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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A Next Einstein Forum [nef.org] (NEF) conference was held [phys.org] at the Kigali Convention Centre in Rwanda in late March:

[A malaria-diagnosing scanner] prototype was among the research projects highlighted at the Next Einstein Forum conference last month in Rwanda to encourage the development of young scientists across Africa. Organizers called it the largest-ever gathering of scientists on the continent. "We can go from a dark continent to a bright continent," said Nigerian chemistry professor Peter Ngene, who described how he plans to use nanotechnology to store solar energy efficiently in hydrogen batteries.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the current chair of the African Union, opened the gathering by linking scientific progress to Africa's development at large. "Knowledge economies are prosperous economies," he said. "Today, more than ever before, adequate math and science proficiency is a prerequisite for a nation to attain high-income status and the gains in health and well-being that go along with it." The president added: "For too long, Africa has allowed itself to be left behind." As the continent catches up it cannot afford to leave out women and girls, Kagame said, urging Africans not to accept the global gender gap in science as inevitable.

"The movie 'Black Panther' gives positive role models of African women in science," said Eliane Ubalijoro, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out the large number of women at the conference. "We are creating Wakanda right here!"

At the beginning of the conference, NEF, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and Elsevier announced [elsevier.com] the launch of Scientific African [elsevier.com], "a pan-African, peer reviewed, open access publishing journal, dedicated to boosting the global reach and impact of research by Africans."

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