An equal partnership to address our joint challenges.

About AAUN AAUN has identified 5 areas of focus: The only consortium of universities spanning Australia and Africa Established to inject new vigour into the academic relationships between the two continents Working together to find innovative, long lasting, solutions for critical issues concerning both continents AAUN has identified 5 areas of focus: Education Food Security Mining Public Health Public Sector Reform  

Why Africa and Australia? Australia and Africa are two Southern continents facing similar challenges: increasing agricultural productivity management of scarce water resources the revolution in higher education Public health in nutrition, obesity and heart disease The AAUN draws on the strengths of our network partners in each continent to provide sustainable solutions to our shared challenges.

Vision High impact, strategic educational and research partnerships providing sustainable solutions to challenges jointly facing Australia and Africa.  Mission To enhance targeted Africa-Australia partnerships through a network of collaborative research and education initiatives. AAUN improves the capacity and connectivity of academic talent across the two continents. Through working with research institutions, business and government, AAUN delivers sustainable solutions to our joint challenges.

1. Scale up Africa-Australia institutional research partnerships. Objectives 2015-2017 1. Scale up Africa-Australia institutional research partnerships.   2. Strengthen the academic and leadership capacity of our network’s partners 3. Be an influential voice in policy making across the critical issues affecting Australia and Africa 4. Provide an intelligence and advisory portal for expertise on Australia-Africa issues

Values Innovation Collaboration Equity Sustainability Committed to growing and supporting a culture of innovation within its network.   Committed to fostering open and supportive collaborations for the benefit of our global community. Committed to promoting equal partnerships between African and Australian research institutions. Committed to being a leading advisory and advocate on sustainable solutions for issues affecting Australia and Africa.

Strategies Convene two major annual conferences to drive Australia-Africa research & education priorities Host joint targeted strategic workshops &conferences Expand the PRDF & attract new resources from governments / agencies Introduce an Africa-Australia mobility fund to fuel development of new research partnerships Introduce a two-way research capacity building & training program Promote & engage in the Australia Awards Africa scholarship programs Provide support for African graduates / Awardees returning from international training or research programs, Host annual Presidents Forum to drive actions that enhance educational leadership capacity Produce a series of policy position papers on our six key areas of engagement Engage with industry, government & civil society through conferences / events on joint Australia-Africa challenges

Partnerships & Research Development Fund (PRDF) The PRDF offers catalytic grants of $AUD 10,000 on average to foster partnership in the network, including new members, and support planning workshops and research collaborations that address distinct mutual challenges. The PRDF provides one year of catalytic seed funding with the firm expectation that funded projects will be excellent, build specialist teas, achieve impact and be sustainable through the early identification of additional external funding.

2013 PRDF Projects Within a short time, the AAUN has seen promising findings out of the six seed funded projects of its Partnerships & Research Development Fund (PRDF). These projects are working on ways to: Improve nutrition and health of children, and pregnant and lactating mothers. Reduce hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa through salt reduction strategies. Treat contaminated maize using photosensitization technology. Increase productivity in the production and post-harvest handling of cowpeas and Bambara groundnuts, an inexpensive source of protein grown in Africa. Reduce the risk of HIV transmission.

2014 PRDF projects The 2014 Partnership & Research Development Fund (PRDF) attracted 27 applications, of which 16 are being funded. These 16 projects comprise: 2 in Development 2 in Mining 7 in Food Security 4 in Education 1 in Health  

2014 PRDF Projects Mapping HR and Entrepreneurial Networks and Resources in East African Community Special Economic Zones Mapping Australia-Africa Partnerships in Higher Education Enhancing community-based farming systems by integrated and efficient soil-water-nutrient management regimes in sub-Saharan Africa: from research to farm business enterprises Estimation of Rock Size Distributions Using Image Analysis Integrated design of highly palatable extruded and other foods for nutrition, health and wellbeing using selected sustainable grains and legume fractions Assessing the Benefits of Agro-biodiversity in the Context of Climate Variability and change 21st Century Skills for Education Practitioners : Rapid e-Learning Tools to develop Interactive Learning Materials Building an AAUN coalition to support improved nutrition and health of children under 5 years, pregnant and lactating mothers Mining for a Healthier Community Development of sweet potato postharvest-handling technologies for improved safety and quality of fresh and processed forms An Analysis Of The Value Chain For Indigenous Edible Insects And Their Potential Role In Mother And Child Nutrition In Eastern And Southern Africa: Focus On Mopani Developing and retaining the next generation of academics and researchers Surveillance and monitoring of food security for Africa: proposal development Where does your food come from? Food supply in the context of trade, agriculture and nutrition Master of Biosafety Joint Development Project A Study of the Experiences of Ghana, Kenya and Mauritius with Special Economic Zone (SEZ): Imperatives of Law and Economics

2015 PRDF projects The 2015 PRDF received 8 applications, and 5 are being funded: 4 in Food Security 1 in Education Project Title Principle Investigator(s) (PI) Academics without doctorates – an investigation into the nature and extent of under qualification of academics in South Africa, Mauritius and Australia and strategies and policies to address the issue. Dr Mignonne Breier, University of Cape Town & Dr Lorraine Towers, University of Sydney Monitoring and modelling of food security practices from retail to home in Australia and Africa  Dr Ranil Coorey, Curtin University Integrated whole-of-grain utilisation of cereal-legume composite for extruded and other foods targeted at specific consumers’ nutrition, health and wellbeing needs. Prof Kolawole Falade, University of Ibadan Agro-diverse farming systems in Africa: potential for improving Food (and Nutritional) Security in the context of climate variability and change. Dr Peter Johnston , University of Cape Town, Prof Janet Bornman & Prof Richard Warrick, Curtin University An Analysis Of The Value Chain For Indigenous Edible Insects And Their Potential Role In Mother And Child Nutrition In Sub Sahara Africa: Focus On Mopani  Prof Mavis Mulaudzi, University of Pretoria

Funding Partners  

Australian Members African Members Makerere University, Uganda Curtin University Griffith University Monash University Murdoch University The University of Melbourne The University of Newcastle The University of Sydney The University of Western Australia The University of Wollongong UNSW Australia Western Sydney University Makerere University, Uganda The University of Cape Town, South Africa The University of Ghana, Ghana The University of Ibadan, Nigeria The University of Malawi, Malawi The University of Mauritius, Mauritius The University of Nairobi, Kenya The University of Pretoria, South Africa The University of Zambia, Zambia

Contact Us Website: http://aaun.edu.au/ Prof Cheryl de la Rey Prof John Hearn AAUN Co-Chair (Australia) john.hearn@sydney.edu.au T +61 2 9351 4461 Ms Marije Nieuwenhuis AAUN Program Manager aaun.events@sydney.edu.au T: +61 2 9351 4856 Prof Cheryl de la Rey AAUN Co-Chair (Africa) Rektor@up.ac.za Ms Desirée Homann Executive Assistant Desiree.Homann@up.ac.za T+27 12 4205161 Website: http://aaun.edu.au/