By Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
It has been a great pleasure to welcome Professor Isabella Aboderin, Professor of Gerontology and our Perivoli Chair in Africa Research and Partnerships, who will direct activities in the new Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC).
The Centre is aimed at furthering interdisciplinary research and initiatives that are responsive to, and help advance Africa’s population and development and innovation agendas (e.g. in the fields of education, health, sustainable agriculture, social or governance issues) and at deepening collaboration between the University, African research, policy, civil society and private sector bodies, and international agencies.
PARC will seek to add value to, and build on the University’s existing broad portfolio of Africa-oriented research, and to offer a community and platform for exchange for all those engaged or interested in such work – in the University and the city, broadly. PARC aims to become a model hub for forward-looking, respectful UK-Africa cooperation in research and learning by:
- fostering fresh, critical thinking on necessary frames and approaches for UK-Africa partnerships, and for the production of knowledge on and for the continent,
- forging new, and consolidating existing focal partnerships with African and international institutions and networks (g. Worldwide Universities Network),
- developing strategic ‘signature’ programmes of evidence generation, policy and practice engagement and innovation that speak to African priorities at regional, sub-regional, national or local levels and that bring together and extend existing clusters of interdisciplinary expertise within the University,
- expanding student and faculty exchange, and supporting Africa-led research capacity strengthening initiatives, and
- curating, and facilitating internal and external engagement with the evolving body of Africa-focused research at the University of Bristol.
Isabella has completed something of a round trip, returning to Bristol where she did both her undergraduate and doctoral studies. Prior to taking up the new Chair, Isabella held a dual appointment as Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Aging and Development Unit at the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), Nairobi, and as Associate Professor of Gerontology at the University of Southampton.
The Centre has been funded through a generous donation from the Perivoli Trust, which has funded key projects in the University over the last decade. The Trust has a philanthropic focus mostly on the Emerging World and especially Africa. Its Schools Trust has transformed nursery education in Namibia, Malawi and Zambia, training 5,500 nursery school teachers and positively impacting the lives of an estimated 150,000 children. The £1m gift to establish PARC is emblematic of our shared ambition to work on innovative approaches to benefit generations for years to come in Africa.
We will be hosting an internal networking event on Monday 23 March, ahead of PARC’s anticipated full launch, expected to take place on Tuesday 20 October. I’m sure that you will join me in welcoming Isabella and wishing her and the PARC team well in establishing this exciting new part of the University research ecosystem.