1LAUNCH OF NEW S&T NETWORK • COUNTRY PROFILE – UGANDA • NEWS ROUND-UP

SCHOLARS’ NEWS • ALUMNI IN ACTION • WELCOME DAY 2007

NEWSIssue 5

January 2008Promoting learning, development and co-operation

A focus on science and technology: our new Network

2 Commonwealth Scholarships News

Commonwealth Scholarships News(formerly Omnes)

Editorial Team:Dr John Kirkland, Sarah Humphreys, Anna O’Flynn and Natasha LokhunDesign: John KirbyPrint: dsi colourworks

Commonwealth Scholarships News is published threetimes a year by the Commonwealth ScholarshipCommission in the United Kingdom.

Commonwealth Scholarship Commissionc/o The Association of Commonwealth UniversitiesWoburn House, 20–24 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HF, UK

comments@cscuk.org.ukwww.cscuk.org.uk

© Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom

Commonwealth Scholarships News is published for information purposes only and no liability is accepted for its contents by the CSC

or by any contributor to it. While all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the information contained therein was correct

at the time of compilation, it should not be regarded as definitive and no responsibility is accepted for the inclusion or omission of

any particular item. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the CSC.

2 Editorial

3 News Round-upThe latest from the CommonwealthScholarship Commission.

4-5 Scholars’ NewsNews, views and events of our currentscholars.

6 Commonwealth collaborationsfor scientific excellenceThe international impact ofCommonwealth Scholarships on S&T

7 SciDev.NetA science and technology resource

8 Alumni in ActionAn update on the activities of our alumni.

9 Alumni ProfileTwo former Commonwealth Scholarsand scientists from New Zealand.

10 Professional Networks andEventsThe launch of the Science andTechnology network.

11 Country Profile – UgandaA closer look at the CommonwealthScholarship and Fellowship Plan inoperation internationally.

Iam very pleased to be given the chance to launch our new

Professional Network on science and technology. The words

‘science and technology’ cover a very wide remit of different

subject areas such as those underpinning sciences of

biotechnology to therapeutic drug development through

fundamental physics to engineering. Coupled with these are

the core capabilities provided by the information technology

era which have enabled so much of the development in S&T in

recent years. All these areas have the potential to contribute to

solving difficult and complex issues, including poverty reduction, either by developing

cures to disease, finding more economical and greener ways to generate power or

providing early warning of potentially devastating events such as storms, floods or even

tsunami. S&T also supports economic growth through bringing new solutions to the

marketplace leading to the creation of local industries and associated employment.

This issue of Commonwealth Scholarships News provides insight into a diverse range of

activities funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission which tackle these aims.

These include improving food safety, modelling diabetes risks, utilising internet

techniques to aid in controlling disease, providing geographical data on HIV occurrences

and the more fundamental aspects of studying cellular mechanisms using novel

luminescence techniques. It is very important, however, that those people who can

innovate such new techniques interact and network with industries, government and

those people who can finance S&T development, in order that such technologies and

techniques can be turned into solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s problems. The full

impact of advances in S&T can only be realised by disseminating results and putting them

into practice – we hope that the new Science and Technology Network will assist these

efforts.

Dr Norman GeddesCommonwealth Scholarship Commissioner

EDITORIALTHIS ISSUE

January 2008 3

COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARS FACEBOOK GROUP

Commonwealth Scholarships are now on Facebook!Michael Griffin, a Commonwealth Scholar at theUniversity of Oxford, has created a group on theFacebook networking website, with news, boards,and events for Commonwealth Scholarship andFellowship holders and alumni. To join the group orto get more details about Facebook and register, visitthe site www.facebook.com and search for‘Commonwealth Scholars’.

Michael has also started an unofficial blog –‘Commonwealth Scholars Online’ – invitingsubmissions, comments, and conversation fromcurrent and former Commonwealth Scholars andFellows in the UK and across the w o r l d . To a c c e s s t h e b l o g , v i s i thttp://commonwealthscholars.wordpress.com

CURTIS FELLOW APPOINTMENTSuzanne Lawrence has arrived in the UK fromCanada on an 18-month assignment as the GeorgeCurtis Memorial Commonwealth Fellow. George

Curtis established theFaculty of Law at theUniversity of BritishColumbia (UBC) and wasone of the foundingfathers of theC o m m o n w e a l t hScholarship andFellowship Plan. Suzannestudied at UBC andSimon Fraser Universityand has come toCambridge to work withDr Hilary Perraton,

Deputy Chair of the Commission, on a history of thePlan. The work is based at the Von Hügel Institute ofSt Edmund’s College, Cambridge and the intention isto produce the history in time for the Plan’s 50thanniversary in 2009.

WELCOME DAY 2007Around 250 new Scholars and Fellows attended the2007 Commonwealth Scholarship CommissionWelcome Programme, held at Central HallWestminster on 12 November. Professor MalcolmGillies, Vice-Chancellor of City University and formerCommonwealth Scholar, shared his experiences inhis keynote speech on ‘Britain, education and you’.Commissioners led themed sessions in the afternoonconsidering issues such as science and technologyrealisation and the role of universities in internationaldevelopment. In the evening, a reception was hostedat the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by JimMurphy MP, Minister for Europe and Public Diplomacy.

NEWS ROUND-UP

Professor Trudy Harpham, Chair of the

Commission, Jim Murphy, FCO Minister, and

Scholars at the 2007 Welcome Day reception

Suzanne Lawrence,George Curtis Memorial

Commonwealth Fellow

Prime Ministerannounces boost for UK CommonwealthScholarships

Funding for Commonwealth Scholarships andFellowships for developing Commonwealthcountries will receive a significant increase over thenext three years, following an announcement byGordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, at therecent Commonwealth Heads of GovernmentMeeting in Kampala.

