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DICE collaboration in Sierra Leone
Prof. MacMillan together with Prof. Sesai, the Vice Chancellor of Njala University and his wife and Dr David Roberts In June 2010 Dr David Roberts and Prof Douglas MacMillan of DICE visited the Department of Biology, Njala University, Sierra Leone. Funded under a Delphe Award from the British Council, Dave and Douglas met with Dr Abu Sundufu, Head of Biology and Prof. Abu Sesai, the Vice Chancellor of Njala University to discuss collaboration in research and teaching activities. The DICE team also visited the world famous Tiwai Island research facility which is managed by the Department of Biology at Njala.
An important outcome of the visit was an agreement to work together to deliver a new International MSc in Biodiversity Conservation to be run by the Department of Biology at Njala based on an agreed curriculum. Over the next 2 years, with funding from the British Council, personnel from DICE will also contribute to the programme by teaching specific modules and supporting other academic activities. The links between Njala and DICE go back almost 20 years, when an initial collaboration agreement was made between Prof. Sesai and the DICE founder, Prof Ian Swingland in a railway station in Canterbury! Unfortunately those plans had to be shelved due to the outbreak of the civil war. Today, we are delighted that we are now working together again to support biodiversity conservation in West Africa. To further enhance our collaborative efforts, we are very pleased to award an MSc Scholarship for 2010-2011 to a new member of the Biology Department at Njala University, Mr Thomas Kamara. The scholarship is funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation |
