Canada-Africa Young Scholars Coalition (CAYSC)
Background: The Africa Institute Graduate Committee began a few years back as a graduate student-led committee of students who either came to Western from the continent of Africa, were Canadians of African heritage, did research within an African context or were simply interested in learning more about the continent or getting involved with the Africa Institute.
The committee’s president is currently Uche Ikenyei, a 4th year PhD student in FIMS. There is a smaller core group of graduate students who met on a semi-regular basis to plan programming that the committee could offer. They have also been very involved in broader programming of the Institute, often creating a large basis of our volunteers and sitting on different organizing committees, as well as providing student perspective to the Advisory Board.
Some programming that has been run in the past includes social gatherings, meet and greets with visiting scholars, running a seminar series, running blog competitions, and working with the Advisory Board to ensure that the Institute can better meet the needs and improve the experiences of our graduate students.
New Vision: Since January 2021, and after meeting with graduate and undergraduate students, The Africa Institute is now expanding this group to include undergraduate students, Post-doctoral Fellows and other Trainees of African heritage from across Canada and renaming it to reflect this change.
The new, expanded vision is in line with the focus adopted by the Institute recently, which emphasizes inclusive and impactful engagement both within Canada and with Africa.
The Canada - Africa Young Scholars Coalition (CAYSC) will draw its membership from beyond Western University. This coalition will not only foster and promote collaborative, interdisciplinary scholarly approaches, it will also provide a platform for centering mentorship and academic support for young African and Africanist scholars. The Africa Institute Faculty and Staff will support and work with this Young Scholars Coalition on an ongoing basis. The Africa Institute is launching a Canada-wide alumni network that will link –up with this Young Scholars Coalition, mainly for ongoing mentorship and other forms of support. Recruitment of students and scholars coming to Western – and to Canada in general, will be facilitated through these two Africa Institute programs.
Executive Committee: An executive committee of two co-chairs, a secretary, a social media lead, and all co-leads of the projects will be formed to help manage the Young Scholars Coalition with the aim of ensuring growth, continuity and sustainability of the program. This will include ongoing recruitment of members from across Canadian universities.
Volunteer Positions: The CAYSC will be run by volunteers and enrolment within Western and Universities in South Western Ontario will begin as soon as the system is in place.
Current volunteer opportunities for the Canada-Africa Young Scholars Coalition program include:
Bell-5G Project
Co-leads: Alaa Ibrahim & Sarita Addy
- There is a funding opportunity currently offered by Bell Canada and Western University that is looking for research using Bell’s 5G networks. There is no limit to the funding amount. The Africa Institute is inviting young scholars in any discipline who are interested in developing a research project around student mental health within this funding opportunity.
- The full call can be seen here: https://www.uwo.ca/research/funding/internal/BW5G.html
The CAYSC Forum
Co-leads: Ramanpreet Kaur & Maryam Oloriegbe
- In 2020 the graduate students committee envisioned the idea of inviting Western faculty and/or senior members who are of African heritage to create a panel where students could ask questions in terms of career growth, networking opportunities, words of advice and wisdom, essentially a fireside chat for students to network and chat with faculty members. This activity will now be undertaken by the Young Scholars Coalition.
- The Africa Institute is inviting volunteers from diverse disciplines to arrange this panel
- The CAYSC Forum will hold a multitude of diverse events, organized by young scholars for young scholars
The CAYSC Forums recently held a virtual event, a session titled "Introduction to Project Management: An Information Session", with the Project Management Association of Canada. Watch the playback here.
Alumni Network
Co-leads: Eunice Annan-Aggrey & Loyce Mrewa
- The Africa Institute is developing a Canada-wide alumni network of students and scholars from Africa or of African heritage that pursued their short or long-term studies at Western.
- This network will provide opportunities to create connections, explore possible careers, help in student recruitment and form a virtual community that will interact with the CAYSC, faculty and staff on a continuing basis.
- The Africa Institute is inviting volunteers to help with developing this network at Western. Volunteers will include those that enjoy working with online platforms.
The Alumni Network is now beginning to recruit members from Western University - check out the full recruitment message here
If you are interested in becoming a member and/or volunteering for any of the above positions, please send an email to africain@uwo.ca
Current Opportunities & News
