ARUA Centre of Excellence in Energy: UKRI GCRF Partnership Programme for Capacity Building

非洲是一个拥有巨大人类潜力的大陆，但它面临着许多复杂而顽固的发展挑战。这些挑战的本土解决方案出现得很慢，因为非洲大陆的研究人员严重短缺，这意味着没有足够的学者来完成所需的研究，也没有足够的学者来培训未来需要进行这项研究的下一代年轻研究人员。此外，解决与发展有关的问题是一个复杂和微妙的问题，需要许多不同科学学科的投入，但让不同学科为一个共同目标有效合作本身就是一个问题。该项目旨在通过开展一系列旨在吸引年轻研究人员参与的培训和研究活动来解决非洲研究能力不足的问题，并为有经验的研究人员创造机会，让他们也参加跨越不同科学学科的研究小组。对研究人员的培训将通过两种方式进行，(I)通过一套非常有针对性的课程，旨在发展规划和做好研究所需的技能，并使结果对其他可能想要使用研究成果的群体有用；(Ii)围绕特定问题成立研究小组，研究小组将包括年轻和有经验的研究人员，以及从不同角度(例如从工程、农业或人类和社会角度)看待该问题的研究人员。这样，将加快青年研究人员的发展，使更多的人接受培训，以承担和处理严酷的学术职业生涯，而年轻研究人员向更有经验的人学习的机会对于确保他们得到良好的培训是非常宝贵的。该项目将进一步特别关注如何在不同的非洲环境中应用可再生和可持续能源，以确保平等分享惠益，并确保不同群体，特别是妇女有机会受益。特别是，将寻求利用可再生能源的方法，使非洲小农和从农民到市场的整个食物链受益。小农场和这些农民的产品分销在非洲极其重要，因为这些小农民总共生产了非洲大陆高达70%的粮食，他们通过在农业和家庭中使用可再生能源所能获得的任何改善都可能对他们的生活产生重要影响。然而，为了制定对他们成功和有用的解决方案，人们需要从许多不同的角度来处理这一问题，包括技术的类型、在哪里以及如何将其纳入农业或食物链活动、谁将受益、他们将如何受益以及是否可以改进解决方案以确保更多的人受益。另一个具体专题领域将是如何在大型非正式住区应用可再生能源，以解决能源短缺问题，以及如何确保特别是妇女通过可再生能源解决方案获得能力。通过对非洲的可再生和可持续能源问题采取广泛的方法，并结合专门的培训和研究活动，该项目希望为培养未来一流的非洲研究人员做出重要贡献，并通过与可能与自己不在同一领域的研究人员合作，拓宽他们关于如何解决非洲大陆一些最紧迫的发展问题的知识。

Africa is a continent blessed with immense human potential, but it faces a lot of complex and stubborn developmental challenges. Home-grown solutions to these challenges are slow to emerge as there is a drastic shortage of researchers on the continent, which means that there are not enough academics to do the research required nor are there enough academics to train the next generation of young researchers who need to do this research in future. On top of these constraints, tackling problems dealing with development is a complex and nuanced issue which needs the input from a lot of different scientific disciplines, but getting different disciplines to work together effectively on a common goal is a problem in itself.The project sets out to tackle the shortage in research capacity in Africa by developing a set of training and research activities aimed at bringing young researchers on board, and by creating the opportunity for experienced researchers to also participate in research groups that span different scientific disciplines. The training of researchers will happen in two ways, (i) by a set of very targeted courses aimed at developing the skills required to plan and do good research, and to make the results useful to other groups of people who may want to use the results, and (ii) through setting up research groups around a particular problem, where the research groups will contain a mixture of young and experienced researchers, and researchers that look at the problem from different perspectives e.g. from engineering, agricultural or human and social perspectives. In this way, the development of young researchers will be accelerated so that more people are trained to take up and deal with the rigours of an academic career, while the opportunity for young researchers to learn from more experienced ones is invaluable to make sure that they receive good training. The project will further focus specifically on topics of how renewable and sustainable energy can be applied in different African settings in an way that ensures that benefits are shared equally, and that different groups and specifically women get the opportunity to benefit. In particular, methods will be sought to employ renewable energy to benefit African small farmers and the entire food chain from farmer to market. Small farms and the distribution of products from these farmers is extremely important in Africa, as these small farmers collectively produce up to 70% of the continent's food, and any improvement that they can gain through using renewable energy in their farming and households is likely to make an important impact on their lives. However, in order to develop solutions that are successful and useful to them, one needs to approach the question form many different angles, including the type of technology, where and how to incorporate it into the farming or food chain activities, who are the people who will benefit, how they will benefit and whether the solution can be improved to make sure that a larger number of people will benefit. A further specific topic area will be on how renewable energy can be applied in large informal settlements to address scarcity to energy, and how to ensure that particularly women are empowered through renewable energy solutions.Through taking a broad approach to renewable and sustainable energy issues in Africa, and combining dedicated training and research activities, the project hopes to make an important contribution to training the top class African researchers of tomorrow, and to broaden their knowledge on how to tackle some of the most pressing developmental concerns on the African continent by working together with researchers who may not be in the same field as themselves.