The event commenced with an icebreaker, a show and tell game, kick starting the event for an engaging presentation on the role of geophysics in attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Mr. Gameli introduced Global Lab network as a bridge between the scientific community and the society. He emphasized on how Science is not finished until effectively communicated and the significance of effectively communicating science.

Defining Sustainable Development Goals and Geophysics

Dr. Boateng introduced the audience to the 17 sustainable development goals and then went on to define Geophysics. He defined geophysics as an interdisciplinary branch of earth science that utilizes physics, mathematics, geology, and computer science to study the earth’s structure and composition. He went on to further explain that geophysics employs techniques such as seismology and geomagnetism to measure the Earth’s physical properties and understand its behavior.

Geophysics is an interdisciplinary branch of earth science that utilizes physics, mathematics, geology, and computer science to study the earth’s structure and composition.

Practical use of geophysics

Dr. Boateng highlighted several practical applications of geophysics, indicating its significance in achieving the SDGs:

• Archaeological Investigations: Geophysics plays an important role when it comes to conducting surveys for archaeological investigations especially those related to slavery in the southeastern part of Ghana. Dr. Boateng stated, ‘To understand the present, we must study the past because the chains of the past still binds us’. This contributes to SDG 4 (Quality Education) by providing training to students and introducing the subject to the community.
• Community outreach: Dr. Boateng emphasized community engagement and outreach on aligning with SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities); past history should be kept alive to track their growth overtime in order to build a sustainable future. This aligns with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities.
• Groundwater Availability Prediction: An AI-based system predicting groundwater availability benefits farmers for irrigation and enabling sustainable agriculture and also for community use aligning with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger and SDG 6 ( Clean water and sanitation)
• Coastal Erosion mitigation: Geophysics aids in protecting coastal communities from losing heritage and natural resources while also facilitating sustainable and efficient exploration for minerals, oil, and gas aligning with SDG 13(Climate action)
• Forensic Investigations: Geophysics supports police investigations by providing targeted searches for forensic crime detection.

To understand the present, we must study the past because the chains of the past still binds us

Dr. Cyril Boateng

During the event, some attendees raised pertinent questions:

• One asked about the role of geophysics in addressing floods in cities during the rainy season. Dr. Boateng explained its contribution to understanding subsurface conditions and optimizing underground drainage systems.
• Another inquired on expanding research, collaboration with agencies for practical models, and measures for earthquake resilience. Dr. Boateng highlighted funding opportunities for large scale research, collaborations with agencies like NADMO, and the need for practical application of research findings.

cross section of the participants on the call

In conclusion, Geophysics plays a crucial role in addressing multiple Sustainable Development Goals ranging from education and community engagement to environmental protection and disaster preparedness. It enables us to understand the Earth’s subsurface, predict natural disasters, and contribute to sustainable development.

Watch the full discussion in the video below and check out our Science Cafe for videos of our previous discussions. Our next event for the year, Community Event , will be held on 18th November 2023. A Movie & discussion programme will be held at Academic City University where the movie titled, The man who knew infinity would be shown, followed by an interactive discussion on the movie. Register for the next event by clicking You’re also welcome to join our Facebook group or follow our Twitter feed to get quick updates on this and future events/activities.

https://web.facebook.com/GLabNetwork/videos/1831586067297852/

The first speaker, Francis spoke on Professionals in technology excelling because of their problem solving and critical thinking capabilities. He spoke on how the journey begins with the art of identifying a problem. This initial step sets the foundation for finding innovative solutions, even when the answers are not immediately apparent. The ability to dissect complex issues and arrive at effective solutions is a skill that transcends domains, making it a cornerstone of success. He further went on to talk about how much of a daunting challenge it can be navigating the Technology Landscape and hence having a mentor can be invaluable. A mentor provides not only guidance but also a wealth of experience and wisdom. Their insights can help individuals navigate the industry’s nuances and make informed career decisions, ultimately contributing to their growth and development. He went on to highlight that, a growth mindset is a fundamental attribute in a tech professional’s toolkit and as they progress in their technology career, the importance of effective communication cannot be overstated. He made a key statement which is; “If you have an effective way of communicating your ideas, it is directly proportional to how fast you grow”. It becomes a pivotal skill in building relationships, conveying ideas, and garnering support. Developing clear and concise communication skills ensures you can surround yourself with advocates and possible collaborators.

Francis further emphasized on time management in a fast-paced tech industry. Good time management skills lead to optimizing productivity an essential aspect of maintaining a successful career trajectory. He also spoke on self-belief and accountability. Belief in oneself and the ability to deliver on commitments is foundational. It is not enough to accept tasks; true success comes from consistently meeting and exceeding expectations.

If you have an effective way of communicating your ideas, it is directly proportional to how fast you grow.

Francis Addai

The second speaker Enock shared his professional journey transitioning into the GIS space and how it began with a passion for scouting information. He spoke on how his curiosity around cartography led him to research on it and that led to a development of keen interest and propelled him to pursue his current career in GIS. Cultivating a curious tendency to explore new topics and domains can lead to unforeseen opportunities and broadened horizons. Tenacity and a relentless quest for knowledge drive growth. This drive encourages you to embrace change and transition between fields seamlessly, like Enock’s journey from cartography to GIS. He went on to speak on Volunteerism. The culture of volunteering offers abundant learning opportunities. Engaging in volunteer work not only contributes to personal growth but also expands your professional network and skillset. He further reiterated Francis’s point on communication leading to collaborators by adding the need for networking. It is a universal asset across all industries. Building a robust professional network facilitates access to opportunities, mentorship, and collaborations, which can be invaluable in the technology sector.

The conversation went on with speaker, Winifred sharing on how diversifying one’s skill set and seizing varied opportunities could lead to a multifaceted and fulfilling career. Don’t confine yourself to a single niche; explore new avenues for growth. She also spoke on recognizing and leveraging one’s innate talents and abilities. These unique strengths can set you apart and enable you to excel in your chosen field. She shared insights on innovation. Innovation is at the heart of technological progress. Continuously seeking ways to improve processes, products, or solutions is a key driver of success in the dynamic tech industry. She further shared why staying relevant to user needs is essential. Keeping a user-centric focus and delivering value to both your employer and end-users ensures long-term success and impact. She made a key statement which is “Be focused on delivering excellence”. When work is not delivered with excellence, time exposes the low quality of your work. She advised on leveraging adaptability and flexibility. The ability to adapt to evolving industry trends and demands is crucial. A flexible mindset allows you to navigate change effectively and remain resilient in the face of challenges.

Be focused on delivering excellence.

Winifred Kotin

In conclusion, success in the technology space is not solely dependent on technical skills; it also hinges on cultivating these vital professional skills and strategies. By embracing these principles, you can navigate the dynamic and ever-evolving technology sector with confidence and purpose.

Watch the full discussion in the video below and check out our community call for videos of our previous discussions. Our next event for the year, Science Café, will be held on 28th September 2023. Dr. Cyril D. Boateng will make a presentation on Geophysics as a Tool for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Ghana, followed by an expert-led discussion on the topic. Register for the next event by clicking http://bit.ly/scicafe23. You’re also welcome to join our Facebook group or follow our Twitter feed to get quick updates on this and future events/activities.

Play video: Video from “Discussing Professional Skills for Career Success in the Technology Space”

The programme started with a presentation by the keynote speaker Mr Leo Ayerakwa. Leo is currently serving as a Senior Manager, Regulatory Strategy & Preclinical Sciences Expert in the Oncology Business Group at Eisai Pharma Europe Ltd, UK.

Leo’s presentation covered Ghana’s R&D policy and implementation framework, the current state of R&D in Ghana, and the future state of R&D. His recommendations for the future included a 10-point action plan diagnosing and addressing pain points/constraints to harnessing R&D for economic growth. One of the revelations of the presentation was the existence of an independent, non-governmental, and non-profit organisation called Research and Grant Institute of Ghana (ReGIG) dedicated to supporting research and innovation in Ghana by addressing inadequate funding and support for research in the country.

The presentation was followed by a moderated panel discussion reflecting on Leo’s submissions, and exploring how to address STEM education at all levels while providing pathways to meaningful engagement through jobs and innovation. Joining Leo in the panel discussion, moderated by GLab’s Gameli Adzaho, were Prof Marian Nkansah and Dr Kwame Sarpong Asiedu.

Prof Marian Nkansah is an environmental chemist at KNUST and a science communicator who is passionate about linking her research to society to create sustainable impact. She is a multiple award-winning scientist who is a Next Einstein Forum Fellow and an active member of the Global Young Academy. Dr Kwame Sarpong Asiedu on the other hand is a pharmacist and lecturer, with previous leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (UK) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, and a Democracy and Development Fellow in Health with the Ghana Centre for Democracy and Development.