The Prime Minister announced that funding wouldincrease to £50.8 million in the three years fromApril 2008, a like-for-like increase of £6 million onthe previous years. The funding, which will continueto come from the UK Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID), includes provision for a new

programme of evaluation and continues the newstrand of Distance Learning Scholarships announcedby DFID in 2006.

The funding increase is to be phased over threeyears, with annual budgets of £15.93, £17.43 and£17.5 million respectively, which will allow theCommission time to phase in new initiatives. Whilemuch of the additional funding for 2008-2009 willbe used to expand existing programmes, a strategicplanning exercise will take place during the first sixmonths of 2008 to examine the wider direction ofour provision. Readers of CommonwealthScholarship News are welcome to feed their ownviews into this process, and can do so by emailingcomments@cscuk.org.uk

Professor Trudy Harpham, Chair of the Commission,said that the new funding reflected increasedrecognition of the role that higher education andhigh-level training could play in achievinginternational development objectives. She said thatCommissioners were pleased that DFID had foundthe additional funds, which in part reflected the

positive findings of an independent review of theCommission’s work in early 2007. The fact that thefunding had been announced by the Prime Ministerpersonally was also welcome confirmation of thewider prestige and importance of the scheme, whichit was hoped will be built on in the run up to itsfiftieth anniversary in 2009.

In addition to support for CommonwealthScholarships in developing countries, theCommission also receives support from the UKForeign and Commonwealth Office for awards tocitizens of those Commonwealth countries that donot qualify for assistance from DFID. It has recentlybeen confirmed that this will remain stable at £2.05million in the coming year, reflecting Britain’s long-standing commitment that CommonwealthScholarships should be available to citizens of allmember states.

At the time of writing, decisions are still taking placeon the precise allocation of budgets for the comingyear. A full feature on this, and the background tothe funding increase, will appear in the next issue.

2053 CSNews 5 v5.qxp:CS News 4/1/08 15:01 Page 3

IMPROVING ANIMAL FOOD SAFETYAziwo Niba, a Commonwealth Scholar based at theUniversity of Plymouth, is entering into the third yearof his PhD in ‘Fermented feed technology as ameans of improving animal food safety indeveloping country animal agriculture’. This topic isparticularly pertinent for Aziwo’s native Cameroon,which is heavily dependent on its agricultural sector.‘For animal agriculture in developing countries, the

implications offermented feedtechnology as ameans of improvinganimal food safety areonly too obvious. It isbiologically safe andsimple to adopt, can fitinto the small-scaleanimal productionprevalent in sucheconomies and moreimportantly it isaffordable.’ Upon hisreturn to Cameroon,Aziwo will be heavily

involved in capacity building and training at theUniversity of Dschang. He hopes to improve publicawareness of science by helping target groups tounderstand the scientific basis of food safety, healthyanimal foods and production methods. Aziwowishes to focus on the ever-increasing ‘need forbridging the knowledge gap as one of the keyvariables underpinning human health anddevelopment. Obviously, forming a network ofstakeholders who can effectively reflect on ways andmeans of communicating health-promotingagricultural science and products to the public in away that will be understood and appreciated will bevery vital to this goal’.

INTERNET TOOLS TO HELP CONTROLINFECTIOUS DISEASESCanadian Commonwealth Scholar Andrea Wang iscurrently working towards a DPhil in InternationalRelations at the University of Oxford, with a focus onthe role of internet monitoring technologies inrelation to the International Health Regulations(IHR), a legally binding set of rules governing theinternational community’s efforts to control thespread of infectious diseases. Andrea has beenexamining the role of the World Health Organisation(WHO), which has developed innovative internettools that have fundamentally changed internationaldisease surveillance. Two such mechanisms are theProgram for Monitoring Emerging Diseases

(ProMED-mail), which enables people to exchangeinformation about outbreaks of infectious disease,and the Global Public Health Information Network(GPHIN), which detects early warnings of diseaseoutbreaks by monitoring, filtering and publishing

relevant items fromglobal mediasources on asystem accessibleto fee-payingorganisations withan establishedpublic healthmandate. ‘Thesenew technologiess i g n i f i c a n t l yreduced the time ittook for diseaseoutbreaks tobecome publicknowledge, and

made it virtually impossible for governments to hideserious outbreaks within their borders. Such changeswere critical in pushing forward the process ofrevising the IHR.’

IMPROVING BIOLOGICAL RESEARCHLiz New, a Chemistry PhD Commonwealth Scholarat the University of Durham, is working with hersupervisor, Professor David Parker, on a projectinvestigating lanthanide complexes as probes ofcellular activity. ‘The progress of biological researchrequires more sophisticated techniques for studyingcells. My research group uses lanthanide metal

complexes which areluminescent – theyemit light. When welook under af l u o r e s c e n c emicroscope at cellstreated with thesechemicals, we can seetheir luminescence.’Liz hopes to makesome importantdiscoveries throughthe project, which is

‘focussed on gaining an understanding of the waysin which these complexes interact with cells; forexample, how they enter cells and move to variouscellular locations. This should assist in designingchemicals with useful properties and applications’. Inaddition to her work at Durham, Liz has been able tofurther her knowledge of the interaction of metalcomplexes with cells by attending various

conferences, such as the International Conferenceon Biological Inorganic Chemistry in Vienna in July2007, presenting a poster at the RSC Metals inMedicine conference in Durham in September 2007,and contributing to two papers which werepublished in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistrythis year. In the future, Liz hopes to work inacademia, continuing with research in biologicalchemistry; as a second year PhD student, she isexcited about the challenges ahead: ‘I look forwardto the coming two years – and hopefully findingsome answers to my questions!’

