The eI4Africa first workshop is taking place on May 2, 2013 in Lilongwe, Malawi. Organised by the UbuntuNet Alliance in collaboration with Sigma Orionis and all the eI4Africa consortium members, the workshop is co-hosted by the Malawi National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) and the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN).

The workshop’s main objectives are to:

Enhance collaboration among African and European scientists

Raise awareness on the regional research and education networks and their transformative potential

Propose alternate means of conducting research and delivering services

Demonstrate the relevance of e-Infrastructures and advanced networks

Provide a forum for discussions and debates on recent development and perspectives in the field

At this scope, the workshop will include the following sessions:

A high-level opening session with the Minister of Information and Civic Education of Malawi, Hon. Moses Kunkuyu, as Guest of Honour and the participation of representatives from the NCST, MAREN

Setting the scene, with presentations on: research opportunities under Horizon2020, regional and global Research and Education Networks (REN), AfricaConnect UbuntuNet network, e-Infrastructures applications in Tanzania and e-Health tools in rural Africa

Panel discussion on possible synergies with related initiatives

eI4Africa preliminary findings: Science Gateways, Data capture, Digital repositories interoperability and Technology Transfer Alliance

Bird-of-a-Feather sessions on opportunities in the use of e-Infrastructures in Research (Agriculture, Climate and Health areas)

Participation in the event is free of charge but seats are limited and registrations will be accepted on a case by case basis.