The discussion centred around experiences with the research and development landscape in Ghana, good examples of STI implementation, existing gaps, funding research, going from research to innovation, public perception of science, and the way forward. The point was made that R&D, incorporating indigenous knowledge, can drive government’s One District One Factory initiative for example. The important relationship between research and industry was raised many times in the conversation, while the need to popularise science to inspire behaviour change among citizens was emphasised. On advocating for the scientific community at the highest levels of governance, it was recommended that the Presidential Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation (PACSTI) should team up with the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).

The session, which was very interactive and engaging, attracted scientists and science enthusiasts in Ghana and beyond. Jekoniya Chitereka, a Zimbabwean science, technology, and innovation policy researcher at the University of Leeds, highlighted the importance of appreciating the non-linear or ‘spaghetti’ nature of the relationship between R&D and economic development. He emphasised the importance of developing strong relationships between various stakeholders to spur innovation. This also brings to mind the importance of interdisciplinary research that address complex challenges.

If scientific research and innovation should play its intended role in Ghana’s development, there is the need to make STEAM education in Ghana fit for purpose, while addressing the funding and infrastructure issues faced by researchers. We must challenge ourselves to implement the plans in our STI policy in order to realise the promise of R&D. Government, industry, academia, and civil society need to work more collaboratively to define, undertake, and utilise research to address local needs. To quote Leo, ‘it is about our collective effort in unlocking all that individual effort in a syngergistic way…’

Follow Global Lab Network on Twitter and Facebook to be updated on our future sessions or join our Community to contribute to our work and engage with likeminded science enthusiasts.

Play video: Video from “Discussing the Role of R&D in Ghana’s Development”

Video recording of the session

The goal of the December 2021 edition of Science Cafe is to explore the current state of the R&D / technological sector in Ghana, as a transformative force in Africa’s development goals, with the help of key experts in academia and industry. The session will begin with a presentation by Leo Ayerakwa, FRSB, followed by a moderated discussion also featuring Professor Marian Nkansah and Dr Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, and conclude with an open discussion and Q&A session with all participants present.

The keynote Speaker, Mr Leo Ayerakwa has played a variety roles in medicines, pharmaceuticals and biomedical R&D over a 25-year career within the global pharmaceutical industry, graduating from University College, London (UCL), School of Pharmacy, University of London, and following post-graduate studies from universities in the UK.

He is currently serving as a Senior Manager, Regulatory Strategy & Preclinical Sciences Expert in the Oncology Business Group at Eisai Pharma Europe Ltd, UK with a broad therapeutic area experience in cancer, neurology, metabolic & cardiovascular diseases, having previously had a spell as a visiting professor on the Neuroscience MSc. course, Trinity College, University of Dublin.

Leo is a UK/EU board-certified toxicologist, advises biotech companies as a consultant, and was recently elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology, UK.

Prof. Marian Asantewah Nkansah is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, where she obtained her BSc. and MSc. degrees. She holds a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Bergen-Norway.

Prof. Nkansah’s research span a wide range of fields including finding solutions to environmental problems associated with levels and fate of toxic substances like heavy/trace metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in different environmental matrices. She has quite a number of peer reviewed articles and books to her credit.

Prof. Nkansah has received training in Science Diplomacy and Science Advice for Policy. She has been on both national and international platforms where science is discussed for better public understanding. She is a thought leader and motivational speaker.

Prof. Nkansah is a member of the Global Young Academy, an affiliate of TWAS and AAS, a member of the Ghana Young Academy and fellow of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF). She is the inaugural recipient of the TWAS F.M Al-Kharafi Prize and the 2021 winner of the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for Women Scientists. She is the immediate Past Warden of Africa Hall of KNUST, a member of the Women in STEM Ghana group and is committed to the mentorship of younger females in their pursuit of STEM fields, and serves as a role model for young girls at the basic level of their education. She was recently selected to join the Executive Committee of the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD) scheduled for June, 2022 to June, 2023. She enjoys teaching, storytelling, travelling and hiking.

Kwame Sarpong Asiedu is a Pharmacist whose pharmaceutical career spans over 22 years and has included stints in academia with universities in Ghana and the United Kingdom, as well as leadership roles with Boots UK Limited and Lexden Healthcare at the regional and global level.

He is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana as well as the Institute of Pharmacy Management International. He is also a Democracy and Development Fellow in Health with the Ghana Centre for Democracy and Development.

An accomplished Public Speaker, Kwame is passionate about public interest advocacy and the improvement of healthcare access across Ghana and the West African sub-region.

Some of the issues to be explored during the session include how to strengthen the R&D capacity in Ghana, determining the role of the private sector in building the R&D ecosystem, examining the progress of the proposed national research fund.

Science Cafe is a knowledge exchange and networking platform that connects scientists, innovators, and the general public, to promote community dialogue and scientific inquiry in informal venues such as coffee houses, bookstores, restaurants, bars, and online. Global Lab Network has organised 10 Science Cafes since 2018 featuring talks from researchers and innovators in public health, technology, mathematics, biotechnology, WASH, urban planning, environmental science, and public policy. These conversations have been useful in re-emphasising the importance of science, technology, and innovation to national development, and also helping to bridge the gap between science and society.

Everyone is welcome to attend the Science Cafe. To join this session kindly register at https://forms.gle/3QXuiVgeYVWuPMGF8.

The discussion started with Derek mentioning data as one of the things we struggle to understand in terms of what it offers the world, and this makes it necessary for its study to solve problems. Data analytics in its simplest context enables us to have autonomy or control over the sources of data that we have gathered. He mentioned how important or useful data is and compared the traditional research process in academia to the real world, emphasising the role of modern data science in making broader and better decisions.

Derek further highlighted the failure of systems to solve future problems as a challenge to data science. He also demonstrated the thinking process that should be considered in building a system with the example of a ranking system for newsfeed. The major processes involved were setting goals and objectives and prioritizing these objectives. He also asked a mind-blowing question which is; “At what level should Africans be comfortable to say that we can use analytics to solve our problems and that they wouldn’t pose any challenge to us in the future?” He answered by saying that Africans should engage in more research and our application or solutions should be explained to the public through engagements.

At what level should Africans be comfortable to say that we can use analytics to solve our problems and that they wouldn’t pose any challenge to us in the future?

Derek Degbedzui

The second speaker, Emmanuel, delved into the topic using a data-driven approach, to describe what beginners need to consider or learn to zoom into the field of data science. His approach used the data science process of gathering data (published articles), analysis, and interpretation to seek advice from the entire data science community. The approach used a public API from dev.to, with the hashtags #datascience #dataanalytics #beginners to gather 1 million data points relating to machine learning and data science. The data was then cleaned and insights extracted. Common themes or insights from the analysis were to learn how to build a model and learn the python programming language, pandas, numPy, and matplotlib.

Emmanuel went further to explore some relevant skills needed as a beginner and refuted the advice of taking too many online courses. He further explained that those courses will not in themselves help you to become a data scientist, but by building stuff, you are most suited to work in the data science industry. The relevant skills one should learn were categorized into four groups:

1. Getting data (data scraping/crawling, working with APIs, SQL)
2. Asking a good question (unambiguous, questions whose answers are testable, what-if questions)
3. Programming languages (Python)
4. Mathematics (Linear Algebra, Basic Calculus, Basic Statistics)

He also emphasized that one mistake people make is to think that technical skills are the most important thing in data science but he begs to differ. He stated that the best data scientist is one with domain knowledge who is learning data skills to apply to whatever domain they are working in. Emmanuel concluded his presentation by saying, a good data scientist should have: a core domain knowledge (46%), the ability to ask good questions (23%), programming skills (15%), and knowledge of mathematics (15%).

The conversation continued with questions, comments, and contributions from participants. Deborah Dormah Kanubala, a lecturer and researcher at Academic City University College, a participant on the call, talked about the essence of ethics in data science and research. She buttressed the point that machine learning engineers should not only focus on the performance of models but also ensure that their models are not biased or discriminatory towards any marginalized group or give the wrong result to any person underrepresented in the dataset. She highlighted the fact that engineers should be concerned about the source of the data and how it was collected to ensure that the data is a good representation of what they want to use it for.

Another participant, Soh asked Emmanuel to explain how machine learning has a bearing on data analytics. Emmanuel answered by saying that the science of working with data is data science. Everything that falls in the category of working with any form of data would fall under data science. The term data analytics is mostly used when you describe the application of data in industry or analysis of data for some insight. And machine learning is the application of mathematical methods to get insight from data. So, you can simply say that data science is a broad umbrella under which data analytics and machine learning falls.