LEADING THE WAY IN BIOMEDICINEHaving gained degrees in medicine, humangenetics, applied mathematics and computationalbiology, Commonwealth Scholar Quin Wills decidedto combine his areas of expertise when embarkingupon his doctoral research. He is currently workingwith the Mathematical Genetics and Bioinformaticsgroup at the University of Oxford, to ‘better modeltype 2 diabetes risk using genomics, transcriptomics,proteomics and metabonomics (gene, protein andmetabolic data)’, using ‘data derived from the largest

such study done todate’. In line with hisacademic interests,Quin co-founded aD T I - f u n d e db i o t e c h n o l o g ycompany which usesgene expressionmodels developedfrom human cellcultures asalternatives to animaltoxicity testing, theimpact of which

could hugely decrease the cost of drugdevelopment. Quin is grateful for the opportunitiesafforded to him by his Commonwealth Scholarshipand, upon his return to South Africa, he hopes to bepart of a world-class centre of excellence in the studyof complex biomedicine, participate in the SouthAfrican government’s current strategy of infusingmoney into the biotechnology sector and improveinternational collaboration at an industrial andacademic level. ‘I see no reason why South Africacannot have a reputation for leading biomedicine,and would like to be a part of it.’

4 Commonwealth Scholarships News

Aziwo Niba,Commonwealth Scholar

from Cameroon

Andrea Wang,Commonwealth Scholar

from Canada

Liz New, Commonwealth

Scholar from Australia

Quin Wills,Commonwealth Scholar

from South Africa

SCHOLARS’ NEWS

You can send your feedback, news and viewsfor inclusion in Commonwealth ScholarshipsNews by email: comments@cscuk.org.uk

The fields of science and technology are becoming increasingly important as the need for significant new research to help turn existing knowledge into practical solutions becomes ever greater. Science and technology help to facilitate research in many subject areas, including agriculture, health and the environment. Here, some of our Commonwealth Scholars describe the work they are doing and the impact they hope it will have in their home countries.

THE VALUE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM(GIS) FOR HIV/AIDS SURVEILLANCE

Peter Adebayo Idowu (Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholar,PhD in Computer Science, Aston University) describes themotivations for his research into the topical issue of GIS fordisease monitoring and the impact this will have on his homecountry, Nigeria.

The advent of information technology has changed almosteverything we do in life. A Geographical Information System (GIS)is a computer-based information system that is used to capture,model, store, retrieve, share, process, manipulate, analyse andpresent geospatial data for the purpose of decision-making. GIS is apowerful tool in the management of geospatial referenced data andit has become a more common part of everyday life which is ofinterest to almost everybody – businessmen, engineers, governmentofficers, and public health officers. GIS has been used by publichealth officers in developed nations (Europe, the United States andCanada) for disease surveillance, analysis, monitoring, and modelling, butAfrica, which has high incidences of AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, has yet toemploy GIS widely in the public health sector.

AIDS has become one of the most destructive epidemics both in developed anddeveloping nations. Public health researchers, especially epidemiologists, arecurrently battling with this deadlydisease. Sub-Saharan Africa is oneof the most affected regions in theworld; however, computer-basedinformation systems are notcurrently used across the regionfor controlling, monitoring andmanagement of this epidemic.

My impetus for this researchoriginated from a conference Iattended sometime ago, whereone of the presenters gave astatistical analysis of HIV/AIDSglobally and in my country,Nigeria. A few months later, I was watching a programme on a populartelevision station in my country when the chairman of the National Agency forthe Control of AIDS (NACA) talked about AIDS. Since that time I have beenthinking about how information technology can be used to manage, monitorand control the spread of this epidemic. Eventually, I came up with the idea ofa web-based GIS capable system for HIV/AIDS epidemiological surveillance,which I am researching as my PhD topic.

As I was searching and reviewing literature in order to define the state of the artin the area of disease surveillance and modelling, I was fortunate to be awardeda Commonwealth Scholarship, which has given me this opportunity to researchand undergo academic training at a world class university under the supervisionof experts in computer science, GIS and statistics.

My research focuses on developing a web-based GIS epidemiologicalsurveillance for monitoring, controlling and management of HIV/AIDS. One ofthe aims of this research is to develop a GIS web service which will allowinteroperability with other systems and includes a novel inbuilt forecastingcapacity. The system will be able to capture, analyse, manipulate and presentgeospatial referenced HIV/AIDS data for the purpose of monitoring andmanaging HIV/AIDS. When fully implemented, the system will assist authorised

policymakers, government representatives and stakeholders in visualising,analysing, and forecasting the state of HIV/AIDS in any state in Nigeria. Due tosome of the problems facing developing nations (most especially sub-SaharanAfrica) in the deployment of ICT in the health sector, open source software willbe used to minimise the cost of using the application. A particular challenge thatneeds to be addressed is how the design of the system can be optimised to

ensure take-up in Nigeria.

I am sure that the result of this research will bea useful tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS inNigeria, sub-Saharan Africa and Africa as awhole. With the application that will come outof this research, electronic monitoring andmanagement of HIV/AIDS will be possible andHIV/AIDS data will be easily available, storedand maintained for research, public enquiriesand decision-making. After the completion ofmy PhD, I hope to get a postdoctoral positionto broaden my skills and knowledge in thefields of GIS, computing and healthinformatics.

