women-scientists-from-ghana

"There are clear indications that COVID-19 has affected more women than men, and the situation is worse among women in the informal sector, where social protection is particularly lacking."

"We have challenges we need to resolve to move forward, and the board will do all it can to ensure that practical solutions are formed to end the power crisis"

"Presently, we know very little about the health hazards implicated in the trade, just as we have little knowledge on the exposure of women bushmeat traders to zoonotic diseases."

"We should invest in wild animal production given the socio-economic benefits such a venture could bring to the people, especially women doing business in the bushmeat trade."

"This is actually a sensible way for mental therapy and stress release; a good laugh is better than negativity"

"I decided to make a career teaching mathematics when I was about 4 years old. It is the only career I ever considered. As a teacher who also grew up in a family of teachers, my mother noticed and encouraged my interest in mathematics from a very early age."

"The thing about robotics is that it involves many different fields. From an educational point of view, you learn about this whole idea of system integration, and you also learn a little bit about different fields. You might have a problem for which you don’t necessarily want to develop an automated robot to solve that problem, but some components of robotics might be helpful."

"It may also have some sanitation applications. For example, there’s a project that’s been going on in Ghana for a while where they’re dredging a contaminated lagoon. So that would be a great area to have more automation in, rather than exposing humans to dangerous substances. Those are some ideas off the top of my head. I think time will reveal some of the answers."

"It would be great to see more African countries doing more manufacturing and exporting more advanced things than just minerals and agricultural products. And robotics plays a role in manufacturing. It’s an interesting balance between what do you do with human power versus what do you do with automation. In parts of the world where labor is pretty cheap, it’s going to take some creative thinking to get that balance right. I’m not one to advocate for throwing technology at a problem if it’s not needed."

"I was born in Barbados. My father was from Barbados and was a math professor with a PhD in the area of math called group theory. My mother was a teacher from Ghana. My father studied in the UK and first worked in Ghana, where he met my mother, then eventually moved back to the Caribbean where I was born and grew up. I also lived in Ghana and in the UK before moving to Canada."

"We have about 300 individuals and institutions signed up and it’s kind of interesting because we have a real range, ranging from people like robotics researchers at universities, all to way to students who may have taken one robotics course in college and are doing completely different things now, but are definitely interested in robotics. It’s a way of bringing together anyone with any interest in robotics in Africa."

"For example, the issue of sensing, which is really important in robotics. There are so many problems in our context that could be solved using a little more sensing than we have right now: Sensing air quality or sensing the spread of insects and mosquitoes for malaria. That’s what I like to stress to my students. Think about robotics as a whole, but think about the different aspects of it and think which of these aspects are relevant to the problem that you’re trying to address. The cool thing about robotics is that it brings together all these different areas."

"I teach undergrad and grad mathematics courses, I do scientific research, I supervise grad students’ research, and I have some administrative duties in my department and university and within the larger scientific community. I am an applied mathematician, so my research involves using mathematical and computational methods to solve problems in science."

"My main interest is in geophysical fluid dynamics, which is the study of the movement of air and water in the atmosphere and oceans. I am particularly interested in understanding how waves in the atmosphere interact and affect the general circulation of the atmosphere and influence weather and climate."

"The most common things that we’ve seen so far are educational programs around robotics. In Egypt they have this competition to design robots that can detect land mines. It is a really cool example of researchers looking at how to apply robotics to local issues."

"You could definitely apply robotics to agriculture. But whether Africa is ready for that or needs that is less obvious right now. It doesn’t make sense, I don’t think, to have robotics involved in agriculture right now."

"When I am not working, I hang out with my son. We enjoy travelling, especially going to the beach, and going to music concerts and festivals. Our favourite trips have been to Barbados and to Prince Edward Island."

"Computer scientists are the magicians of tomorrow."

"“I do not think we should be in a panic mood, but I also think we should not ignore this…As AI becomes more capable, we also need to think very carefully about the structure of our society, and about the opportunities and education that people can have access to. If people do not have access to education, how are they going to learn and get those skills that are not replaceable by AI.""

""Knowledge never goes waste. When you’re interested in something, you will find a way to make it relevant”."

"I’d like to see a variety of different platforms that can be used for educational robotics. Not just the Lego Mindstorms. I’d love to see some kits that are locally developed, which we don’t see much of now. In general, I’d like to see much more of it – more people involved in robotics at more levels. I think the robotics kits that exist are pretty interesting and pretty useful for students to learn from. It would just be nice to see more of that accessible to students while working on different things."

