Researchers working in Africa in any field—from social science to hydrology to epidemiology—need data to be able to develop and guide best practices and produce actionable scholarly results. Speakers will discuss the data challenges they face in their research in Africa and their strategies to surmount them. Examples could include challenges collecting data (scarcity of samples, cultural barriers, physical logistics), managing data (digital infrastructure), communicating the value or implications of data to stakeholders, and more. Speakers will also discuss some opportunities that they have made use of (serendipitously or intentionally) to collect data, such as crowdsourcing, pairing data capture with other unrelated activities, digital games, etc. By sharing best practices and notable “worst practices” in data collection, analysis, management, the series aims to foster a community of practice at Ohio State that would benefit those working in Africa and in other international settings.  

This series is a continued collaboration between CAS, the Global Water Institute and the Global One Health Initiative.  All sessions are held in Enarson Classroom Building 160, and free and open to the public. 

January 17

Rudy Hightower (Glenn College of Public Affairs)
“Building Capacity in System Dynamics in Africa: the Mandela Washington Fellowship Experience”

January 31

Sui Chian Phang (Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology)
“Cooperation and Collaboration to Meet Challenges of Research in a ‘no-go’ Zone”

February 7 
University of Maroua, Cameroon
To be confirmed

February 21
Jan Pierskalla (Political Science)
“Re-Constructing the Colonial State: Experiences with Archival Field Research in Namibia”

March 7
Leah Bevis (Agricultural Environmental and Development Economics)      
“Household Surveys for Interdisciplinary Research: Challenges of Multidimensional Data Collection”

April 4
Nicole Kraft (Communications)
title pending

April 11
Shu-Hua Wang (Division of Infectious Disease/Department of Internal Medicine)
“Tuberculosis Research in Humans and Cattle in Ethiopia”

April 18
Sally Miller (Department of Plant Pathology, OARDC)
“Developing integrated strategies to manage diseases of vegetable crops in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia”