On the 21st of October the Freiburg Instititute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Germany - one of the main partners of the German Consortium that support MIASA - welcomed Professor Romain Glèlè Kakaī of the Université d’Abomey-Calavi in Cotonou (Benin), who currently serves as president of the African German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES).

The network was founded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation with the support of African Humboldtians, and has now more than 700 members. It aims at strengthening academic excellence on the African continent and increasing the visibility of African researchers among the international research community. With the help of the Federal Republic of Germany, AGNES promotes science, technology, and innovation through initiatives in research and academic education. FRIAS director and member of MIASA's executive board Professor Bernd Kortmann, Professor Andreas Mehler, director of the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute, and Germany-based MIASA coordinator Dr. Annika Hampel discussed with Professor Romain Glèlè Kakaī how the AGNES network and MIASA can work together to reach their common goals in the future, since also MIASA’s primary goal is to expand the impact of researches from sub-Saharan Africa in the humanities. With this focus, MIASA strives to reduce global asymmetries in the production and distribution of academic knowledge and to connect researchers from anglo- and francophone Africa. Especially these efforts to bridge different worlds of knowledge are shared by both organizations.

Link to FRIAS-website