Another participant, Harry asked about policies regarding the use of data on the continent mostly around people who are building health tech solutions. Derek answered by saying though real-world data collection has issues such as privacy and regulatory concerns we do not necessarily need the policy frameworks to be able to know the limits within which to operate. He made us understand that any team that works on a data project mostly relies on the advice of the technical person or the domain expert to provide the guiding principles. Failure to have the domain expert provide guidance could be detrimental. We can also open stakeholder engagement to know the limit within which to operate. Deborah added that the country has no well-defined policy or framework for data usage as compared to the general data protection regulation (GDPR) which is strictly adhered to in Europe. She added that some researchers use randomly generated data which needs no regulation and for publicly available data, the user should cite the source of the data. Kizito, a participant, also added that the constitution is a framework of all frameworks so we do not need an act specifically for data protection or regulation since the constitution has sufficient regulation to protect individual rights. Therefore, if any data company uses your data in a wrong manner you can go to the law court and seek redress.

Concluding, Emmanuel advised that the participants should build stuff that only they can build, i.e. in their domain of expertise. Derek also concluded that we should always remind ourselves of the call to duty, which is, for every opportunity that we have, we should be able to utilize them to benefit others and solve problems.

Watch the full discussion in the video below and check out our Community Call playlist for videos of our previous discussions. Our final event for the year, Science Cafe, will be held on 17 December 2021. Mr Leo Ayerakwa will make a presentation on The Role of R&D in Ghana’s National Development, followed by an expert-led discussion on the topic. You’re welcome to join our Facebook group or follow our Twitter feed to get quick updates on this and future events/activities.

Play video: Video from “How to Get Started in Data Analytics – Insights from Experience”

Play video: Video from “Promoting Reading to Build a Problem Solving Culture”

Video recording of the discussion

Stan is a writer and has many articles to his credit. He is also an avid reader and an advocate of reading to enhance one’s problem solving skills in our society. Stan began his presentation by telling a story of how he visited a library in his hometown very often to pick up books to read as a child, recalling that one of the rist books he read was titled GORILLA. He then asked why reading is important, and went ahead to explain thart it is how we discover new things. Books, magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the ability to read and understand what is read. A person who knows how to read can educate themselves in any area of life they are interested in. We live in an age where we are exposed to so much information, but reading is the main way to take advantage of it.

Today a lot of people struggle to start reading on a topic from books. Some others find it hard to finish a single book or chapter due to distraction and loss of interest. This has been a main issue which can leadd to low interest in discussions, engaging in other social activities that require people’s views on trending and important issues around us.

This is a big issue for us because people will lack understanding of the things that go on in our society .

Stan Dugah

Evelyn**,** a participant asked what can be done to improve and promote comprehension in children, schools, and among individuals? Stan answered by saying one way to promote and enhance reading and comprehension among schools and individuals is to be an example and by also encouraging and practicing reading in schools. Another way we can encourage children to read is to start preparing them to read from childhood by buying them books, taking them to the library and also sharing stories with them. As they get older, you can share more complex books; books with pictures, counting, animal and farmyard stories and little plots. Books can have paper pages because toddlers can do more with their fingers and turn pages without tearing them. As you share stories together, you can anticipate what’s going to happen and talk about it. In line with the above, reading develops the creative side of people.

When reading to children, stop every once in a while and ask them what they think is going to happen next. Get them thinking about the story. When it is finished, ask if they could think of a better ending or anything that would have improved it. If they really liked the story, encourage them to illustrate it with their own drawings or to make up a different story with the same characters.

Stan Dugah

Stan also made it emphatically clear how we can leverage the available technologies we have to promote the habit of reading among individuals. He stated an example where all his articles are published mostly on social media which had a lot of people trooping in to his page just to read what he has published. He also stated that there was an instance where someone who had no interest in reading suddenly developed a reading habit because of the articles he published on his social media pages***.***

This clearly proves that the internet can be a great tool or platform we can use to promote reading

Stan Dugah

Angela and Eugene who were also participants of the Community Call affirmed Stan’s presentation with contributions which answered many questions while the discussion was ongoing.

There is an old saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Ideas written down have changed the destiny of men and nations for better or worse. The flow of ideas cannot be stopped. We need to read and research to build on the good ideas and expose the bad ideas before they bring destruction. Only by reading can we be armed in this never-ending, life-and-death struggle.

Eugene

To conclude the presentation, Stan made us understand that many educators trumpet the idea of reading-writing relationships, emphasizing how close reading and writing are. As a teacher I was a big believer in this despite the lack of a writing and reading curriculum, writing standards, or even any professional development on the topic. I strongly believe that we can make a vast change by making reading and writing a habit among individuals.

Stan can be reached through +233 50 561 5705 for copies of his books or any writing assignments. Check out our Community Call playlist for videos of our previous discussions. Our next Community Call will be on Getting Started with Analytics on 19 November 2021. You’re welcome to join our Facebook group for event details.

The session began with a fun and educational Kahoot game where participants answered some general questions on science.
Speaking on the topic, Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff explained anesthesia as a state of controlled temporary loss sensation or awareness induced for medical purposes. The topics she discussed included the need to see an anesthesiologist before surgery, anesthetic technique, giving consent before anesthesia and complications to expect.

Dr Wulff indicated that anesthesia was not a painful medical activity so one needed to feel no pain whether awake or asleep when going through the process. She however said there could be slight pain after surgeries.

A good anesthetic technique should completely abolish pain. When you are asleep you should not be aware of what is happening around you

Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff

She assured the participants that anesthesia was safe because it was controlled, saying “there is somebody in charge who is making sure that you are fine and safe”. Dr Wulff said anesthesia was temporary as the patient wakes up after the process is carried out. She explained and likened anesthesia to someone who was travelling to an uncertain place and did not know when he or she would be back. “It is the same with anesthesia. It is our ultimate goal as anesthesiologists to ensure the patient has a safe journey back to consciousness. Anesthesia is irreversible and as safe as possible,” she said.

Elaborating on how safe the anesthesia was, Dr Wulff said before a patient was given an anesthesia, his or her body system, including how the heart, lung and the kidneys functioned, was assessed. After that, “we plan how we will take the patient on the trip and bring him or her back”.

She mentioned that it was the responsibility of an anesthesiologist to know the equipment s/he would use and know the medication s/he would give as well as know the techniques of anesthesia and the one suitable for a patient.

There are different ways you can approach a surgical operation but you must choose one which matches the surgical procedure, patient and resources

Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff

Dr Wulff also said an anaesthesiologist must have an expertise in resuscitation stressing that nobody should take a patient on an anaesthesia journey if they could not resuscitate. She added that there was the need for anesthesiologists to monitor meticulously, pay attention to details, listen to beeps and understand what changes in beep mean.

She, further, said before a surgery, the patient needed to inform the anesthesiologist about previous anesthesia and any complications, if any. Other things she said a patient needed to disclose were coexisting illnesses, current medication being taken and medication allergies adding that a patient should also disclose whether or not s/he smokes or drinks alcohol.

Meanwhile, Dr Wulff added that the patient also had the right to know all there is s/he needed to know before receiving an anesthesia. She said the patient must give a consent or permission before continuing with the anesthesia

Dr Wulff further mentioned some of the common complications experienced as side effects of anesthesia. These included headache, nausea and vomiting, chills and shivering and muscle pain. She encouraged individuals to debunk mysteries associated with anesthesia because anesthesia “is all based on sound scientific principle”.

Technology has allowed us to keep you very safe during surgery

Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff

At the end of the session, participants gained an appreciable understanding of what anesthesiology is, why it is important to see an anesthesiologist before having a surgical procedure, the important information to provide to an anesthesiologist and quality and safety in the perioperative period.

The September edition of Science Cafe was attended by students, professionals and individuals from different countries and varying medical backgrounds. This diverse pool of individuals afforded each participant the opportunity to learn from not only the speaker but the audience.

Play video: Video from “Demystifying Anaesthesiology through Public Science Engagement”

We want you to share your work or research with us. You’re welcome to propose a session via this link. There is a community of professionals and students waiting to hear from you! Follow us on Twitter and on YouTube to stay updated on our events.

Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff, who is one of Ghana’s leading experts in anesthesiology, will engage participants on how this field of medicine contributes to quality healthcare delivery.Anesthesiology is concerned with pain management in the peri-operative state (before, during, and after surgeries).

Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff is a seasoned consultant anesthesiologist with over 20 years of experience in anesthesiology. She is a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons with specialty mainly in neurosurgical anaesthesia and critical care. Dr Wulffhas done over 2000 spinal surgery cases including spinal deformities. She is highly experienced in Total Intravenous Anaesthesia. She is married with two wonderful children. Currently, Dr Wulff is the CEO of FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital, and she loves to dance.

Global Lab Network is an organisation with the definitive goal to deepen public understanding of, and participation in, science to ensure a cultural shift towards a knowledge-led society. Science Cafe, which is a hallmark programme of the organisation, is a knowledge exchange and networking platform that connects scientists, innovators, and the general public, to promote community dialogue and scientific inquiry in informal venues. GLab has been organising Science Cafes in Ghana since August 2018, with speakers drawn from various professional backgrounds.

