Event News: The 2nd Annual NTU Eastern Africa Centre Symposium
11–12 March 2025 - Dryden Enterprise Centre, City Campus, NTU
The NTU Eastern Africa Centre (EAC) hosted its second annual Symposium over two days in March 2025, bringing together academics, researchers, students, policymakers, and practitioners from across Eastern Africa, the UK, and beyond. The event explored themes of transformative leadership, innovation, biocultural restoration, and building resilient international partnerships.
Held at the Dryden Enterprise Centre on NTU's City Campus in Nottingham, the Symposium offered a rich programme of workshops, keynote addresses, panel discussions, and research lightning talks — culminating in an evening networking reception. Participants engaged with a diverse range of topics spanning global health, entrepreneurship, ecology, education, diplomacy, and the arts.
Programme Overview
Day One — Tuesday, 11 March 2025
| 09:30 | Arrival, Registration and Refreshments Reception Dryden Enterprise Centre |
| 10:00 | Workshop One: Eitai Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion 'EITAI' ('Community Togetherness') — a 60-minute documentary filmed in Teso, Uganda, exploring resilience, social enterprise, and community-led change. Followed by a panel discussion chaired by Jonathan Conway (EAC Coordinator). |
| 12:30 | Catered Lunch Reception, Dryden Enterprise Centre |
| 13:30 | Workshop Two: Research, Funding Opportunities & Networking A joint session with the NTU Africa Middle East Network. Sessions covered UK & EU research funding, the Turing Scheme for international mobility, and a showcase of research lightning talks by NTU academics, alumni, and student researchers. |
Day Two — Wednesday, 12 March 2025
| 09:30 | Arrival, Registration and Refreshments |
| 09:50 | Welcome & Introductions Prof Edward Peck (Vice-Chancellor), Prof Richard Emes (PVC Research & International), Prof Mazeda Hossain (EAC Director) |
| 10:10 | Keynote Addresses "Africa We Want: The Role of Transformative Leadership" — H.E. Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner of Rwanda to the UK |
| 11:00 | Panel Discussion One: Transformative Leadership and Innovation in Africa Exploring entrepreneurship, innovation, and educational leadership — including the Badilisha Project (Kenya), AfrIE Research Hub, prosthetics in South Africa, and education in conflict-affected Somalia. |
| 12:30 | Catered Lunch |
| 13:30 | Panel Discussion Two: Biocultural Restoration Merging traditional ecological knowledge and science — featuring research from the NTU ARES team in Kenya's Maasai Mara on acoustic monitoring, soil conservation, and ecosystem restoration. |
| 14:45 | Panel Discussion Three: Building Resilient International Academic Partnerships Showcasing the NTU–MAK Partnership, Global Capacity Building Programme, CwPAMS, and the Pan-African Mental Health Research Network. |
| 16:45 | Closing Remarks Prof Neil Mansfield & Prof Mazeda Hossain |
| 17:00 | EAC Networking Reception: 'Continue the Conversations' Directorate Courtroom, 50 Shakespeare Street, NTU City Campus. Informal networking, celebration of EAC research and partnerships, and exploring future collaboration opportunities. |
Keynote Speakers
His Excellency Johnston Busingye, High Commissioner of Rwanda to the United Kingdom
Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Rwanda (2013–2022), and former President of the High Court of Rwanda. H.E. Busingye delivered the keynote address "Africa We Want: The Role of Transformative Leadership."
Ambassador Bitange Ndemo, PhD, FKIM, CBS Kenya's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium
Global technocrat, champion of Pan-Africanism, and former Permanent Secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Information and Communication. His keynote addressed "Emerging Technologies and Entrepreneurial Development" in Africa.
Panel Highlights
Transformative Leadership and Innovation in Africa
This panel explored the intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation, and educational leadership. Highlights included the Badilisha Project, which creates transformative opportunities for girls and young women in Kenya; the African Innovation and Entrepreneurship (AfrIE) Research Hub; sustainable prosthetic assistance for young people in South Africa; and education delivery in active armed conflict, using Somalia as a case study.
Biocultural Restoration: Merging Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Science
The NTU ARES team presented their research agenda in Kenya, showcasing work from the Maasai Mara on passive acoustic monitoring, social-ecological approaches to savanna ecosystem restoration, soil conservation, and biocultural restoration. The panel also highlighted the EAC's PhD-at-Distance Studentships, supporting researchers based in Kenya.
Building Resilient International Academic Partnerships
This session highlighted the depth and breadth of NTU's Africa partnerships, including the NTU–Makerere University (MAK) Partnership, the Global Capacity Building Programme (GCBP), the Commonwealth Partnership for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS), and the Pan-African Mental Health Research Network (PAMHRN). The panel also covered strategies for equitable knowledge exchange and internationalisation.
Research Lightning Talks
Day One featured two sessions of five-minute research lightning talks, showcasing the breadth of NTU-connected research focused on Africa and the Middle East. Topics spanned:
- Community and partnership in Malawian social work
- Midwifery training and rural health outcomes in Liberia
- Film as a catalyst for community advocacy
- Prosthetics and orthotics in low-resource settings
- Cross-border transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in East Africa
- South African foreign policy
- Social innovation from an Afro-centric perspective in Uganda
- Antimicrobial stewardship and community participation
- Maternal mental health among displaced mothers in conflict
- Ecosystem restoration in the Maasai Mara
- Musical rhythm learning
- Gender inequalities and maternal/child healthcare in Ghana
Featured Research: The Eitai Documentary
The Symposium opened with the UK premiere screening of Eitai, an Ateso word meaning "community togetherness." The 60-minute documentary was filmed in the Teso region of North-Eastern Uganda and captures the resilience of communities facing climate challenges, poverty, and gender-based violence. It explores how social enterprises may provide economic stability and safe spaces through tree planting, music, drama, and dance.
Co-produced by celebrated Maasai filmmaker and NTU graduate Sonyanga Ole Ngais, and based on doctoral research by Dr Sally Bashford-Squires (NTU PhD graduate), the film was followed by a panel discussion drawing on perspectives from Teso, Uganda, and the UK.
About the Eastern Africa Centre Symposium
The Annual Symposium is a flagship event for the EAC, providing a platform for international knowledge exchange, partnership development, and amplifying majority-world research perspectives on global challenges.