January 20085

Peter Idowu, Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholar from Nigeria

IN YOUR OWN WORDS

Have you joined one of our Professional Networks yet?

I was fortunate to be awarded aCommonwealth Scholarship, which hasgiven me this opportunity to researchand undergo academic training at a

world class university under thesupervision of experts in computer

science, GIS and statistics.

So far we have launched six Networks, in the following areas:• Gender• Health• Education• Governance, Civil Society and Community Development • Environment • Agriculture/Rural Development

Our seventh Network on Science and Technology has just beenlaunched (see page 10). We have forthcoming Networks planned on: • Infrastructure and Urban Development• Legal/Human Rights and Conflict Resolution• Management, Communications and Business• Economics and Public FinanceTo sign up to any of the Professional Networks, visitwww.cscuk.org.uk/news/csc_prof_networks.asp

6 Commonwealth Scholarships News

l l count r ies need sc ience , and ever yone benef i t s f rom i t sapplications in medicine, agriculture and through technology andengineering. However, no individual country can afford to carry outall the scientific research it would like to do, so it is a field in which

international collaboration is natural and necessary.

In the UK we have a big science community but we carry out only 5% ofthe world’s research. Many countries are investing in new laboratories andscience parks and in training more scientists and engineers. I have seen,first hand, fantastic facilities for bioscience research in India, Singapore,Canada and Australia and I know that there are many projects, there andelsewhere, in which British scientists are working with colleagues overseas.The UK Medical Research Council with the Department for InternationalDevelopment runs a laboratory in Gambia – a centre of excellence inAfrica working on HIV, TB and malaria research. The Royal Society ofChemistry is just setting up a pan-Africa chemistry network, starting inKenya, to provide teachers and researchers with access to research reportsand data.

While there is competition between teams of scientists to be the first to makediscoveries, there is collaboration too between research teams who are working inthe same field, and they share experiences and techniques. Some countries havejoined together to share enormous, expensive scientific equipment like telescopesand the accelerators used to explore the fundamental particles that make upatoms.

Scientists read about the work of researchers in other countries in scientific journals– some of which now cover very narrow specialisms. The availability of journals inlibraries has been vital but we are now beginning to use online journals. Nothing

beats the opportunity to talk with other researchers who you know well.Commonwealth Scholars keep in touch with people they have met while studying.It can be so helpful to talk to someone else who uses the same equipment orresearch methods when something odd is happening in your own laboratory. Ihope that the new Science and Technology Network we are launching will enableCommonwealth Scholars to find contacts who can help them. I also hope that theNetwork will stimulate new ideas – I would love to see some collaborative researchcome about as a result of contacts made through the Network.

The benefits of scientific research range from electricity to medicines, fromaeroplanes to anaesthetics, from pesticides to computers. Life expectancyin England increased when scientists understood how diseases came frombacteria in dirty water and that hygiene improved when clean water wasmade available. I believe clean water should be available throughout theworld, for everyone, with the help of hydrologists and engineers – andpoliticians. Technologists and engineers bring us the equipment andinfrastructure we need – from water pumps and power stations to damsand bridges. Medicines and vaccines have further increased life expectancy– but public health improvements have had the greatest effect. Publichealth was the subject of our September issue and there is already aNetwork for scholars working in that field. Some scientists may also beinterested in joining our Professional Networks on agriculture,environment, health or gender, depending on the fields they are nowworking in.

There are inequalities between countries in terms of facilities for researchin different disciplines and in the numbers of qualified scientists.Commonwealth Scholarships enable some scientists to come to the UK toundertake a Master’s course or to carry out original research for a PhD.

COMMONWEALTH COLLABORATIONSFOR SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCEThe benefits of science and technology are well documented. Dr Monica Darnbrough CBE,Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner, considers the role that CommonwealthScholarships have to play.

A

January 2008 7

Some will be able to use analytical and otherequipment which is not available in their owncountries – access to equipment is a valuableaspect of split-site awards. We hope that scholarswill go back to strengthen colleges anduniversities in their own countries and that theirexperience in the UK will add to their enthusiasmfor science which they will pass on to youngpeople. Others may be entrepreneurs who buildbusinesses on science or technology and go onto create jobs for other people.

Scientific advances and novel researchtechniques frequently raise ethical and socialquestions. The use of scientific knowledge bringswith it huge responsibilities for individualresearchers, for companies and for society. Wecan all rejoice when we see science andtechnology used in life-saving medical advancesor to increase crop yields. However, there arealso risks associated with science and technology.The debate about the pros and cons of usinggenetically modified plants still continues – eventhough there are some very positive case studieswhere we can see real societal and economicbenefits in communities who no longer have touse toxic sprays, where women are freed to domore profitable work and children can go toschool instead of working in the fields. Refineriesand factories which make plastics, fertilisers,pesticides and other products need carefuldesign and must have built-in safety devices.Managers and staff must have a safety culturewhich requires genuine understanding of theprocesses and procedures and extensive training.

Unfortunately, some examples have madepeople think of science and technology asdangerous and harmful rather than beneficial.Regrettably, not all companies have given highpriority to safety or environmental issues. Myheart breaks when I hear about the long-termsuffering of those affected by disasters like that ofUnion Carbide (now Dow) at Bhopal in India. Butlessons have been learned and companies nowtake safety and environmental issues seriously.

