CARTA Newsletter (July-Dec 2017) CARTA NEWSLETTER July Dec 2017 | Page 9

CARTA Funders and Northern partners
A funder’s insight into the
CARTA program
By Eren Zink, representative of the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida) to CARTA.
CARTA is pleased to welcome Eren Zink to replace Maria-Teresa
Bejarano, who served for three years as the representative of the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to the
consortium. He is joining as a Research Advisor with Sida’s Research
Cooperation Unit. Dr. Eren Zink is a cultural anthropologist trained at
Uppsala University (Ph.D. 2011), the University of Cincinnati (MA 1998)
and Kenyon College (BA 1996).
He joined Uppsala University in 2007 and carried out research on the
practice of science and the production of scientific knowledge in the
fields of health, agriculture and environmental conservation. He is the
author of Hot Science, High Water (2013 NIAS Press).
Below are some of his insights about where Sida sees its role going
forward, and where he is excited for new areas of engagement.
In September 2017 I had the pleasure of attending CARTA’s Annual
Partners Forum and the Board of Management and Funders Meeting.
Both were excellent opportunities for me to get to know CARTA and to
interact with many of the people that make CARTA such an exciting
organization and initiative.
The CARTA model of strengthening research capacity appears to be a
very effective one, with CARTA students completing their training in less
than four years on average. I was particularly impressed by CARTA’s
use of Joint Advanced Seminars to strengthen students’ research skills,
facilitate interdisciplinary learning, and promote interaction amongst
different cohorts of CARTA students. CARTA’s model of PhD training,
including stipends that are sufficient ly large to enable PhD students to
dedicate significant amounts of time to their PhD research and writing
-- as well as additional support to women PhD students with infants so
that they can participate fully in CARTA seminars – is a model that Sida
and other organizations can learn from.
During the 2017-2021 period, Sida is supporting CARTA with a total of
71.1 million SEK (US$ 8.8million). In addition, Sida contributed 5.9 million
SEK (US$ 734,550) to APHRC’s demographic surveillance site in 2017. Sida
funds these activities because it is convinced that CARTA and APHRC
have identified areas for research and research capacity strengthening
that are of great importance for improving human health and wellbeing,
and for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
I foresee that one of CARTA’s immediate challenges is to secure full
funding for Cohorts 9 and 10 of the PhD training program. To achieve
this, CARTA and its existing partners must convince other funders to
join in supporting CARTA’s work, and/or convince African countries and
universities to contribute.
9
Q&A with Northern Partner Prof. Nino Künzli,
the Deputy Director Swiss Tropical and Public
Health Institute (SwissTPH) and Head of
Department of Education and Training (ET)
What are some of the
upcoming activities that
the Northern Partners
will be working on with
CARTA in 2018?
The Northern Partners
are coordinating an in-
person meeting with
CARTA leaders in Basel,
Switzerland, in June 2018,
to discuss strategies
to foster collaboration
between the CARTA
community and its partners that takes into consideration both the
growth potential of CARTA and the evolving academic environments
globally.
The Basel meeting will be critical as we map a path forward to the future
for the fruitful collaboration between northern institutions and CARTA
partners. As the chair of the Northern Partners, the Swiss Tropical and
Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and I welcome this CARTA workshop
with great excitement. Swiss TPH has long-standing collaborations
with many African institutions. Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute (IHI)
for example just celebrated 60 years of partnership with our institute.
With the University of Basel, Swiss TPH is a lead partner for the Swiss-
African Cooperation (SARECO), launched by the State Secretariat for
Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) within the framework of its
international strategy.
Where are the new opportunities to engage with CARTA going
forward?
With the steady increase of CARTA student cohorts finishing their
PhD studies, I am looking forward to in-depth discussions about the
possible role Northern Partners can play in supporting the post-doctoral
generation. It is a global phenomenon in academia that post-docs
get far less career guidance than PhD students, so this demonstrates
where CARTA can provide leadership that could be a global model in
strengthening not just PhD education, but also the post-doctoral track
for future research leaders.
Internationally competitive career paths are still characterized by a
post-doctoral experience at another academic institution. CARTA
could leverage the mobility of young researchers, among the cluster
of CARTA partners as well as additional African universities -- but also
with Northern Partners. The post-doctoral period could follow the so-
called “sandwich period”, whereby scientists work on research relevant
to their home country while spending part of their post-doctoral years
at a foreign institution. Not only will this allow young researchers to
broaden their scientific experience and knowledge, but will provide
them numerous opportunities to extend their own international
networks of collaborators. Our workshop in Basel will certainly discuss
how Northern Partners could contribute in this domain.