Research Awake Africa Initiative, in collaboration with the Jena School for Microbial Communication at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena is organizing the North–South Scientific Meeting on Natural Product Research scheduled to take place from February 6th-8th, 2023.

This 18-hour event, (09:00 am - 3:00 pm each day) creates an avenue for young African scientists who are active or aspiring researchers, ranging from Physicists to Biochemists, Microbiologists, Molecular biologists, and a long list of other scientists interested in Natural Products Research to share their research and ideas with leading, international experts, professors and scientists cum stakeholders. This meeting is expected to result in collaborations, alliances, and partnerships in the form of research visits, access to facilities, and exchange of expertise or materials.

It is no news that the global south, particularly Africa, to a large extent is dealing with the underdevelopment of research infrastructure and this, in turn, has resulted in the potential of its bioresources and biodiversity being underexplored. One purpose of this meeting is to create a collaborative environment where African bioresources can be characterized by state-of-the-art techniques and the research infrastructure of foreign partners. Not only are we keen on an exploration of bioresources, but we are also particular about their preservation. With the long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns alongside human activities that pose harm to the planet, bioresources and biodiversity are threatened. We are therefore asking questions on how to harness these resources and preserve them for the long run in Africa. This meeting presents the opportunity for these questions, to not only be answered but action taken, in line with the answers.

North-South: We are building Research Networks to sustainably explore Africa's rich Bioresources