It is always exciting to read the application formsfor scientific studies from prospectiveCommonwealth Scholars and to hear aboutresearch projects from Scholars at the WelcomeDay. The Commissioners are keen to ensure thatthe quality of science and engineeringapplications in all disciplines remains highbecause science and technology can contributeso much to health, agriculture, the environmentand wealth generation in all Commonwealthcountries.

Readers might be interested to know of a freeonline science resource - SciDev.Net. SciDev.Net(the Science and Development Network) was setup in 2001 with the support of the sciencejournals Nature and Science, as well as theAcademy of Science of the Developing World(TWAS). It provides news, views and informationabout science, technology and the developingworld, and has a circulation of around 5,000individuals throughout the Commonwealth, andmostly in developing countries.

The past few years have seen renewed interest inthe role of science and technology in helpingdeveloping countries achieve sustainableeconomic growth. To achieve this potential,however, policymakers – at all levels of society –need accurate and reliable information abouthow science and technology can help to meettheir objectives.

At the same time, broad public understandingand engagement is required to ensure open anddemocratic debate about the best way ofachieving the promises of science andtechnology, and handling their potentiallynegative consequences.

SciDev.Net addresses these needs primarilythrough www.scidev.net, its free-access websitewhich contains news, views and analysis aboutscience and technology in the developing world,much of it written by members of a wide networkof professional science journalists and othercontributors from these regions.

The website aims to meet the information needs,around the interface between science and publicpolicy, of a wide range of readers, including

researchers, policy analysts, government officials,journalists and those working for both aidagencies and non-governmental organisations.

Its content is divided into a number of regionalgateways, each gateway covering a particularpart of the developing world. In addition,individual topics, ranging from climate change tointellectual property rights, are given in-depthcoverage that includes opinion articles fromexpert authorities, background briefing papers,and links to key documents giving the scientificbasis of the issue being addressed.

SciDev.Net is also directly engaged directly inenhancing the capacity of science communicatorsand others (including researchers) to providereliable and authoritative information on suchissues by organising regional workshops,internships in its London office, and otheractivities.

SciDev.Net is a not-for-profit company andregistered educational charity in the UK. Toreceive a free weekly email alert listing the latestpostings on the website, available in a choice offour languages, or to post notices about jobs,events, grants and announcements distributed toover 30,000 users worldwide every week,Scholars and alumni should visit the SciDev.Netwebsite directly at www.scidev.net/sign-up

SCIDEV.NET – A S&T RESOURCE

Mun-Keat Looi,SciDev.Net's news editor,

and Talent N'gandwe,Zambian science

journalist

8 Commonwealth Scholarships News

ALUMNI IN ACTIONAlumni NewsFURTHER STUDY IN REDUCING INDUSTRIAL WASTEClement Musa Gonah was awarded aCommonwealth Scholarship to study MSc CeramicScience and Engineering at the University ofSheffield in 2003. On returning to Nigeria, he

headed the glasstechnology workin theDepartment ofIndustrial Designat Ahmadu BelloUniversity, andwas awarded theKaduna StateG o v e r n m e n t ’ sMerit Award inOctober 2005 fora research projecton the design andfabrication of amachine for glasswaste processing.

The project aimed to curb waste resulting from glassmaterials. Currently, Clement is undertaking a PhDin Chemical Engineering at Ahmadu Bello Universityin Nigeria, working on the use of composite cementsystems for resins waste immobilisation. In thisresearch, at the Centre for Energy, Research andTraining, he is applying skills and knowledge gainedfrom his time on award at the University of Sheffield.

THE FUTURE OF COAL IN BANGLADESHProfessor Rafiqul Islam held a CommonwealthFellowship at the School of Chemical, Environmentaland Mining Engineering at the University ofNottingham in 2005-2006, and carried out researchon the utilisation of coal and environmental issues.This is a very relevant issue in Bangladesh, due to therecent discovery of further coal resources. ProfessorIslam also worked on CO2 sequestration in clean coaltechnology, which would reduce coal’s contributionto global warming. He has now returned to his work

as Professor and Chairman of the Department ofApplied Chemistry and Chemical Technology at theUniversity of Dhaka, but is confident that the work heundertook will lead to future collaborative work ofbenefit to Bangladesh and beyond. Professor Islamhas also recently appeared in the US Who’s Who inScience and Engineering.

ALUMNUS CONDUCTING LIVER DISEASERESEARCHDr Brij K Sharma (Commonwealth Fellow, Dept ofMedicine, Centre for Hepatology, Royal FreeHospital School of Medicine, 2003-2004) is Head ofthe Department of Zoology at RL SahariaGovernment PG College, India. He is currentlyspending a year in the UK as a Royal Society Fellowat the Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, TissueEngineering and Modelling (STEM) at the Universityof Nottingham’s Centre for Biomolecular Science.This research is expected to make a significantcontribution to the field of liver tissue engineering,

bio-artificial liver andsubsequent use ofhepatocytes (livercells) for cell therapyin various chronicliver diseases. DrSharma was also theorganising secretaryof a nationalconference on‘Conservation andManagement ofFaunal Diversity ofRajasthan’, held in2006 at the

University of Rajasthan, India under the auspices ofthe Department of Zoology at the University ofRajasthan, the Department of Higher Education andthe Department of Science and Technology of theGovernment of Rajasthan, and the Eco-EthicsInternational Union (EEIU), Germany

