Welcome!
When I started doing my PhD in Kenya, I had no idea about the unique challenges I would face in building my research career in Africa.
The first and most pressing was finances. Second, was navigating my relationship with my supervisors.
As my work progressed, I started thinking about how effectively design my research and then how to share my research through journal articles and non-technical output. My challenges were not unique.
Research has shown that African students face a disproportionate number of challenges in completing their graduate studies, compared from students from other countries around the world.
These include funding, supervision, lack of equipment for lab-work, among others.
Many graduate students on the continent pursue their programs without any form of funding, meaning that they either have to maintain full-time jobs or chase short contracts to put food on the table while struggling to study.
Depending on the field of study, the jobs they are holding may be in an unrelated field, meaning that their work is not helping them build knowledge that can contribute to their projects or theses.
These challenges often lead to high drop-out rates, particularly for PhD programs.
They are also responsible for cheating and other short-cuts that some African researchers are forced to take to complete their programs and get the coveted papers that can help them advance their careers.
We hear many stories of students taking years to complete what should be a two or three year program because they lack money, time, guidance or other resources.
Meanwhile, their colleagues abroad (whether African or not) manage to complete the same programs in the prescribed time and move on to the next stage of their lives.
Africa Research Hub was created to help African students and researchers build their careers on the continent.
We do this through providing a one-stop website that provides resources that can assist African researchers.
We provide practical advice, tips, and information on how to make use of these resources based on our own experiences building research careers in Africa.
Our aim is to assist African researchers to complete their graduate programs and build solid research careers in Africa.
But most importantly, we seek to build on peer exchange and learning by connecting expert with the skills to assist African researchers build themselves as researchers.
