Tackling climate change with Machine Learning  

Two trends that will shape our future in an unprecedented way are climate change and artificial intelligence.

To understand the benefits that machine learning can generally bring to tackle climate change and learn from international research in risk modelling and health in this field, DAAD climapAfrica and DAAD AInet join forces for an interesting Guest Expert lecture.

Six up and coming scholars come together to present and discuss their insights from research in Benin, UK, US and South Africa:

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Session 1 | Introduction

Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning and Earth Observation | Konstantin Klemmer | AInet Partner, University of Warwick and New York University, Climate change AI, USA and UK

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Session 2 | Health

Machine Learning Models for Climate and Planetary Health Data | Dr Bibek Paudel | AInet Fellow, Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, USA

Modeling the impact of climate change on the proliferation of malaria vector | Dr. Olugbenga Oluwagbemi | DAAD climapAfrica Fellow, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

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Session 3 | Risk-modelling

Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Uncertainty Quantification in Localized Climate Projections | Björn Lütjens | AInet Fellow, MIT, USA

Modelling Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources | Dr Ganiyu Titilope Oyerinde | DAAD climapAfrica Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Abomey Calavi, Benin

Flood risk assessment in the context of climate change | Dr Jean Hounkpe | DAAD climapAfrica Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Abomey Calavi, Benin

DAAD climapAfrica IPCC Insight Series 

Together with the Durban team of the IPCC Technical Support Unit Working Group II, the DAAD climapAfrica holds a three-part series.

In this series, participants will have the unique opportunity to learn from one of the most dinstingushed  "African voices" in the international climate science community, Dr. Debra Roberts, IPCC Co-Chair of WG II, about the IPCC.

Together with her colleagues Dr. Marlies Craig and Dr. Andrew Okem from the IPCC TSU she will give insights into the IPCC processes, opportunities to get involved and expand the knowledge on Africa-related messages in the three IPCC special reports.

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Session 1 | May 3rd 2.00 - 4.00 pm (SAST/CEST)
Understanding the IPCC 
About the IPCC, its processes and how to participate in the IPCC

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Session 2 | May 4th 2.00 - 4.00 pm (SAST/CEST)
IPCC Special reports
Learn about the Africa-related science in the three IPCC special reports

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Session 3 | May 5th 2.00 - 4.00 pm (SAST/CEST)
IPCC expert review process
How does the IPCC review process works, including a practical session on conducting an expert review 

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4th Call for applications for DAAD climapAfrica Postdoc Fellowships:

14th of December 2020 - 15th of February 2021. 

Please note, that funding of the 4th scholarship cohort will start on 1st July 2021 and end on 31st January 2023 and is limited for a maximum of 18 months.

The DAAD climapAfrica program in cooperation with the climate competence centers SASSCAL and WASCAL aims to foster application- oriented research results to tackle climate change in southern and western Africa.
The program funds postdoctoral research projects and offers a platform for collaboration in thematic working groups composed of postdoctoral fellows and African alumni of German funding initiatives with expertise in the field of climate research.

Fellows and Alumni experts will increase their research impact and output through a comprehensive training and support program, including general skills training, science policy advising and science management. The working groups serve as a platform to connect with peers, regional and international experts and practitioners and to build a growing professional network across Africa. 

Apply here

DAAD climapAfrica Training on Science Policy Advocacy

One of the main goals of the DAAD climapAfrica programme is to bridge the gap between science and policy- making. The DAAD has a strong focus to bring the outcomes of the research projects of the climapAfrica community to the policy- level to improve evidence-based policy-making. 

To learn how to promote research knowledge in policy and practice, the DAAD climapAfrica programme offered a virtual training course for 40 climapAfrica postdocs and alumni with a special focus on climate change in Africa. Dr Damazo Kadengye, a statistician and research epidemiologist with over 16 years of multidisciplinary experience in public health and educational sciences, realized this training course in cooperation with Samuel Tumwesigye, a rural development expert.

This intensive five-day training course included several contents such as stakeholder mapping and engagement, the role of the society as moving actor for political decisions, research uptake pathways and the role of social media. At the end of the training course, all the participants were able to develop a policy brief and a pitch to convince stakeholders with their research outcomes. To practice this, they prepared an individual policy brief for their current research project and presented it to the training group. After that, they received valuable feedback from other researchers and the trainers, with the goal to be well prepared for a real future pitch with decision-makers.

According to the evaluation report, made by Damazo Kadengye: “A majority of the participates indicated their knowledge was greatly enhanced in most of the areas. 71% of the participants specified that their knowledge in research uptake pathways was significantly improved”

In sum, all the active participants have been grateful for the implementation of the training by Dr Damazo Kadengye and Samuel Tumwesigye. According to the participants, “the facilitators engagements were excellent and the training well organised” and they liked the “interactive and proactive nature of the trainers and facilitators”. One of the participants amended: “It’s a great training programme made very engaging by the facilitators. Would not hesitate to be part again on this kind of training. Widened my thinking scope as a researcher on the issue of communicating my works.”

Due to this positive feedback and the valuable outcome, we are planning to realize more trainings in 2021 and 2022.

For feedback or questions, please contact Simone Kolz.

The DAAD's (German Academic Exchange Service) climapAfrica - Climate research Alumni and Postdocs in Africa - program aims to foster application- oriented research results to address the consequences of climate change in southern and western Africa.  

The centerpiece of the climapAfrica program are thematic climapAfrica working groups. They are composed by climapAfrica postdoctoral fellows and alumni experts of German funding initiatives with expertise in the relevant research areas.

Over 100 experts from 25 African countries are engaging across the working groups to build platforms for exchange of knowledge, skills and ideas and to promote the visibility, recognition and utilization of climate change knowledge. Activities include training and capacity-building measures, networking, expert talks, co-production of knowledge and collaboration on research proposals.

Recently the climapAfrica working group on "Climate change Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Forests" has been established and is now seeking new Alumni expert members to join its activities.

Deadline is November 09th 2020.

Submit your information here. 

The next call for applications for climapAfrica Postdoc Fellowships is from:

14th of December 2020 - 15th of February 2021. 

Please note, that funding of the 4th scholarship cohort will start on 1st July 2021 and end on 31st January 2023 and is limited for a maximum of 19 months

 

The DAAD climapAfrica program in cooperation with the climate competence centers SASSCAL and WASCAL aims to foster application- oriented research results to tackle climate change in southern and western Africa.
The program funds postdoctoral research projects and offers a platform for collaboration in thematic working groups composed of postdoctoral fellows and African alumni of German funding initiatives with expertise in the field of climate research.

Fellows and Alumni experts will increase their research impact and output through a comprehensive training and support program, including general skills training, science policy advising and science management. The working groups serve as a platform to connect with peers, regional and international experts and practitioners and to build a growing professional network across Africa. 

The call for applications on Twitter

Find more information about the climapAfrica program on this website, or here.

Apply here

The call for the 2nd cohort of the climapAfrica Fellowship had attracted qualified applicants from 21 African countries (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Ruanda, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

On May 6th, a selection committee composed of German experts in the field of climate change research in the presence of the program partners WASCAL and SASSCAL, have selected 19 highly qualified postdocs as the 2nd cohort of climapAfrica postdoc fellows.

The 2nd cohort of climapAfrica postdoc fellows comes from Ghana (5), Angola (2), Nigeria (3), Burkina Faso (1), Benin (1), Mali (1), Kenia (1), Namibia (1), Zambia (2), Zimbabwe (1), and South Africa (1).