RESEARCHING APPLICATIONS OFTECHNOLOGYProfessor Abhijit Mukherji (Commonwealth Scholar,PhD in Biochemical Engineering, University ofSouthampton, 1975-1979) has over 20 yearsexperience of many varied projects, includingindustrial control systems and medical electronics,research and development of specialised electro-medical instrumentation design and computer-based diagnosis, computerisation and networking inhospital projects, telemedicine, e-health, and e-commerce security. Professor Mukherji’s particularareas of interest and research include cyberneticsand man-machine interaction, speech analysis inIndian languages, applications in biometrics forspeaker identification and speech-to-textconversions, communication and controlapplications for disabled people, and alternative

technologies. He is finalising a collaborative projecton fuel cell-powered electric vehicles with theCentral Mechanical Engineering Research Institute inDurgapur, India, as well as studying technologicalinnovations for intelligent smart-card readers formedical, commercial and civilian applications. Atpresent, he is a Life Member of the BiomedicalEngineering Society of India, Institutional Member ofthe Computer Society of India, Member of the Boardof Studies of St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, andPresident of the Bharat Vikash Parishad (IndiaDevelopment Society), Durgapur.

In BriefAWARDS AND CAREER ANNOUNCEMENTSDr Pramod Godbole (Commonwealth Scholar, PhDin Civil Engineering, University of Swansea 1971-1974) has been awarded the prestigious UGCEmeritus Fellowship by the Indian Government. Dr Godbole has most recently been EmeritusProfessor at Visvesvaraya National Institute ofTechnology, following his retirement in 2000.

Dr Amru Nasrulhaq Boyce (CommonwealthFellow, University of Bristol, 1984-1985) was Head ofthe Institute of Biological Sciences at the Universityof Malaya from 2000-2006 and is currently the Deanof the Faculty of Science, University of Malaya.

Dr Harold Munnings (Commonwealth MedicalFellow, University of Bristol, 1988-1990) was made aFellow of the American College of Gastroenterologyin February 2007, and a Fellow of the Royal Collegeof Physicians in May 2007.

Professor Rafiqul Islam, former Commonwealth

Fellow, with Professor Sir Colin Campbell,Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham

Dr Brij K Sharma,Commonwealth alumnus

Clement Gonah,Commonwealth alumnus,

working on the machine that

earned him his Merit Award

Keep in touchPlease keep us informed of your news, such as significant research, new seniorappointment, major publication or nationalhonour or award. We also welcome feedback onany aspect of this publication. You can get in touch by emailingcomments@cscuk.org.uk or you can write to:Jocelyn Law,Alumni Development OfficerCommonwealth Scholarship Commission in theUnited Kingdomc/oThe Association of Commonwealth UniversitiesWoburn House, 20-24 Tavistock Square,London WC1H 9HF, UK

We appreciate all your feedback andcontributions, although it may not always bepossible for us to include all your news, due tothe amount of space available on these pages.

Professor Margaret Brimble MNZM, FRSNZ wasawarded a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1983,to study for a PhD in Chemistry at the Universityof Southampton, UK, following her studies at theUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand.

After her award, Margaret held posts at MasseyUniversity, New Zealand and the University ofSydney, Australia, as well as the University ofAuckland. She was also Visiting Professor at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA, During hercareer, she has served on a number of advisorypanels in New Zealand and internationally, and hasbeen a consultant to a number of pharmaceuticalcompanies. From 2004-2007 she was a member ofthe Academy Council of the Royal Society of NewZealand, and she served as President of theInternational Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry in2006 and 2007.

Margaret is also a Member of the New ZealandOrder of Merit (Queen’s Honour for Service toScience), was elected a Fellow of the Royal Societyof New Zealand in 2001, and was a James CookResearch Fellow in 2003-2004. She currently holdsthe Chair of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at the

University of Auckland, and is Head of MedicinalChemistry, Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Margaret’s current research is concerned with chemicallysynthesising naturally occurring compounds with thepotential to be developed into drugs for treating humandiseases. Her research focuses on shellfish toxins, harmfulchemicals produced by shellfish through ingestion ofalgae, and developing these as potential drugs for pain,epilepsy, hypertension, cancer and strokes. Working inpartnership with Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd. her researchgroup have developed two drug candidates that are inhuman clinical trials for the treatment of traumatic braininjury and Parkinson’s disease.

In recognition of the importance of her work, Margaretwas named Asia-Pacific Laureate in Materials Scienceat the L’Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science awardsin February 2007, the first New Zealander ever toreceive this Laureate. The awards, now in their tenthyear, are to recognise and encourage womenscientists, and overcome the gender gap within thefield of science. Margaret hopes that this award willstimulate further interest in science amongst women,as well as gaining further recognition for scientificexcellence in New Zealand.

January 2008 9

ALUMNI PROFILECommonwealth Scholarships provide students with scope for research that might otherwise be unavailable to them in their home country, whether developed ordeveloping. Here, two New Zealander alumni, both of whom have recently won distiguished awards, explain how their time on award has inspired them in theirfuture research endeavours.

Margaret Brimble, Commonwealth alumnus

Dr Lianne Woodward was a Commonwealth Scholar from 1988-1992,studying for a PhD in Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, University ofLondon, UK.

During her undergraduate and MA studies at the University of Canterbury, NewZealand, Lianne developed a keen interest in working with children and, inparticular, with children at risk and children with special needs. At the time,opportunities for this kind of training, especially involving research, were verylimited in New Zealand, and so she applied for a Commonwealth Scholarshipto study at the Institute of Psychiatry in the UK.

Lianne felt well looked after by the Commission during her time in the UK, andfound living and studying in London an amazing experience. On returning toNew Zealand, she lived and worked in Dunedin and Auckland for nearly sixyears before returning to her hometown of Christchurch. For ten years sheworked as a research fellow on the Dunedin and then the Christchurchlongitudinal study before taking up a tenured academic position at theUniversity of Canterbury. She became Associate Professor, in DevelopmentalPsychology, in the Department of Psychology in 2005.