At the end of Dr Irene Adorkor Wulff’s session, participants will learn the importance of seeing an anesthesiologist before having a surgical procedure, knowing what important information to provide to an anesthesiologist, and understand quality and safety in the perioperative period.

Medical practitioners, students, patients, and parents will benefit immensely from this event. To participate in this free session, register online at https://forms.gle/iJTJGLKVs61Ls7fn7.

The speakers included Dr Paul Owusu Donkor, a lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Pharmacy; Dr Angela Tabiri, AIMS–Ghana; Dr Thomas Tagoe, founder, GhScientific.

The programme attracted participants from different African countries and around the world. It provided the platform for the participants to not only receive impactful ideas but to also share their own thoughts on critical issues in science education and communication.

Delving into the topic in a fun and experiential approach, Dr. Donkor explained Science Communication to be the practice of informing, educating, sharing and raising awareness of science-related topics. He shared that meaningful science communication and science-related initiatives influence society positively.

Dr. Donkor mentioned 10 key elements that individuals should harness to achieve a successful science communication. The first five elements are 4Ws (what, why, when, where) and H (how). With “what”, he said one had to carefully assess the content he wants to deliver and establish it within a scientific context. “Why”, he said, should direct one’s intention for embarking on science communication.

Talking about “when”, he said it defined the moment science communication should be done. He intimated that science communication could be done anytime as appropriate and also it should go with trends. The “where” element, Dr. Donkor said, included both physical – schools, communities, etc – and online spaces – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Instagram, etc.

Dr Donkor, however, explained that individuals needed to learn skills and techniques on how to present using online spaces, saying “there are etiquettes that guide virtual presentations”.

To illustrate the “how” element, Dr. Donkor included the channels one should use to churn out his or her messages. He said one could do science communication through talks, meetings, performing arts, online content, policy briefs, interviews and outreach.

The other five elements Dr. Donkor indulged Science communicators to employ are the sender, the receiver, the channel, the topic and the language. To make a good impact with science communication, he entreated individuals not to compromise the use of local languages or vernacular. “If you have command over the local language or vernacular, you are well able to communicate your science. Let us not limit our communication to English. If we want to communicate to the society, we must break down our communication using the suitable language,” He said.

Dr Angela Tabiri elaborated on a suite of projects and activities she initiated as a way of grooming young girls and women to pursue STEM.

The initiatives included Science Slam Ghana – a science communication event where researchers share their research to a lay audience in an engaging way –; Femafricmaths (Female African Mathematicians) – an initiative that employs the use of social media to tell stories of female mathematicians. Another initiative she mentioned was AIMS Girls in Mathematical Sciences Program (GMSP). It sought to nurture Senior High School (SHS) students and sensitise them on the relevance of studying mathematics. Dr. Tabiri noted that the GMSP also had been offering scholarships to girls.

Dr Tagoe, highlighted the need to adopt a dynamic approach in taking science to the people. Citing examples, he shared how his outfit strategically engaged SHS students by taking them to universities and laboratories to gain practical experiences. He added that his outfit had also stepped onto the streets to demonstrate and bring science closer to the people. Dr Tagoe also shared how individuals could use art to tell science with examples from GhScientific’s Evolution of Science project.

Joining in the conversation, Prof Dr Ing Henry Nii-Adziri Wellington of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) stressed on the need to use the local languages, saying, “English is okay to be used in class but on the street, vernacular is okay”. He was of the view that one does not only speak to a person’s mind but heart, when one communicates with a person in their mother tongue.“Let science inform your mind and heart. It is when you speak to the person’s heart and inner being that you can transform,” Prof Wellington.

The conversation concluded in a robust round of questions and contributions from the participants. Prof Elsie Effah Kaufmann of the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) fame also stressed on the need to communicate science in the language that connected with local audiences and meaningfully piqued their interests.

Play video: Video from “The Art of Communicating Science -Bridging the Gap Between Science and Society”

Don’t forget to make a date with us on Friday, 24th September 2021 to engage with renowned speakers and community members as we bring you this month’s Science Cafe.

Join our Global Lab Ghana Community on Facebook , follow us on Twitter and on Youtube to stay updated on our events. You’re welcome to register via this link if you are interested in sharing your work or research.

Play video: Video from “STEM at Work – Perspectives from Research Careers”

Advancement in scientific careers often requires postgraduate degrees and research experience. In this month’s Community Call, we engaged in an extensive and expository discussion with top-level professionals working in different contexts – graduate school, teaching, and industry.

Joining the call were members of the GLab Community and many students from the Department of Biochemistry Cell and Molecular Biology of the University of Ghana and beyond. The speakers were Dr Benjamin Owusu (Labcorp, USA) Dr Kwabena Sarpong (Lecturer, University of Ghana) Lois Damptey (PhD student, Open University UK), and Dr Patrick Osei-Owusu (Researcher, University of Chicago).

In an effort to address specific questions targeted at the needs of the audience, the discussion took a ‘question and answer’ approach. The session began with an eye-opening introduction from the speakers about their lives and career journeys, highlighting how they transitioned from their undergraduate degrees, through postgraduate education, to their current positions.

Diving into the first question ‘How can you make an impact with research?’, Dr Osei-Owusu shared his experience working on the Covid-19 vaccine development and how findings from the research were instrumental in developing safety protocols. He also emphasized the importance of choosing priority topics that have direct impact on human lives and communicating the findings from such research in a relatable manner. Dr Benjamin Owusu stressed the importance of enjoying the process of research. He shared that “ whether you are in the basic science stage of research or the translational stage, you are making an impact and it is relevant to enjoy the process”.

Addressing the second question “What skills are critical for someone who wants to go into research?” Dr Benjamin Owusu mentioned critical thinking, curiosity and continuous learning as essential skills for researchers. In addition to these skills hard work, collaboration and networking were noted to be key skills in successful research careers. Dr Kwabena Sarpong shared the ‘not-so-glamorous’ aspects of research and reiterated the essence of building resilience as a researcher. He also mentioned the importance of developing oral and written skills. In an age of information technology, he stated that it is important to have coding skills as it is evolving to be the basics for STEM.

Following this incisive discussion, the speakers went on to discuss the question ‘How is it like trying to get into graduate school in the US?’ The main points highlighted include:

• Starting early which translates into being intentional about the application process
• Building a relationship with your prospective tutors; being upfront about your research interests
• Building a community of like-minded people (Networking)
• Writing a well-crafted CV
• Networking and guidance
• Writing the GRE

Dr Kwabena Sarpong affirmed that it is normal to get rejections after applying to schools. As a means to hedge any unfavourable outcome, it is recommended to apply to a selected number of schools.

Sharing experiences from the UK and European contexts, Lois Damptey shared how personal initiative was instrumental in her ability to secure fully funded scholarships while highlighting the role of friendship and network in attaining goals. She also shared her volunteering and international experiences and explained the role of such engagements in building her portfolio in preparation for graduate school.

A number of scholarship opportunities and resources were shared in the meeting. Some of these include Python for Science, Freecodecamp’s ‘Python for Scientific Computing’ ​​that teaches beginners how to apply python programming to science and the Coursera platform. Lois also shared the ‘Dear Young Graduate group page and other scholarship websites like Chevening, DAAD, the SINGA Awards and Swedish Institute (SI).

To conclude the session, Dr Fredrick Larbi joined us to reaffirm the need for a Ghanaian Science funding programme.

The Community Call proved to be insightful with speakers selflessly offering an unadulterated account of their education and career. Participants were very engaged through questions and comments. The session achieved its objective of exploring research careers in working in different contexts and introducing participants to graduate school application processes.

You’re welcome to join the Global Lab Ghana Community on Facebook if you’d like to be engaged on STEM topics and opportunities. Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be updated on our various activities.

Understanding the origin of the universe, including our earth, has always been a subject of human curiosity, raising many thought-provoking questions like the above ones. To answer these questions, we were privileged to host two speakers with outstanding track records in research, teaching, and public engagement in astronomy, during the June 2021 edition of Science Cafe. A first for the series, we had an international speaker in the person of Professor Bruce Bassett of the University of Cape Town, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS South Africa), and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). Our second speaker, Sarah Abotsi-Masters, is the General Secretary of African Astronomical Society (AfAS), and Weekend Coordinator at the Ghana Planetarium, among other key roles in local and international initiatives. Together, they served a composite view of astronomy and cosmology, giving attendees a truly special experience.

GLab Lead Gameli Adzaho kicked off the meeting with an overview of Science Cafe, why it is important, and how we have adapted the model so far. Next, a poll was launched to determine the knowledge and interest of the attendees on Cosmology and astronomical resources in Ghana.

