Events
Discover upcoming gatherings, conferences, workshops, and more! Stay tuned for opportunities to connect, learn, and contribute.
Upcoming Events
Stay tuned for upcoming events!
Past Events
Dr Ivan Kroupin is a researcher at the London School of Economics whose work focuses on the role of culture in cognitive development. His research examines transitions from rural,. traditional forms of life to urban, formally-schooled contexts in Northern Namibia and Southern Angola.
This talk will contain two parts: The first will briefly summarize a broad theoretical framework in which my colleagues and I are developing a number of cross-cultural cognitive studies. Broadly, we attempt to capture cultural-cognitive variation in urban-rural shifts, with a particular focus on the effects of formal schooling. The second part of the talk will describe the current setup of our field site in Northern Namibia and Souther Angola, briefly covering our range of methods (everything from vision science to social surveys to cognitive experiments) and institutional setup (MoUs with local government and traditional authorities) and research infrastructure (sampling systems, logistical organization, working with local staff, ethical approvals). I look forward to feedback from, and exchanging best practices with, AfriBCD colleagues across both parts of the talk.
Research Talk - October 2, 2024
Urban-Rural Transitions in Namibia and Angola as Case Study for Cultural-Cognitive Change
Research Talk - June 11, 2024
A Call for Shifting from the Western to African Neuropsychology, the African Neuropsychology Battery
Dr Jean Ikanga is an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, and the School of Medicine at the Catholic University of Congo. He is also an instructor at Emory University.
In this talk, I will begin by motivating the need to create an African cognitive assessment battery, by broadly examining shared aspects of African culture that differ from Western culture. I will then introduce and provide an overview of the African Neuropsychological Battery (ANB). I will share results on the reliability and internal consistency of the ANB, and highlight its sensitivity to demographic factors, enculturation, and neuropathologies. In the final part of this talk, I will discuss linking cognitive performance on the ANB to neuroimaging metrics, and its sensitivity to discriminate biomarkers present in neurodegenerative disorders.
Research Talk - May 01, 2024
Using decolonizing methods in conducting research with underserved communities in LMICs
Dr Pamela Wadende is a Developmental Psychologist and senior lecturer at Kisii University, Kenya.
Dr Henriette Zeidler is a Research Associate at both Kisii University (Kenya) and Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).
We will present an outline of two projects that are underway in rural areas of Kenya, Zambia, and Ethiopia. The first explores using mealtimes to foster language development and improve children's nutrition, while the second involves working with older siblings to improve younger children’s school readiness skills. Both projects use a bottom-up approach to address local challenges for early childhood development: providing adequate nutrition, supporting linguistic development, and aligning school education with children’s everyday experiences. Building on existing relationships with schools and communities, we have been working with local research assistants to design suitable methods for data collection and interpretation which we will describe in our presentations. We will also highlight some challenges and opportunities we have engaged so far.
Research Talk - January 25, 2024
Observatoire Psycavi: Developing scientific knowledge regarding the psychological health of populations exposed to armed conflict
Dr Marie Chantal Ingabire is the general coordinator for the Observatoire Psycavi at Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
The Great Lakes region of Africa has been severely plagued by mass violence and armed conflicts in the last 30 years. The 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi cost the lives of approximately 1 million people. The armed conflicts in the eastern DRC led to over 6 million deaths and millions of displaced people. Exposure to such violence has adverse consequences on the affective and cognitive health of the affected population. However, psychological research in such conflict-affected contexts is limited. The Observatoire Psycavi is a partnership project that aims to identify, develop, and mobilise scientific knowledge regarding the psychological health of populations exposed to armed conflict in afflicted regions and among refugees in Canada. It brings together 14 institutions, including universities and non-academic organisations from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, France, and Canada. Its principal activities include research, training the next generation of researchers, and knowledge dissemination. The ultimate goal of Observatoire is to promote psychological research in the region, the mental well-being of the local population and sustainable peace.
Virtual Coffee Hour - December 11, 2023 9:00EST / 14:00GMT / 17:00EAT
Member Meet & Greet
Join us for a virtual, informal networking session moderated by AfriBCD Team members. All AfriBCD members are welcome to attend.