During her time at Canterbury, she has established the Canterbury ChildDevelopment Research Group (CCDRG), which provides an umbrella for aseries of multidisciplinary studies concerned with early developmental risk,brain development, parenting, and parent-child relations. The CCDRG’s currentresearch projects are concerned with the neurological and developmental, andthe neuropsychological, impacts of being born very preterm, the effects ofprenatal drug exposure, and intergenerational cycles of family psychosocialdisadvantage.

In 2006, Lianne was awarded the Liley Medal for Health Research for her workin predicting neurodevelopmental risk in children born very premature,published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The prestigious Liley Medalis awarded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) andrecognises an individual whose research has made an outstanding contributionto the health and medical sciences.

In addition to the projects she is currently working on, to which she is stronglycommitted and believes will help make a difference to the lives of manychildren, she is also pleased that the new research group offers opportunitiesfor postgraduate research that did not exist during her time at Canterbury.

Lianne Woodward, Commonwealth alumnus

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10 Commonwealth Scholarships News

The Commonwealth ScholarshipCommission launched the newScience and Technology Network inDecember with an event for currentCommonwealth Scholars and Fellowsat Cumberland Lodge in GreatWindsor Park, UK. Focussing on theissue of ‘Science and technology:increasing the benefit to widersociety’, the conference offered awardholders an opportunity to cometogether to debate vital issues and todevelop academic networks.

Commissioners Dr MonicaDarnbrough and Professor DavidJohns opened the event with anoverview of current issues in British science and technology policy. The importanceof attracting young people to the hard sciences, measuring the outcomes ofresearch and encouraging knowledge transfer partnerships were all introduced asissues to be considered.

Over the course of the weekend, various Scholars offered presentations whichexplained the benefits of their research beyond the scientific community. In manycases, their studies were shown to have societal impact, both in their nationaleconomies and in terms of the Millennium Development Goals. Participants werekeen to show how their work could benefit their home country, and to encouragescientists to share their research and create international networks.

The need to communicate research effectively was identified and Peter Reader,Director of Marketing and Communication at the University of Bath, UK, was onhand to provide an insight into the world of public relations, explaining whyscientists and technologists should share their research with the media, how best togo about doing so and what challenges they may face.

Questions regarding research funding and knowledge transfer were central to theevent. A particular highlight was a presentation by Professor David Delpy, ExecutiveDirector of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, whichexamined how research councils work and what criteria are used to set theirpriorities. Ideas on how to measure the impact of research were raised with thedevelopment of human capital, industry benefits, governmental policy changes andquality of life outcomes all discussed as possible gauges.

The needs of scientists and technologists were also examined. A particularly livelydebate entitled ‘What I would do if I were Minister for Science’ saw threeCommonwealth Fellows campaigning for votes from the other participants for theirscience and technology policy ideas. Would-be ministers put forward policiesincluding financial investment by both government and industry, the use of localresources to develop technology appropriate to the national context, andencouraging collaboration between professional bodies. However, by far the mostpopular ideas involved investing in and recognising the contributions of science;sustainability of research funding, development of scientific education and offeringgreater freedom to explore new ideas were proposed.

In closing, Dr Darnbrough investigated how the newly launched Network could betaken forward to benefit its members. She proposed that the greatest value to behad was in the contacts the Network could provide amongst alumni and currentaward holders. It was proposed that it could be a forum for advice, enabling

individuals to disseminate knowledge regarding their research and institutions, todevelop collaborations internationally and to share information on fundingopportunities. Ensuring award holders and alumni sign up and contribute to thenewsletters was identified as being vital to its success.

The conference gave award holders the opportunity to step back from their researchand reflect on how to measure its value and communicate this with the widersociety. It is hoped that the Science and Technology Network will continue to offera forum to debate these vital issues.

AWARD HOLDERS’ VIEWS

Quin Wills – Commonwealth Scholar, University of Oxford

“The Cumberland Lodge weekend provided a rare opportunity to meetspecifically with Commonwealth scientists who are out in the UK, advancingtheir research. I believe that I speak for many who attended the weekend

when I say that it is a personally rewarding experience to spend some time with agroup of individuals facing common issues, and who are truly passionate aboutthe role they would like to play in science. That, combined with the extremelyknowledgeable input from the Commissioners, definitely gave me a few points tothink about after the weekend. My personal highlight was the ample time madeavailable to network, share and argue over issues from basic science to sciencepolicy with fellow scholars.

Dr Anshu – Commonwealth Fellow, Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

“The event at Cumberland Lodge was a chance for Commonwealth Scholarsand Fellows of varied disciplines to interact and share their thoughts. Led byour Commissioners, Professor David Johns and Dr Monica Darnbrough, we

discussed the impact of scientific research, the issues of funding and the challengeof sharing our excitement of scientific discovery with the layperson through themedia. The event was an opportunity to widen our horizons as we got a chanceto look beyond our own narrow specialities. Talking to the other participants gaveus an insight into the fact that the issues we faced were quite similar and how smallthe world is. The viewpoints exchanged and the resources shared through thisforum will make looking ahead in our careers a lot easier. I carried back in myheart memorable moments of camaraderie shared with new friends made fromall over the globe.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: INCREASING THE BENEFIT TO WIDER SOCIETY

Participants at the Science and Technology Network launch event, Cumberland Lodge, December 2007

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January 2008 11

Our latest country report, looking atthe work of the CommonwealthScholarship and Fellowship Planinternationally, focuses on Uganda,which recently hosted theCommonwealth Heads ofGovernment Meeting (CHOGM) inKampala in November 2007.