Professor Bruce Bassett set the tone for the discussion with a stimulating presentation on Cosmology; what we know about the universe, mysteries and new tools for astronomy and cosmology in Africa. In his presentation, Bruce gave an excellent illustration of reductionism, how complex phenomena are simplified in the scientific process, with an apple. He defined Cosmology as the study of the whole universe and everything we are in contact with and mentioned the importance of physics in understanding the origins of the universe. Following an illustration of galaxy clusters, Bruce explained how gravity pulls galaxies together and empties out the void leaving a bubble pattern using a map of the universe. Some of the mysteries of the universe he shared were:

• Most of the matter in the universe is dark and invisible to us.
• The cosmos is expanding in a very strange manner. The universe is getting bigger at a fast pace.

On some very large scales what we have is anti-gravity as the expansion of the universe started to speed up 5 billion years ago

Professor Bruce Bassett

Prof Bassett further discussed the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, which aims to build the largest network of telescopes to study the universe (two-thirds of these telescopes are expected to be in Africa, with the remainder in Australia). He concluded on the note that there are several amazing discoveries about the universe however, there exist many more mysteries that are yet to be understood.

Sarah Abotsi-Masters took off from Prof Bruce Bassett with an overview of astronomical resources in Ghana. She emphasized on the interconnectedness of astronomy to other disciplines and the importance of astronomy to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the inadequacy of support for astronomy in Ghana, which is demonstrated in the lack of undergraduate astronomy courses, Sarah mentioned some notable organizations dedicated to promoting the study of astronomy in Ghana. They include, Ghana Planetarium, All Nations University and the Radio Astronomy Observatory. Sarah shared some opportunities for learning astronomy like the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) project and Promoting Radio Astronomy in Ghana through School Visits and Clubs (PRAGSAC). At the end of the presentations, the questions raised by the attendees were answered by the speakers in a thought-provoking conversation.

In the pre-event poll conducted at the beginning of the session, 11% of the participants stated that they had hardly heard of the topic under discussion while 78% stated that they had some idea with 11% engaged in some research in the area. At the end of the discussion however, the majority of attendees totalling 86% found the discussion stimulating and amazing.

The Science Cafe was educating and eye opening, and met its objective of offering participants a new and informed perspective of the world beyond the earth, with a clearer understanding of the evolution of the universe, and increased awareness of latest scientific developments in Africa.

If you’re a researcher, innovator or artist who would like to speak at a future Science Cafe, please send us a proposal through our Speaker recruitment form. However if you’re interested in our programmes but not quite ready to speak just yet, you can join our Facebook Community or follow us on Twitter to remain updated!

https://www.facebook.com/GLabNetwork/videos/855849125024007

Prof. Bruce Bassett, Senior Resident Researcher, is head of the Cosmology Group at African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) South Africa. Bruce is a graduate of the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he obtained his MSc in Applied Mathematics. After completing a PhD in Trieste, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Oxford, he lectured at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at Portsmouth University. After a sabbatical at Kyoto University he returned to Cape Town to a joint position, Professor of Applied Mathematics at UCT and astronomer at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).

The event will be held on June 25, 2021 via Zoom on the topic: Cosmology – Study of the Entire Universe. This edition of Science Cafe will explore fundamental questions about the origin of the universe and the changes it has undergone over time and space. The event will also host Sarah Abotsi-Masters of the Ghana Planetarium to share on astronomical organisations and resources in Ghana, and discuss contextual issues around scientific research in Africa.

Sarah Abotsi-Masters is the General Secretary of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS), a National Astronomy Education Coordinator (NAEC) for Ghana for the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) and a member of the PRAGSAC project team (Promoting Radio Astronomy in Ghana through School Visits and Astronomy Clubs), which uses astronomy to promote STEM and hands-on science through school astronomy clubs.

Science Cafe is a knowledge exchange and networking platform that connects scientists, innovators, and the general public, to promote community dialogue and scientific inquiry in informal venues such as coffee houses, bookstores, restaurants, bars, and online platforms. GLab has been organising Science Cafes in Ghana since August 2018, with speakers drawn from various professional backgrounds.

At the end of the programme, participants will gain a new and informed perspective of the world beyond the earth, with a clearer understanding of the evolution of the universe, and increased awareness of latest scientific developments in Africa.

To participate in this free session, register online at bit.ly/SciCafeGH.

Jacob Amengor leading a session on WASH at 2019 Nneka World Changers Camp

Recently, we partnered with Forces Old Students Association (FOSA) to engage current students of Forces Senior High Technical School at Burma Camp, Accra, through a one-day programme. The programme was focused on teaching students to develop their creativity and problem solving skills, and exposing them to a myriad of career opportunities possible with a STEM degree.

In the first session, Gameli Adzaho, who joined the session remotely via Zoom, highlighted the importance of developing creativity and problem-solving skills. He shared tips on how students can become better problem solvers, emphasising the importance of learning, networking, and gaining valuable experiences. Through examples of two young innovators, Kelvin Doe and Richard Turere, the students appreciated that it was possible to find solutions to some common local challenges even with minimal resources. The main takeaway from that session was the importance of applying knowledge gained from STEM to impact lives in local communities and around the world.

Play video: Video from “Engaging Forces Senior High Technical School Students with STEM Skills and Careers”

Next, Evans Owusu gave a talk on “Physics: the path to 21st century success.” Through this presentation he exposed students to various career options including Law, Education, Environment & Energy, Engineering, Media, Research, Information Technology, Finance, and High-Tech, open to people with STEM backgrounds. He went on to outline the skills one is likely to acquire from studying STEM degrees such as computing, report writing, critical thinking, programming, problem solving, and communication, among others. On key attitudes needed for success in STEM fields, Evans stressed the importance of passion, consistency, determination, resilience, as well as dedication.

Evans presenting to an attentive audience of students

Overall, it was a wonderful experience for the team to support FOSA in their bid to widen the horizons of the students and expose them to new possibilities. Over the past few years, we have been delivering sessions to young people in schools, universities, churches, and communities in both rural and urban areas. Some of the other topics we have covered so far include Design Thinking, Digital Literacy, Science Communication, and Environmental Stewardship. To learn more about Global Lab Network’s activities, kindly like our Facebook page, or if you would like to be more involved you can even join our Community!

Seeing is not always believing and sharing is not always caring

Vanessa Otchere

Have you ever considered your safety on the internet? In an era where practically everything is going digital, with many activities transitioning online, one should be concerned about how to be safe online. As many online interactions involve sharing personal data and leaving digital footprints on the web, many individuals, companies and countries have increasingly become concerned about cyber safety and the ramifications of privacy breaches.

Another issue worthy of concern is our ability to tell whether the information we receive through online platforms is accurate. This is crucial since we make important decisions based on what we know, which is increasingly influenced by what we interact with online. We run the risk of being misinformed on key topics like climate change, political happenings, and the COVID-19 pandemic if we do not take care to properly evaluate information we receive.

In an effort to increase awareness on cybersecurity and media literacy, this month’s Community Call was focused on exploring the concept and practice of internet safety and mis/disinformation. We were joined by three knowledgeable speakers on the Cyber Security to share tips on how to stay safe on the internet.

The session began with a brief round of introductions from participants and invited speakers. The first speaker, Confidence Mawusi, set the ball rolling by delineating the objectives for the session. In his opening statements he mentioned that “in our normal environment we have personal safety measures, however we pay least attention to our safety online”. He defined online safety as acting safe on the internet and taking precautions to be safe. Confidence went ahead to state some internet threats and risks based on the actor/ internet user and threats based on devices. Some cases included cyberbullying, cyber dating abuse and sexting. He further shared a personal story of his experience with ransomware and stated other threats targeted at user devices: spam, adware, phishing and keyloggers.

After exploring the concepts and examples of internet risks, Confidence further shared some pointers on how to detect phishing and discussed malware and malware detection and prevention. Touching on Media Literacy, Confidence quoted Mark Twain “A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.” to illustrate how fast fake news travels. He shared how the human desire to satisfy curiosity hastens the proliferation of fake news. Confidence illustrated the difference between misinformation and disinformation and shared some approaches to break the cycle of disinformation. Some examples include fact checking and reading complete articles.

Computers will be computers , technology will be technology, in the end it is ethics and philosophy that will help us’

Next, Vanessa Otchere took off by explaining the key terminologies; Infodemic, disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, media and information literacy.

She discussed the social psychology behind mis and disinformation which included the filter bubble, heuristics – mental shortcuts that help people solve problems quickly – and confirmation bias – interpreting and recalling information that reinforces our beliefs. Some practices she recommended to verify information were: comparing multiple sources of information, checking URLs, and being aware of underlying agenda of the information source. She concluded on the note “the ecosystem of information is a complex one and so is the technological age in which we live in. It’s everyone’s responsibility to verify information before sharing.” The session continued with participants offering feedback and sharing their filter bubbles.

