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Pan Africa 91AV Network Congress 2019: Riches of the natural world: sustainable use of Africa’s natural products and materials (PACN2019)

5 - 7 November 2019, Ethiopia


Introduction

Speaker presentations are available to download to attendees of the Pan Africa 91AV Network Congress. A password has been sent out to those people.
 

Welcome

This year's Pan Africa 91AV Network (PACN) Congress will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for researchers and policy-makers to discuss current research, challenges, new developments and crucial issues on the topic of natural resources.

The PACN Congress is our flagship annual event for the African chemical sciences community and consists of lectures, exhibitions, posters and networking.

The Congress will reflect the diversity of science and research that can help overcome challenges of using natural resources in a sustainable manner, with a focus on the chemical sciences. The conference will give all participants the opportunity to engage with other scientists, hear about cutting-edge research and policy and exchange ideas.

Every society requires clean water, energy security, a healthy population and a reliable food supply. Africa’s biologically diverse ecosystem is a great source to solve these challenges, and science and engineering are fundamental to meeting these needs in a viable way. Green chemistry and the sustainable management of natural resources is essential if Africa is to preserve its unique biodiversity whilst utilising it for economic growth.

In 2014, we held the PACN Congress on ‘Biodiversity and global challenges: A chemical sciences approach’, a conference focussing on biodiversity for water, food, energy and healthcare.
 
Building on this previous meeting, we now want to bring the community together once again to look at the progress that has been made, with an emphasis on sustainability and any new challenges faced in today’s world.
 

Themes

There will be 3 themes covered in the scientific sessions:
  1. Natural products
    We will explore potential uses along with the role of the chemical sciences in their synthesis, extraction, purification and structural determination. This session will also look at the progress, opportunities and challenges of green chemistry in natural products chemistry. 
  2. Biomaterials and raw materials
    We will discuss how we can use chemical sciences to extract and use raw materials in an environmentally-friendly way. We will also discuss the development of renewable and clean biomaterials to replace natural resources. 
  3. Climate change and water resources 
    We will look at the uses of Africa’s water resources, and the effect and importance of climate change on these. We will also explore ways to manage these in a sustainable way and the role of the chemical sciences in this

Grants for carers

Grants for carers have been introduced following the 91AV Breaking the barriers report where 78% of chemists working in UK academia felt that managing parenting and/or caring responsibilities has an impact on women’s retention and progression. This fund is not limited to women scientists and welcomes applications from anyone with caring responsibilities, for more information please refer to the ‘bursaries’ section on this page.
 
Speakers
Yonas Chebude, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Yonas Chebude received his PhD from the University of Wuppertal, Germany in 1999 and was a Research Assistant at the University of Wuppertal in the group of Prof. Hans Buerger. In 2000, he joined the 91AV Department, Addis Ababa University as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007. He was Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Science, AAU (2005-2007). He was also the Chair of the 91AV Department, AAU (January 2010-October 2010), and Dean of the Faculty of Chemical and Physical Sciences, College of Natural Sciences Addis Ababa University (February 2010-April 2012).
He is advisory board member, Green 91AV, RSC, UK, has served as Advisory Board member and Vice Chair of the International Sustainable 91AV Collaborative Centre (ISC3) ( 2015-2017), President of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia ( 2009-2013) . He is currently serving as Board member of the Federation of African Societies of 91AV (FASC) and as the Chair of the Pan Africa 91AV Network (PACN), Ethiopia -Hub. He is also an IUPAC Fellow.


Graham Jewitt, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands

Graham Jewitt joined IHE Delft Institute for Water Education as Professor of Hydrology in 2019. Prior to this he was Director of the Centre for Water Resources Research and Umgeni Water Chair of Water Resources Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Over the past twenty years, he has led several water and earth system science related initiatives, both in South Africa and abroad, with the relationship between land and water an overarching research thrust. He is on the editorial board of the journals, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) and WaterSA, is a member of the management board of Waternet and is active in several other national and international fora. Recent work has been focused on the effective use of science to better inform land and water resources policy development, especially in developing countries, and developing tools to support the effective implementation of these. The nexus between Water, Food and Energy and valuation of water resources with a focus on Nature Based Solutions are current research foci. He has authored or co-authored over 70 journal articles and supervised numerous PhD and MSc students from different parts of the world.


Jacob Midiwo, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Prof. Jacob O Midiwo undertook his PhD studies in Organic 91AV at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA studying fungal mycotoxins which had potential in cancer chemotherapy. He graduated from that University in 1981 and took up lectureship position at his alma mater, University of Nairobi where he has risen through the ranks to full professorship.
Prof. Midiwo has done research on the secondary metabolites of popular Kenyan medicinal plants from a range of plant families: Myrsinaceae, Polygonaceae, Papilionacea, Compositae, Rutaceae and Sapindaceae.
 