Uganda is a landlocked country in EastAfrica containing several large inlandlakes, including Lake Victoria, theworld’s second largest freshwater lake.

Since 1960, the CommonwealthScholarship Commission in the UK (CSC) hasawarded around 400 Scholarships andFellowships to Ugandans, across a wide range offields of study. Most applicants obtain informationand make applications through the nominatingagency in Uganda, the Central ScholarshipCommittee at the Ministry of Education andSports. For Scholarships for academic staff and forAcademic Fellowships, applicants are nominatedby certain Ugandan universities. In addition, the1960s saw a handful of Scholarships awarded toUK citizens to study at Makerere University,Uganda.

The CSC recently published a report looking at thecareer paths of Ugandans who have heldCommonwealth Scholarships or Fellowships inthe United Kingdom since the inception of thescheme. It draws on evidence from 45% of the296 individuals to have completed their awards –an exceptionally high trace rate for a survey of thisnature.

This report – which forms the basis of the first in aseries of country studies to be published by the CSC

– was published tocoincide with theCommonwealth Headsof Government Meeting(CHOGM) held inKampala in November2007. CHOGM is heldevery two years, and‘brings togetherCommonwealth leaders to discuss global andCommonwealth issues, and to agree upon collectivepolicies and initiatives’ (www.chogm2007.ug).

Strong evidence that international scholarshipholders return to their home country, and reachpositions of seniority that influence futuredevelopment, emerged from the report. Of the134 individuals traced, 114 (85%) were stillworking in Uganda. Just over half of those forwhom data was available were working ineducation, with a particular concentration inhigher education. Other concentrations werefound in public administration, health and socialwork. 99% had reached the level of professionals,managers, senior officials or legislators. Of those

not working in Uganda, several wereworking in other developing countriesor for international organisations witha strong development focus.

ALUMNI PROFILES‘Currently, I am the NationalInformation Officer, UN Officer for theCoordination of HumanitarianAffairs.…being on the CommonwealthScholarship scheme opened doors forme and enabled me to contribute inmany ways to the development ofUganda. I think that the scholarship

scheme is one of the greatest things that everhappened to Uganda and it should continue, sothat it supports many other citizens of Uganda toacquire the necessary education and skills toenable them to contribute to nationaldevelopment.’ – Lydia Mirembe, CommonwealthScholar, MA in International Communications,University of Leeds, 2003

Hon Justice Prof George Wilson Kanyeihamba(Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholar, PhD inLaw, University of Warwick, 1974) has served in allthree branches of government as Cabinet Minister,Member of Parliament and Judge of the Courts ofJudicature. He has been Minister of Commerce,Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Uganda,and a Member of Parliament for over ten years. Hecurrently holds positions as Justice of the SupremeCourt, Chairman of the Committee onConstitutional Review, Chancellor of KampalaInternational University, Chancellor of KabaleUniversity, and Judge at the African Court onHuman and People’s Rights. He was also afounding member of the Faculty of Law atMakerere University.

‘During my award, I carried out socialanthropological doctoral research on an area ineastern Kampala, describing city life amongrelatively new migrants. The research was the basisof a PhD and also published in revised form as abook, Neighbours and Nationals in an African CityWard… On returning to the UK, I took up a post aslecturer in social anthropology at the School ofOriental and African Studies, University of London,where I became Professor of African Anthropologyin 1981. I became Professor of Social Anthropologyat the University of Oxford in 1996, the post whichI currently hold. I can only say that theCommonwealth Scholarship was invaluable as abasis for my career and I shall always remaingrateful to those who awarded it.’ – Dr DavidParkin, Commonwealth Scholar (Outward), SocialAnthropology, Uganda, 1962Sunset on Lake Victoria

Current Ugandan Scholars at the 2007 Welcome Day

COUNTRY PROFILE – UGANDA

The Commonwealth Scholarship and FellowshipPlan (CSFP) is one of the oldest and most prestigiousschemes of its kind in the world. It was establishedat the first Conference of Commonwealth EducationMinisters in 1959. Since, over 24,000 individualshave held awards, hosted by over twenty countries.

From the outset, the United Kingdom has been thelargest single contributor, and over half of theawards have been held here. CSFP awards in theUnited Kingdom are managed by theCommonwealth Scholarship Commission, a publicbody established by Act of Parliament. Twogovernment departments fund the Commission: theDepartment for International Development, whichsupports awards to developing Commonwealthcountries, and the Foreign and CommonwealthOffice, which supports awards to the remainder ofthe Commonwealth.

Day-to-day administration of the Commission ishandled by its Secretariat, which is based at theAssociation of Commonwealth Universities. TheBritish Council handles welfare and financialadministration, and provides pre-departure advicethrough its local offices.

At present, the Commission offers six discrete typesof award:

• General Scholarships• Academic Staff Scholarships• Academic Fellowships• Split-Site Scholarships• Professional Fellowships• Distance Learning Scholarships

Further details of current provision and selectionprocedures can be found on the CSC website atwww.cscuk.org.uk

We hope that you have enjoyed this edition of CommonwealthScholarships News. If you have any feedback, or you have asuggestion for a future article (indeed you may be interested inwriting one yourself!) please get in touch with the Editorial Team at:

comments@cscuk.org.uk

Commonwealth Scholarships NewsCommonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdomc/o The Association of Commonwealth UniversitiesWoburn House20-24 Tavistock SquareLondonWC1H 9HFUK

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