Dr David Mukunya, Senior Lecturer, Department of Community and Public Health, Busitema University (Uganda)
Over 250 million children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not fulfill their neurodevelopmental potential. This can result in poor school performance and a cycle of intergenerational poverty. Interventions delivered to children under 5-years can improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. It is therefore vital to identify factors that increase the risk of long term difficulties. There is a paucity of data on the effects of early infections as a risk for neurodevelopmental delay, thus limiting the development of timely and targeted interventions to improve outcomes. In the last decade (2009-2018), the incidence of neonatal sepsis in LMICs was 4000 cases per 100,000 live births. This number may increase with more babies being born early and infections becoming resistant to antibiotics. In addition to the high case fatality associated with neonatal sepsis, survivors may suffer from long-term neurodevelopmental delays and medical conditions, includingpost-infectious hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy, although these neurodevelopment effects are not well documented,especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This talk will present preliminary results, which compare neurodevelopment and neuroimaging findings from 3-6 months, between infants who were hospitalized for neonatal sepsis and infants who did not suffer from it.
Research Talk - November 30, 2023
Effect of Neonatal Sepsis On Neurodevelopment of Infants in Uganda (ENON): Neuroimaging Findings
Recording of this event.
Bilingual Virtual meeting - November 7, 2023 9:00EST / 14:00GMT / 17:00EAT
AfriBCD presents “How to use Teams, make a bilingual presentation, and upgrade your social media networking skills”
Taeko Bourque, PhD Candidate, Carleton University, Canada
Note: This meeting will be presented in French and English (you need only be fluent in one of these languages). It will serve as a test/template for future bilingual presentations, and we welcome any feedback you may have.
The AfriBCD Community of Practice is growing! As such, we have been working on improving the CoP experience and implementing your feedback. More specifically, we want to help members familiarize themselves with the available resources and provide a preview of upcoming changes/additions.
Our plan is to begin a series of workshops to develop skills and informal discussion sessions. This presentation will serve as a pilot workshop/discussion. As such, the first part of this presentation will be a mini workshop on Navigating Teams and Social Media Tips for Networking. The second part of the presentation will be a more informal discussion.
In-person Meeting with Virtual options - September 6, 2023
AfriBCD Knowledge Exchange Meeting 2023
Join us for the first African Brain and Cognitive Development network (AfriBCD) knowledge exchange meeting. We will bring together researchers and partners who are interested in conducting and supporting developmental research in Africa.
We will showcase work from leading experts in the areas of child and adolescent neurocognitive development and mental health, as well as representatives from organisaitions that support research and scientists in Africa.
By bringing together partners from around the world, this conference provides an opportunity for networking and collaboration. We look forward to welcoming you to the beautiful Newnham College, Cambridge, and learning about your work.
Meeting Schedule and Complete Programme
Represented organisations
Cambridge Africa: Dr Tabitha Mwangi, University of Cambridge
Cambridge Global Challenges: Dr Sara Serradas O'Holleran, University of Cambridge
Young Scientists for Africa (YoSA): Professor Clare Elwell, University College London
Speakers include (in alphabetical order)
Dr Caylee Cook, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Professor Catherine Draper, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Mr Chika Ezeugwu, University of Cambridge, UK
Professor Melissa Gladstone, University of Liverpool, UK
Professor Claire Hughes, University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Laura Katus, University of Greenwich, UK
Ms Eunice Nydareeba Murokore, Kyambogo University, Uganda
Dr Adebunmi Oyekola, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Dr Joyce Wamoyi, National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania
Patricia Kipkemoi, PhD student, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Patricia is a developmental psychologist and PhD Student in the NeuroDev Study, a collaboration with the Stanley Centre in the US, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust in Kenya and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. NeuroDev aims to characterise the genetic and phenotypic architecture of children with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and intellectual disability, in Africa. She is also a research fellow on the Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Genetics Education in Research (GINGER) Program. She will share findings from the first year of data collection of the NeuroDev project.
Find out more about Patricia's work and the NeuroDev project on their website: www.neurodevproject.org
Virtual Network Meeting - May 19, 2023
Phenotypic and Genetic Variation of Neurodevelopmental Conditions in Kenya and South Africa.
View the English Transcript
Virtual Network Meeting - February 22, 2023
Catalysing Cognition Research in Africa: A Novel Approach to Methods Development.
Dr. Anna Blumenthal, Postdoctoral Researcher, Université Laval, Canada
Dr. Caylee Cook, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
We are leading a project titled “Catalyzing Cognition Research in Africa: A novel approach to methods development.” The aim of the project is to create a Community of Practice to share ideas, methods, best practices, challenges, and data. To jumpstart the community and methods development, we recently distributed a survey asking members of our community about: the measures they use, which measures need development/what kind of development, and the other challenges they face in their research. Today we will present a summary of the survey results, provide a quick virtual tour of the virtual CoP, and tell you about our next steps (spoiler alert, selecting a subset of measures to develop & collect data at our sites, and hopefully some of yours!). We are looking forward to your feedback and discussion.
View the English Transcript