The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) through the EU- Africa PerMed consortium hosted the second stakeholder workshop, that has taken place on the 20-21 February 2023 and the 1st EU-Africa PerMed Summer School on 22-23 February in Cape Town, South Africa.
2nd Stakeholder workshop: The 2nd Stakeholder workshop has attracted 80-100 registered key representatives from Africa and Europe, but also beyond.
The EU-Africa PerMed project sets to build links between Europe and Africa in Personalised Medicine (PM) and has initiated several core stakeholder engagement initiatives from February 2022 to January 2023. These workshops allowed discussions on the perception of PM, the main challenges and opportunities of PM in Africa and potential advantages of a closer collaboration with Europe in integrating local knowledge and practice. In-depth regional engagements followed across the African continent, as a mode for understanding the potential to develop PM in Africa on various levels. This may include developing the PM agenda by building collaborations, structuring platforms, and scientific hubs, strengthening regulatory frameworks and developing regional strategies. Therefore, the second stakeholder workshop provided an opportunity to reflect on the findings from these activities to:
- Review the PM landscape in Africa from various regional outcomes.
- Validate and refinement of areas of mutual interest between Africa and Europe.
- Validating the gaps and needs identified for developing areas of interest.
- The importance and understanding of models of collaboration with the EU.
- Reflect on models of collaboration for developing PM in the different regions (governance, funding, partnerships, training program, etc.).
- Understand the challenges and opportunities for collaboration with Europe.
1st EU-Africa PerMed Summer School: The 1st EU-Africa PerMed Summer School “Standards in Personalised Medicine Research” brought together 35 participants representing 28 African and European countries.
The Summer School took place “back to back” with the 2nd EU-Africa PerMed Stakeholder Workshop. This interactive training event or “Summer School” was the first in-person training event of the EU-Africa PerMed project. It allowed early career professionals to acquire new knowledge and skills in personalised medicine (PM) research. It covered key stages of PM research and the importance of integrating standards for quality research at each stage and its importance for international collaborations in PM. Lectures on key topics were followed by group work where participants analysed a case study, responded to a questionnaire and performed other interactive work with their peers. At the end of the event, participants passed a short exam on the content of the lectures to obtain their certificate of attendance.
The EU-Africa PerMed training events are platforms for sharing insight and experiences in PM research in both regions, and to share and discuss examples of EU-Africa PM collaborations. The Summer Schools also aim to foster collaboration in PM research between EU and African research teams, providing an opportunity for networking among participants and lecturers.
For more information on the project visit https://www.euafrica-permed.eu