“Science is made useful by being in the public eye”
In other thrilling news, we are pleased to announce the Mawazo Institute as one of our partners. Already a long-standing collaborator of the Engage section of our initiating organisation, Falling Walls, as well as a pioneer in supporting early-career women scientists, the women-led Mawazo Institute tunes into one of the most important pillars of sustainable development in the sciences.
The African organization supports women researchers as they work to find local solutions to global development challenges. At Mawazo, they seek to support the next generation and uptake of homegrown and evidence-based solutions to pressing development needs. Mawazo targets individuals as important agents of change in our ailing knowledge ecosystems focusing on young women, who are significantly underrepresented in academia and research, and who can contribute important knowledge and perspectives to issues affecting African development. The Mawazo Institute aims to prepare them to be future thought leaders and public scholars who have impact and visibility both within and outside the academy.
“At Mawazo, we believe that science is made useful by being in the public eye. For us, research that does not make its way out of the shelves of a university library, or the rooms of a lecture hall remains one of the most underutilized development resources”, says Kari Mugo, Public Engagement Lead, Mawazo Institute.
We are extremely grateful for their contributions to our programming so far – with their Public Engagement Lead, Kari Mugo, speaking at our first Virtual Café event last month – and are hoping for many more joint events to come.