Strong Qualitative Research During the Covid-19 pandemic: A Reflection

By Larry Onyango Covid-19 has not just altered everyday life but has also upended modes of doing research. This especially applies to qualitative research that...

AFCTFA: A Potential Boost for African Economies

By Eslam Shaaban In March 2018, the African Continent Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) was unveiled as the world’s largest free trade area since the creation...

Everywhere Still Invisible: Women and Their Traditional Knowledge

By Ghazaleh Jerban I was so excited to be travelling to South Africa as an Open AIR NERG and QEScholar, in the middle of Canada’s notorious winter...

Feminine Wisdom as an Axis to Traditional Knowledge in Africa

By Michael P.K. Okyerefo* The pivotal place of feminine wisdom in Africa may surprise a good many outsiders! As one of my friends would always...

Covid-19 Digital Health Innovations: The African Context

By Chukwuka Okwuosa, Nailah Ramsoomair, and Chidi Oguamanam “Dealing with health and economic challenges of Covid-19 has made one point abundantly clear for African countries...

Reliving the “Transforming Africa: Innovating Our Way Towards Sustainability” 2024 Conference

Khadiga Hassan The Department of Science and Innovation and the South African National Research Foundation (DSI/NRF) Trilateral Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4IR and Sustainable...

40th WIPO IGC: Mixed Impressions as Experts Seek a New Mandate

By Chidi Oguamanam, cross-posted from ABS Canada. Pre-session Strategy Meetings Experts and delegates gathered in Geneva for the 40th session of the WIPO IGC, which commenced on...

Africa’s Maker Movement: An Overview of Ongoing Research

Makerspaces are places where people gather to build projects, learn new technologies, and develop entrepreneurial opportunities. Open AIR is conducting research on makerspaces across the African continent.

Vulnerabilities Exposed: COVID-19 and Informal Livelihoods in Egypt

By Nagla Rizk This article was originally published by Medium “I wish they let us move and to end the curfew, so we go to work....

Beyond the Poster Boy of the Maker Movement

Some people tour Europe’s finest vineyards others tour Australia’s sweetest surf spots—I tour South Africa’s pioneer makerspaces; part of the growing global maker movement. The movement is a culmination of people becoming “makers” (someone who uses their personal abilities to create anything from mechanical or electrical to visual or musical) and spaces becoming makerspaces (an interdisciplinary area stimulating people to create by providing resources and idea sharing).