives aimed at advancing Africa’s sustainable development;
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vi. To identify, develop and share best practice in Africa and globally;
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vii. To facilitate opportunities to increase the impact of the contribution of the African diaspora academics to the development and good governance of Africa directly with: Africa and UK Governments, Academic Institutions, and Development Partners;
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viii. To contribute to the capacity building of HE and FE institutes, government departments and other development partners both in the UK and in Africa on the treatment of Africa and its development through networks and partnerships across organisational boundaries
Trustee Names : Judy Muthuri, Angela Muthoni and Frank Kamau
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2. Activities and objectives in the year ending 31 May 2021
During this reporting year, we did not receive any external funding to run our programmes. ADAN-UK solely relied on the work of volunteers who are mostly academics, and its University partners who contribute in-kind support (space, time and refreshments) to achieve our objectives. The volunteers are academic members of staff in different UK universities who believe in the objectives and values of the organisation.
We were able to accomplish the following:
2.1 Partnerships for Future Foods
We continued our collaboration with like-minded institutions in the UK in food systems thinking, environmental sustainability and human health and nutrition space. We were invited to join a consortium that co-create the “Food Systems Training for AgriFood REsilience (FARE)” centre for doctoral training programme. The consortium was led by the University of Nottingham and included the University of Exeter, Cranfield University, University of Aberdeen, University of Highlands and Islands, Nottingham Trent University and 7 further associate members. Our role was to provide mentorship support devoted to the development of black doctoral researchers and early career academics in the UK and in Africa with an interest in aspects of interdisciplinary Food Systems research. The partnership led to development of two large grants although both grants reached the final stage but did not get the top prize.
2.2 Capacity Building Webinars
We were able to convene four successful webinars on: 1/ Doing Research in Africa; 2/ two webinars on Decolonising the Curriculum; and, 3/ Career Development for Black Academics.
2.3 Mentorship
We mentored 9 new PhD students of Africa origin who were matched to senior Africa academics who provide support to help the students navigate the academic terrain whilst drawing from their unique cultural and social experiences. These mentorship roles are not equivalent to academic supervisions.
2.4 Widening Participation Events
Just like in the past years, ADAN-UK supported its members to execute events during the 2021 Black History Month. These events included career session and university visits for black primary and high school students in community of our members’ universities.
3. Challenges and Opportunities
ADAN-UK has not yet established an independent office and relies on the goodwill of volunteers who work remotely. We continue to seek funding for institutional building and project delivery although resource constrains is a big barrier post-covid.
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4. Appreciation
We are grateful to all the ADAN-UK academic volunteers, our supporters and the institutions that continue to support us to deliver our objectives:
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Africa Academy of Management
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Africa Research Group
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Society of Black Academics
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Food Beacon, University of Nottingham
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Mojatu Foundation
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Nottingham University Business School
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The Kenya Nottinghamshire Welfare Community
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The Kenya High Commission
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