"Try not to be afraid of challenges. Don’t always opt for the easy path. Sometimes, the harder path is more rewarding."

"One area that we need more robots involved in is mining, just because of the conditions that many miners work in in many African countries. The whole situation with the recent mining disaster in South Africa speaks to this issue where you have human miners working in very arduous conditions. It would be cool to get more automation, more robotics involved in that."

"When something does not exist, it is an opportunity.""

"The goal is to help the computer science students broaden their thinking about what they could do."

"The goal of AFRON is to create a community, promote communication among those interested in this field, have them share information and resources, support each other’s work and kind of bring it to a head and create a critical mass where even more interesting things can start to happen. Talking about this, you realize that it is surprising that there is something going on in robotics in schools, universities and maybe even in industry [in Africa]. It’s surprising. It’s surprising to those of us in Africa and it’s surprising to people outside of Africa."

"It is important that research is conducted at African universities. Decolonisation and restitution are intertwined and play an important role in finding a post-colonial identity, creating it's own telling of the history and getting into an equal dialogue with the former colonial powers, also in the academic context."

"In simple terms, I would say that restitution is a very complex process, and it is a process that involves restoration, a process that involves returning of heritage, that has been lost or stolen, or illegally taken away from a group of people and returning it back to its proper place and its proper units."

"Everyone needs a mentor… I do too"

"During my mentoring journey, I have learnt to listen better, to cope with interruptions, to provide answers when the young advocates could find none, and to argue and encourage positivity during the health pandemic of COVID-19."

"In role-modelling, I shared information about my career path and provided guidance, motivation and emotional support. Together, we explored careers, we set achievable goals, developed new contacts, shared old contacts, and identified resources. We debated the usefulness of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, the design of realistic indicators, and developed capacity-strengthening techniques."

"In the year of mentoring, I enhanced my own skills in counselling, negotiating, picking the right moment, and sharing the good and the not so good news."

"Ironic that the largest minority group which cuts across race, religion and sexual orientation is (one of) the most discriminated against."

"You must put in the work. Do not expect a free pass just because you have special needs. You need to be exceptionally good at what you are doing but institutions also need to put up an enabling environment that lets people with special needs be as productive as they can be."

"What a journey the past year has been! It has been one of twists and turns, but certainly a highlight for me has been meeting 25 young men and women with the zeal to confront global health inequalities. For me, playing the role as their mentor and creating an enabling environment to help them explore the huge possibilities and opportunities of advocacy in health was inspiring, to say the least."

"I identify the numerous challenges confronting the museum and heritage sector in Ghana, and conclude by calling on policy makers, traditional authorities, universities and the government of Ghana to deepen public awareness of cultural heritage, invest more in museums and heritage institutions to function well and revisit earlier demands that were denied."

"There is a lot of potential for fintech in this part of the world."

"All my life I’ve been told to remove the word ‘I can’t’ from my vocabulary and replace it with ‘I’ll try’ and by grace, everything I’ve tried I’ve been successful at."

"The frustrations and disappointments that come with entrepreneurship can break you, but if you are in it because you want to make a difference or you believe in what you are producing, then that spurs you on."

"“People with disability don’t want preferential treatment we want the playing ground to be given so we can compete as competitively as anybody else.”"

"I didn’t set out to impact anybody. I set out to prove to myself and to society that I could be a successful software developer despite having a neurological condition."

"If you don’t have a passion for your product and you want to become an entrepreneur because of the money, close up your business and look for a well-paying job."

"I was frustrated; frustrated with societal perception of people with disabilities and frustrated with reading about a foreigner's perspective of the "African Story", which usually involves wars, famines, AIDS and child soldiers. I think it is time for us to tell our own stories.Farida speaking on the inspiration for her writing"

"Persons with disabilities are usually portrayed as being feeble and asking for handouts, in the media. I want to change that perception. We have weaknesses and strengths like everybody else and it’s about time the focus moved from what we can’t do to what we CAN do."

"A strong female lead, gives a role model for girls to want to emulate."

"Representation matters, and persons with disabilities are sorely underrepresented."

"Nobody is perfect. We all have a part of us that doesn’t work well. Identify your disability and turn it into greatness."

"I tell myself, “You can do this, you’ve done more difficult things and survived. And even if you don’t make this deal or you can’t do this task, life goes on”. My faith has also played an important role."

"A mentor is a counsellor, cheerleader, and a comrade who works purposefully to guide, motivate and uplift."

"I intend to change perceptions with my story."