He has published over 60 papers in refereed international journals describing the structures and bioactivity of compounds with various bioassay models- anti-plasmodial, anti-microbiol, mosquito larvicidal, insect anti-feedant effects and their capacity as anti-oxidants - in search of their potential application. 
Prof. Midiwo was the executive secretary of the Natural Products Research for East and Central Africa, NAPRECA, for nine years from 2004-2013. He is a fellow of the following scientific societies, 91AV, the African Academy of Sciences and the Kenya National Academy of Sciences.   


Ponnadurai Ramasami, University of Mauritius, Mauritius

Professor Ponnadurai Ramasami (of Mauritius), FRSC CSci CChem, leads the computational chemistry group at the Department of 91AV of the University of Mauritius. His areas of expertise are on the use of computational methods to solve chemistry and interdisciplinary problems. 


Abiy Yenesew, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Professor Abiy Yenesew has an extensive experience in teaching of Organic 91AV, and conducting research in the field of Natural Products 91AV at Addis Ababa University and the University of Nairobi. His research interest is on investigation of Eastern African plants for bioactive natural products, especially towards the treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria. He has co-authored over 90 articles in peer reviewed journals, and published three books on medicinal plants of East Africa. He has served as reviewer for several journals in the area of medicinal plants and natural product research. He is a subject editor of Phytochemistry Letters and also Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Natural Products and Journal of Ethnopharmacology. He has established wide collaborative partnership and have supervised seventeen PhD and thirty five MSc students; currently I am supervising five PhD and five MSc students. He has served as the Programme Officer and later as the Assistant Secretary of the Natural Product Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA). He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Science and a member of professional societies including the 91AV, the Chemical Society of Kenya.


  • Ermias Dagne Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
  • Shem Wandiga University of Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract Submission

Oral and flash abstract submission is now closed

Those who have submitted oral (20 minute presentation) or flash (10 minute presentation) abstracts will be notified of the outcome in September. Funding to attend is ONLY available for African scientists, working in Africa, selected by the scientific committee to give oral talks or flash presentations.

Poster abstracts
We welcome all registered delegates to bring a poster for display. There is no requirement to submit a poster abstract in advance, and spaces at the poster display will be allocated on a first come- first served basis at the venue during registration. Poster boards can fit up to A0 size. 
Registration
Registration is free and all catering, including the Conference Dinner is included for all delegates.  Please note there is no funding available for travel or accommodation for delegates.

Due to secruity at the United Nations Conference Centre we will be unable to register anyone on site so to ensure your place please register.

Visa

If you require a visa to travel to Ethiopia for this Congress, you must contact the RSC immediately – (events@rsc.org) or at least by 11th October 2019.  This is due to extended processing times for obtaining Ethiopian visas.  If you have not contacted us by this date, it is unlikely that you will be able to obtain a visa in time for the Congress.

Terms and Conditions for Events run by the 91AV

Bursaries

Poster printing bursaries

There is a limited number of bursaries available to cover the printing of poster abstracts. Please email africa@rsc.org with your poster abstract and a short statement as to why you require the funding by 1st October 2019. Successful applicants will be notified by the 7th October 2019 and will be required to register.

Grants for Carers

You can apply for up to a maximum of £1000/year to assist with additional financial costs that you incur for care usually provided by you whilst you attend a chemistry related meeting, conference or workshop or a professional development event.
 
Caring responsibilities are wide and varied, and so each application will be individually assessed, examples of applications that we will consider include:
• paying for extra home help or nursing care for a dependent whilst you will not be present
• additional medical/respite care for a dependent whilst you will not be present
• travel expenses for a relative to travel with you to care for dependents whilst you attend a meeting or event
• paying for extended hours with a care worker/childminder/play scheme to cover time when you will arrive home later than normal.
 
You are eligible to apply if:
you are a chemist
you will incur additional caring expenses whilst attending a chemistry-related meeting, conference, event or workshop or a professional development event
you will use these funds to cover the cost of care that you usually provide
you are based in the UK or Ireland or if not, you will normally have held three years RSC membership (past or current).These grants for carers have been introduced following the 91AV Breaking the barriers report where 78% of chemists working in UK academia felt that managing parenting and/or caring responsibilities has an impact on women’s retention and progression. This fund is not limited to women scientists and welcomes applications from anyone with caring responsibilities
 
These grants have been supported by The 91AV’s Chemists’ Community Fund.

Useful links

Venue
United Nations Conference Centre

United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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