Obasegun Ayodele of VilSquare in Nigeria joined us to share his work on the Glass Room project which is focused on how best to tackle fake news across Africa. Following the deeply engaging and incisive discussion, the session was concluded by Confidence sharing three helpful hints;

Social media will affect your mental health. On the internet, if you are not buying the product, you are the product and also, the internet never forgets. `Its either you have been hacked or about to be hacked.

Confidence Mawusi

After the revealing presentations and discussion, the event ended with a networking session.

You are welcome to be a part of the Global Lab Ghana Community on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be updated on our various activities.

Another exciting Science Cafe session is loading. Make a date with us!

Play video: Video from “Developing Basic Internet Safety and Media Literacy Skills”

Play video: Video from “Project Management – a Key Skill for Success in STEM”

Video recording from Community Call session.

Today, project management runs across a variety of sectors and industries. Many companies have embraced project management as a way to cut down cost, reduce risk and deliver on organizational goals. In the STEM industry, project management skills give you the ability to work with the increasing levels of complexities associated with projects in software development, bioscience research and health education. As a result, there is increasing demand for project management skills and knowledge.

In the Community Call session held in the month of April, we were led by Edison Gbenga to discuss a broad overview of Project Management with a focus on the approaches – Agile and Waterfall.

Edison Gbenga is a Business Strategist, Tech Evangelist and a Serial Entrepreneur. Since 2012, he has been serving as a strategist, coach and consultant for business owners and business developers of all sizes. His line of work ranges from business strategy consulting to process design and management as well as web and mobile applications development.

Edison began his presentation by giving a brief definition of project management. He described project management as the skill of moving from idea to results. In his presentation, he emphasised that project management permeates our daily lives; from planning a wedding to managing a country. He further indicated that project management has little to do with tools, procedures and recipes but more to do with mindset, practice and culture.

A good project manager knows how to solve problems, delegates effectively, works to meet deadlines and builds consensus.

Edison Gbenga

Following the introductory session, Edison proceeded to give a synopsis on two approaches to project management; Agile and Waterfall. He further described the SCRUM framework in Agile and how it helps teams work together. He delivered a detailed exposition on the two approaches and further discussed the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. One major difference Edison illustrated in the two approaches is the iterative nature Agile employs between product design and testing as compared to the sequential order Waterfall follows. He reiterated the importance of team work, focus and discipline to project success.

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, where Edison presented insightful answers based on his experience in working on varied projects. Some of the questions asked by participants include: How should a Project Manager manage non-compliant team members? What are the top skills needed to successfully implement a project? What products can we design to get people interested in STEM.

Key Takeaways: What is Crucial to Project Success?

• Having a solid team.
• Managing people and dealing with negativity.
• Understanding the time requirements of each task.
• Emotional Intelligence and comprehension.

To learn more about ‘Developing Basic Internet Safety and Media Literacy Skills’ in our next Community Call to be held on May 28, 2021, you’re welcome to join the Global Lab Ghana Community on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to be updated on our various activities.

During the Science Cafe organised on March 26, 2021, a poll was designed to gauge the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown on the participants present. Out of a total of thirty-six (36) attendants, 27 individuals participated in the poll. It must be noted that most of the participants are from the Ghanaian middle class based in Ghana or abroad. Below are the results.

Key Questions & Responses

1. Did the pandemic affect your productivity?
2. Will life return to normal with the vaccines?
3. Did the pandemic affect your mental health?

Graphical Presentation of Responses

In response to the question: Did the pandemic affect your productivity? 52% equalling 14 participants, stated that they were more productive during the pandemic, whilst 33% equalling 9 participants were less productive and 15%, a total of 4 respondents reported they experienced no change.

In the second question, participants were asked to share their views on whether life will return to normal with the vaccines. 6 people agreed that life will return to normal, while a majority with 41%, 11 in total disagreed. 10 people out of 27, totalling a whooping 37% could not say if life would or would not return to normal with the vaccinations.

When participants were asked if the pandemic affected their mental health, 52%, 14 participants reported that the pandemic had affected their mental health, whilst 37% totalling 10 participants stated that the pandemic had no effect on their mental health. 11% of the respondents,3 individuals reported that they could not determine the changes .

This report represents the views of a small sample size of people and thus may not be generalised to larger populations. However, a great deal can be learnt from social science research on the attitudes and responses of communities and countries towards the C0vid-19 pandemic. This can inform strategies and innovations targeted at working towards a holistic recovery and preparing for more calculated responses for future generations.

If there is any research you find interesting, kindly share with us in the comments section.

Join the Global Lab Ghana Community and follow us on Twitter and on YouTube to stay updated on our events.

People who want to get things done will find a way to get it done, irrespective of the pandemic

Ato Ulzen-Appiah

This month we partnered with Ghana STEM Network to have an amazing discussion on the notion of resilience in a time of profound global change by examining experiences, reflections, research findings, and imaginations of what the future could look like or should be like, as part of our Science Cafe Series. We were also supported by GhScientific and Digital Times Africa. The event attracted about 36 participants from different fields of endeavour.

What has the crisis changed? How can we weave through present and future challenges wrought by the pandemic? What does ‘resilience’ mean for us as individuals, Ghanaians, and global citizens?

Key questions explored during the session

The program started with a brief presentation by Gameli Adzaho on Global Lab Network and Science Cafe, Evelyn Agyepong set the ball rolling by sharing some personal and global perspectives on the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to her thematic question ‘what has the crisis changed?’ Evelyn asked, `What hasn’t it changed’. She discussed the challenges she faced as a leader and an educator in including new technologies in teaching and the accompanying personal stresses in connecting with family and loved ones. In sharing her coping mechanisms with us, Evelyn disclosed that she engaged in science education with the public to increase knowledge on the virus and best practices to avoid its spread and connected with her family online through video calls and online games. Evelyn ended the discussion on the key note that

We will move forward, but life as we know it has definitely changed

Evelyn Agyepong

Ato Ulzen-Appiah of the Ghana Think Tank joined us to share some examples of individuals who have been resilient during the lockdown and the crisis as a whole. He mentioned how Ernest Tsifodze, who does a lot of work around motivational speaking, was able to go virtual, bringing people across Ghana together online for continued impact. Ato further stated that more people need to share how they’ve been able to cope with the pandemic to increase knowledge and awareness on how other individuals can do the same. He asserted that, in the midst of the pandemic, people who want to get things done will find a way to get it done irrespective of the current crisis, citing examples of Accra Konnect and Kumasi Konnect, as responses to the challenge of physical meetups.

Dr Thomas Tagoe who is a Neuroscientist, Science Communicator and the Co-founder of GhScientific, discussed resilience from a neuroscience angle. Among the key points he posited on how to cope and subsequently thrive during the crisis include:

• Acceptance; accepting that we may not be able to go back to the old way of doing things and usual outputs may have to be adjusted. Research has shown that by coming to terms with whatever context one finds themselves in, it is easier for new patterns and behaviors to develop.
• Considering motivation and linking that with a cognitive approach; behavioural change occurs within people along two angles, the motivational element which involves the will to change and the more cognitive approach which deals with the how. This includes finding alternative approaches to achieving goals.
• Community building; The mere idea of knowing that someone else is in the same situation you are in makes one feel better and helps with dealing with acceptance. It makes adjusting to new situations easier on the mind.
• Cognitive control;” People who have cognitive control have the ability to connect goals with actions”. He averred that it may seem obvious but our brains and our mental wellbeing is such that anything we are capable of is broken into the minimum components. Connecting actions to goals is most critical for well-being, because mental health is the basis for resilience.

Following the incisive presentation from Dr Thomas Tagoe, Solomon Appekey of the Ghana Planetarium and X Space Solutions gave us an eye-opening presentation by taking us back 100 years on how the universe developed. Solomon discussed how the universe developed and explored the lessons we can learn from the growth in astronomical developments and how those lessons can be helpful during the current crisis.

Cecil Senna Nutakor joined us to share his views on some personal benefits of the pandemic. In his words “why the pandemic was supercool”, he lamented on how it had to take the occurrence of a pandemic to step up leadership in the country. According to him, the pandemic has drawn the government’s attention to infrastructural development, and the need to upgrade education (investing in digital) and health systems. In his recommendations on how we can forge ahead, he proposed an inclusive process in policy making process, a bottom-up approach in tackling the current crisis and fostering continued growth.

After the submissions from the speakers, the participants broke into smaller sessions to share their perspectives on how they have been resilient during the crisis and ended the session with a group photograph.

Talk of #impactfromabus ! We had two speakers on long distance journeys joining us from a bus . You can definitely join us on our next Community Call via the Global Lab Ghana Community. Follow us on twitter and on Youtube to stay updated on our events.

