Opening slide from the 2022 Freshwater Bioinformatics in Africa Seminar.

Researchers Across Africa Meet for Second Annual Freshwater Biodiversity Seminar Series

Posted on Sep 1, 2022

JRS grantees working on bioinformatics in Africa met via Zoom on August 3 for the first of seven seminars coordinated by the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC).  This bi-weekly seminar series is in its second year after a successful run of seminars in 2021 and continues to serve as a critical forum for researchers across the continent to discuss challenges and successes in the African bioinformatics community.

Kate Snaddon from the Freshwater Research Centre samples aquatic invertebrates in a South African River to estimate ecosystem health. (photo: Jeremy Shelton)

For each session the FRC hosts shares 5 questions for attendees to consider in advance in order to encourage lively thoughtful discussions. The topic and questions for the for the inaugural 2022 seminar series were:

Topic:
Cultivating productive data-provider relationships

Questions:
How do we identify the different kinds of data-providers?
How do we approach and engage the data providers?
How do we encourage data sharing?
Are formal user agreements important?
How do we maintain data-provider relationships?

Topics for following weeks include:
-Achieving platform impact
-Tracking platform impact
-Platform scaling and synergies
-Platform sustainability and longevity
-Platform outreach and promotion
-Freshwater taxon lists

Healthy freshwater ecosystems have direct benefits for both people and biodiversity. (photo: Jeremy Shelton)

Read more about the Freshwater Research Centre here and watch the 2021 Freshwater Biodiversity Seminar Series here.