If you’re interested in sharing your research or STEM-based project at a future Science Cafe, you’re welcome to register via this link.

See you in our upcoming Community Call next month!

Play video: Video from “Building Individual and Collective Resilience Beyond the COVID-19 Crisis”

During our very first Science Cafe in August 2018, which was actually part of a series co-initiated with minoHealth dubbed ‘Conversations about Artificial Intelligence’, AI Innovator Darlington Ahiale Akogo gave a talk about AI and how it could influence development on the continent. Since then Global Lab Network has organised six editions, featuring researchers and innovators in public health, technology, mathematics, biotechnology, WASH, urban planning, environmental science, and public policy. These conversations have been useful in re-emphasising the importance of science, technology, and innovation to national development.

Summary of previous Science Cafe events

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit, we have moved all our events, including Science Cafes, online, and this has allowed people from around the world to join the various sessions.

Reviews received from Science Cafe speakers and participants after the events have been very positive and encouraging. Aside from learning new things, most attendees also enjoy the interactivity and camaraderie the event evokes. In the good old days before corona, some of us would even stay behind to share food and drinks, talking until it was late.

We’re very glad to be collaborating with the Ghana STEM Network, with support from GhScientific and Digital Times Africa to organise the first Science Cafe of 2021 on Friday 26 March. The theme for this event is “Building Individual and Collective Resilience Beyond the COVID-19 Crisis“. Our goal is discuss the notion of resilience in a time of profound global change by examining experiences, reflections, research findings, and imaginations of what the future could look like or should be like. Some of the key questions we would like to explore include:

1. What has the crisis changed?
2. What does ‘resilience’ mean for us as individuals, Ghanaians, and global citizens?
3. How can we weave through present and future challenges wrought by the pandemic?
4. How can we utilise available opportunities to build a better future?
5. What are examples of Ghanaians who have been resilient in these times?

Speakers from different professional and disciplinary backgrounds have been drawn from the Ghana STEM Network and beyond to help address these questions. They include Ato Ulzen-Appiah (GhanaThink Foundation), Dr Thomas Tagoe (GhScientific & University of Ghana), Evelyn Agyepong (Independent Education Consultant), Cecil Nutakor (eCampus LLC), and Solomon Appekey (Ghana Planetarium & X Space Solutions). Each speaker will give an input talk at the beginning. Following the input talks, the session will open up for discussions, debates, questions, and responses.

From our experience, Science Cafe has proven to be an effective model of engaging the public with science, technology, and innovation, and further closing the chasm between science and society. Our goal in GLab is to facilitate these conversations and experiences, so that science is embedded in the cultural life of Ghana. If this vision appeals to you, you’re very welcome to join our upcoming Science Cafe or a future edition. RSVP here if you can make it on Friday. See you!

STEM in Business – Perspectives from Mobile Web Ghana

The meeting began with Florence Toffa discussing the mission and vision of Mobile Web Ghana. Mobile Web Ghana is focused on creating a generation of tech change agents and leaders who will use their skills to solve local problems in the community. She iterated that especially during the pandemic there has been a need to hone the skills of different target audiences to be able to fit into various industries. When it comes to work, the pandemic has disrupted how work is done across the board. Florence stated that STEM is critical in every aspect of work.

“As a worker, there is the need to rethink how to integrate STEM to make you more efficient. Even as a mom, STEM can be very helpful. A lot has changed, things are not normal and you can not continue to do things the way you do it. We have to redefine the way our work is done.”

Further, she stated that in the current era, employing technology in your work will greatly improve visibility. “Sometimes STEM is seen in isolation, however you need to involve the community”. She emphasized that STEM can be deployed in various organizations and combining STEM with various disciplines has the potential to yield huge results.

In conclusion Florence re-emphasized that STEM presents a big opportunity to teach and involve communities to achieve desired change.

Volunteering to Make a Difference

Sarah Abotsi-Masters took us on a journey into ‘Astronomy Activities and Volunteering in Ghana’. In her own words, “astronomy is a gateway science”, meaning it is a great way to get children and individuals interested in science. She stated that astronomy is relevant in giving perspective and promoting environmentalism and global citizenship. It also attempts to answer the big questions. Sarah asserted that a lot can be done with space science.

“Astronomy is connected to everything. In Ghana , you see very little science journalism and involvement and so little engagement with astronomy. So much can be done with space science and satellite technology: monitoring galamsey, monitoring coast erosion, monitoring natural disasters and land use.”

She stated that Ghana can gain a lot from exploring and developing space science.

Sarah concluded her presentation by discussing reasons and benefits of volunteering in the STEM field. These include:

• Giving back to the community
• Developing new skills
• Building your experience, gaining confidence and improving self esteem
• Meeting new people.

In her closing words she reaffirmed, “Only volunteer because you actually want to. Do the work that is needed and be committed”.

Watch the chat on our YouTube channel and join the Global Lab Ghana Community to stay up to date on our events.

In our first Community Call for the year 2021, we discussed remote working and how it is done. We had the opportunity to talk to Ato Ulzen-Appiah, who is a (social) entrepreneur, consultant, social media influencer and blogger. Ato shared some insightful information on some recommended tools for remote working, how to optimise for productivity, accountability when remote working, and how to build one’s capacity to work remotely.

In this Community Call we will explore STEM at work, in business and society. We will discuss:

• • • Importance of STEM in the modern business setting
    • Volunteering on STEM programmes
    • Honing your skill set and anticipating new trends
    • Interesting career paths in STEM
    • Engaging the public with Science

Florence Toffa has over eight years of experience in the ICT4D sector. She is the director of Mobile Web Ghana, a technology hub that focuses on empowering communities, organisations and the youth to leverage on mobile, web and data to solve problems. She is an advocate for solving local problems through civic engagement, capacity building and new technology, and has led and founded projects such as Females in Mobile Entrepreneurship, visuals for gender, and Africa Digital Skills Conference .

Sarah is the General Secretary of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS), a National Astronomy Education Coordinator (NAEC) for Ghana for the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE), and a member of the PRAGSAC project team (Promoting Radio Astronomy in Ghana through School Visits and Astronomy Clubs), which uses astronomy to promote STEM and hands-on science through school astronomy clubs.

This month’s community call promises to be exciting and informative. Join us at Global Lab Ghana Community to find out more and stay updated on future plans.

Air quality is a growing public health concern in fast developing and urbanising communities, contributing to about 7 million deaths globally every year. In Ghana, some estimates hold that poor air quality contributes to 17000 deaths per year. It is also recognised as one of the fastest rising causes of ill health. Unfortunately because poor air quality is often invisible, its danger to our wellbeing could be missed. Monitoring and sharing information about air pollution in an area over time could help governments, community groups, and citizens identify ‘trouble spots’ and collaboratively work out solutions to improve local air quality. The tech community can also contribute to this effort, by building tools and information resources, as well as being part of the dialogue, to create sustainable change in our communities.

In May 2018, the Accra OpenAQ Workshop brought together a community of local and international individuals and organisations working towards the goal of better air quality in Ghana. One key output of this two-day engagement was a Community Statement on Air Quality in Ghana which highlights some challenges of air quality in Ghana as well as opportunities for positive impact, one of which includes collection and access to better data on air quality.

As part of the Next Einstein Forum Africa Science Week 2018, Global Lab Network and Developers in Vogue partnered to organize a Datathon (data science hackathon) which challenged participants to use open data to explore air quality in Accra. It was held at the Workshed in Spintex, Accra on Saturday, 29th September 2018. Participants were grouped into teams and tasked to analyse research data on air quality to produce outputs that could draw the attention of the government and the public to ‘air inequality’ in Accra. This included data visualisations/infographics, maps, predictive models and app and website prototypes.

Play video: Video from “Increasing Awareness about Air Quality through Open Data”

Before the datathon, the NEF Ambassador to Ghana, Peter Asare-Nuamah, gave an overview of NEF and its goal of transforming science in Africa. Africa Science Week is one of its initiatives aimed at popularising science on the continent. Gameli Adzaho of Global Lab then presented the challenge, by giving an overview of air quality and examples of how to fight ‘air inequality’ with open data.

Judges

The following individuals graciously volunteered to be judges for the event:

1. Dr. Jamal Abdullai – Head of Department, Computer Science Department, University of Ghana.
2. Gameli Adzaho – Founder, Global Lab Network
3. Darlington Akogo – Founder, minoHealth
4. Richard Bempong – Co-founder, the Workshed

Teams

There were 15 groups of four or five members. The teams and their projects are as follows:

Out of these incredibly innovative teams, Emav Data, Team Naa2MT and Team Alpha placed 1st to 3rd respectively. All victorious teams received cash prizes and certificates for their outstanding solutions.

Recommendations

The programme went really well and many of the participants openly expressed their delight. However, there were some suggestions on how we can improve the programme for future events:

1. Have fewer groups with a larger number of members in order not to have an unusually long event.
2. Have a longer time period for the Datathon, eg, two days, so that the participants will have more time to work on the problem statement.

Appreciation

Thank you to Next Einstein Forum Africa Science Week for the opportunity to host this event. We’re equally grateful to Open AQ, who offered guidance and gave us access to data on their platform, and Dr Pallavi Pant of Air South Asia for supporting our preparation through the Open Data and Air Quality Toolkit.

The second edition of Innovation Clinic was held in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. The event was a collaboration between Idea2Market Foundation, Global Lab Network and Kumasi Hive. It was held on 24 February 2018 at the event space of Kumasi Hive in the evening.

About 32 participants including entrepreneurs, lecturers, and students attended the programme. It was structured as an engaging dialogue curated by Mr Foster Ofosu of Idea2Market. Interspersed with the conversations were entertainment sessions incuding poetry performance by Peter Akanko of Kente Master and music by guitarist Daniel Yirenkyi Junior.

The main speaker, Mr Foster Ofosu, led an open and interactive discussion, which was fun and worth listening to. He emphasised taking note of the barriers to innovation and developing strategies to overcome them. Some definitions of innovation offered by participants included ‘applying imagination’, ‘reworking an old solution’, ‘solving a problem’, etc. Foster stressed the need for prospective innovators to focus on the needs of the end-user and come up with solutions they would be willing to pay for. His presentation was followed by a question and answer session. A key discussion point that came up was how the environment tends to limit female innovators.

https://twitter.com/GLabNetwork/status/967444996570873856

There was a refreshment session during which food and drinks were served, and participants networked among themselves.

Feedback gathered from attendees indicated that the session was exciting and interactive. The event was mostly patronised by students which created the opportunity for them to be familiarised with the latest trends in innovation. In the future, it would be great to reach out to more people from different backgrounds to enrich the conversation with their diverse insights.

Joy News and Luv FM covered the event, and interviewed selected attendees, organisers and the speaker after the programme.

The Kumasi edition of Innovation Clinic was successful thanks to the contributions and enthusiasm of the participants, and the hard work put in by the partners namely Kumasi Hive, Idea2Market Foundation, and Global Lab Network.

Play video: Video from “Engaging Young Innovators in Kumasi with Innovation Clinic”

Sandra Ahiataku is a Business Associate at Kumasi Hive. She is a graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with a degree in Computer Science.

Innovation Clinic is an informal gathering of stakeholders in the innovation space in Ghana. It brings together innovators to discuss ways of enhancing the deployment of scientific and indigenous innovations. It also serves as a conduit for promoting the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Ghana. The clinical approach allows for a response to demand-driven needs of young innovators and entrepreneurs.

Play video: Video from “Breaking the Barriers Innovatively with Innovation Clinic”

On January 12, 2018, at iSpace Foundation in Labone, Accra, the first Innovation Clinic gathered about 30 participants, comprising lawyers, scientists, STEM enthusiasts, engineers, developers, social entrepreneurs and students. Three thematic areas were explored: knowledge exchange, thinking, and system.

The event was heralded by rich Ghanaian music amidst drinks and networking. In his welcome remarks, Gameli Adzaho of Global Lab Network shared about the community and its partnership with Idea2Market Foundation to convene a science, engineering, technology and business gathering to deepen the culture of innovation in Ghana.

Knowledge Exchange

Foster Ofosu, CEO of Idea2Market and host, set the ball rolling by highlighting the purpose of the gathering. He further initiated a discussion on what participants were doing innovatively as entrepreneurs. A number of innovations across education, agriculture, artificial intelligence, sustainability, and youth development were shared. Ato Ulzen-Appiah of GhanaThink Foundation spoke about his work mobilizing and utilizing the talents of youths in Ghana through the Barcamp, Junior Camp and Ghana Volunteers programs respectively. Harry Akligoh also shared on Practical Science Initiative’s work mentoring and inspiring females in STEM in Ghana, and bridging the practical science education gap in rural basic schools in the Volta region. Finally, Peter Awin of CowTribe, who came all the way from Tamale, shared how he and his team were innovating by providing veterinary services to cow farmers in the Northern region utilizing technology.

Thinking – A mindset of revolution

Foster shared an illustration he uses to teach how entrepreneurs think differently. The illustration sparked turns discussions which culminated into Q&As. The session ended with a live call with Akosua Bame, co-host, on ‘the mindset revolution’. Akosua in her delivery underscored the importance of the mind and the need to learn, unlearn and relearn in other to harness the power of the mind in solving problems innovatively.

Systems – Keys to Innovation

How well do African systems influence innovation? Can we boast of any business that is striving because of a good system? The session raised several questions as a way of keeping participants thinking. In response to some of the questions raised, Darlington Akogo of MinoHealth, made several contributions and cited scenarios of how good and bad systems can influence innovation and development.

The event ended in grand style with lots to eat and drink with a great innovation themed spoken word performance by Makafui Awuku followed by rich Ghanaian music.

https://twitter.com/GLabNetwork/status/951971195657904129

Harry Sefoga Akligoh is a Medical Laboratory Scientist in the Volta Regional Hospital, Ho, Ghana. He is also the Founder of Practical Science Initiative, an organization focused on motivating and mentoring more African women into science. He graduated from the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho with a bachelor’s degree in Medical Laboratory Science. Harry is a passionate and driven individual who is ready to apply his knowledge in medical laboratory science to develop low cost diagnostic solutions to infectious diseases common in Africa. He is a member of the Global Shapers Community, Ho hub.

This role will expose the successful candidate to the world of open science, leading to various exciting opportunities in the growing field. Check out the job description below and apply if interested!

Volunteer Media Coordinator at Global Lab Network

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The CEO of JA Africa, Elizabeth Bintliff in her welcome address gave an overview of JA Ghana and the objectives of the Company Program. She mentioned that the launch is to rejuvenate the programme which has been dormant for two years. Four schools in Accra namely Accra Academy, Labone Senior High, St Mary’s Senior High, and Alpha Beta School, would be participating in this phase of the programme.

The Company Program video was then screened. It was a short video showcasing finalists and projects from previous phases of the programme.

In his remarks, JA Ghana Board Chair, John Armah, emphasised that the programme could contribute creating an alternative route to job creation and employment through its focus on entrepreneurship.

A JA Ghana Alumnus, Emmanuel Nyame, testified on how the JA experience transformed him from a high school student of Accra Academy to an entrepreneur.

Vera Adu-Amaning, of Adu-Amani Klodin, disclosed how she kickstarted her well-known clothing brand on Facebook as a student, and how she makes money from it without a physical shop.

After word of thanks, the event closed officially, but there was a brief social networking oppportunity. I interacted with a few people who were happy to hear about Global Lab and our activities, so I directed them to our Facebook page. Among them was the Program Manager of JA Ghana, Abeiku Greene, who looks forward to future collaborations. Other known groups/organisations that were present included Kumasi Hive, GhScientic and Innovate Ghana.

Anthony Addae is a Computer Engineering graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He completed his national service at the Computer Engineering Department, KNUST, where he was a Teaching Assistant. He is interested in computer programming, networking, and intelligent systems.

It was held on 22nd September and speakers streamed in live from different locations around the world. The theme was CONNECTING THE WORLD FOR SOCIAL IMPACT, and it explored how to make ‘making the world a better place’ a reality. Our event took place at Impact Hub Accra, a local innovation space hosting many start-ups.

The summit discussed the importance of the SDGs, outlined practical ways to make social impact, and highlighted the role of strategic partnerships, financing and engagements to bring about global change.

Aside following the global discourse online, we put together an interactive panel discussion titled ‘Exploring Urban Sustainability’. The panel was moderatored by Dr Thomas Tagoe of GhScientific and panellists were Cordie Aziz of Environment360 and Ama Frimpomaa Adjei Ayim of Heels and Boots International. Some of the questions discussed were:

1. What do you consider to be the greatest strengths of the city of Accra?

2. What do you consider to be the three most important or pressing challenges of Accra? Who is affected by these challenges and how are they affected?

3. How does your initiative address them? Which SDGs are you targeting?

4. Are there other solutions, local or abroad, that can amplify your impact?

5. What are the greatest challenges you face in your line of work and what can be done to resolve them?

6. What should government be doing to drive urban development?

7. How can young people contribute meaningful to the attainment of the SDGs?

8. Give us a vision of your ideal Accra

We used Storify to collect social media posts made by participants, which summed up the discussions.

The panellists discharged themselves brilliantly and deeply enriched our understanding of some of the greatest challenges and opportunities of Ghana’s capital, Accra. What remains to be done is to mobilise all key stakeholders and work together to improve the quality of life of the city. We loook forward to being part of similar conversations on sustainability. You can join our Facebook Community, or engage with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as we explore this topic more.