Our second year student of Master’s degree in Life Sciences, majoring in Health Biomedical Sciences at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) Ms. Grantina Modern Andrew under the supervision of Dr. Elingarami Sauli Nkya, has just won a competitive research grant amounting to 20,000USD from a proposal submitted to Nestle Foundation http://www.nestlefoundation.org/e/research.htm
This grant will help her accomplish research on causal relationship between Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (EED) and growth failure (stunting) in children from the Rukwa region.
Despite the fact that Rukwa region is among the big four regions in terms of food productivity in Tanzania, it has highest prevalence (56%) of stunting in the country. So, this study seeks to solve this paradox, by studying the causal relationship between stunting and EED, as another possible cause of stunting in the region, apart from the commonly known food insecurity.
Did you know that around 1.35 million people die annually due to road accidents? Students of MSc. In Embedded and Mobile Systems sponsored by Centre of Excellence for ICT in East Africa at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology has an innovative idea to solve this problem!
Three students of Embedded and Mobile Systems, sponsored by Centre of Excellence of ICT in East Africa at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) Mr. Juvenarlys Knamis, Ms. Ange Josiane Uwayisenga, and Ms. Josephine Mbandi supervised by Dr. Michael Kisangiri, a faculty member of the NM-AIST, formed a team with GIZ experts from Tanzania, Kenya and Morocco to submit an innovative solution for road safety to the GIZ Innovation Fund 2020. The innovation scored the 1 st place in the Community Voting platform among almost 100 submitted ideas. As a result, 20,000 Euro has been provided to the team for further development and testing of their innovation before it is pitched to the GIZ Management Board in December this year.
This Drowsiness Detector uses an Artificial Intelligence based technology to determine whether the driver is sleepy or drunk even before it comes to dangerous steering behavior. The technology encompasses an Infrared Camera that scans the driver’s increase in head motion.
Infrared technology provides functionality for detection in case of a driver wearing glasses and during night, which are some of the situations when most road accidents occur.
The detector will be placed in public service vehicles and not only send signals to the driver and the passengers in the vehicle, but also alert the school, public transportation authority or company. The aim is to develop an inclusive low-cost gadget to serve the community and avoid as many road accidents as possible.
The team has been directly admitted to the Accelerator and will receive professional coaching and a budget of EUR 20,000 to develop and test the idea further. Finally, it will be pitched to the.
The representative of the European-Africa-Caribbean -Pacific Liaison Committee (COLEACP), Dr. James attended the ceremony and signed the MoU virtually. Under this agreement, NM-AIST will provide expertise and laboratory facilities to add value to Horticulture sector in Tanzania. Specifically, NM-AIST will conduct critical researches, train small holder farmers and use its modern laboratory to enhance the value chain of horticultural products.
The representative of the European-Africa-Caribbean -Pacific Liaison Committee (COLEACP), Dr. James attended the ceremony and signed the MoU virtually. Under this agreement, NM-AIST will provide expertise and laboratory facilities to add value to Horticulture sector in Tanzania. Specifically, NM-AIST will conduct critical researches, train small holder farmers and use its modern laboratory to enhance the value chain of horticultural products.
The Vice Chancellor of the (NMAIST) said that, the three factories are just a beginning, more factories are expected to come out. He thanked the Inter Universities Council for East Africa (IUCEA) for providing seed fund of the Centre together with the Ministry of education Science and Technology of Tanzania which has funded top three winners who represented the NM-AIST in the National Competitions on Science, Technology and Innovation in Kiswahili Called Mashindano ya Kitaifa ya Sayansi, Technolojia and Ubunifu-MAKISATU, and that these will be the pioneers of contena factory designs at the NM-AIST.
The DVC-Academic, Research, and Innovation made it clear that NM-AIST has a lot to offer in the move towards industrialization and the arrival of contena is an important step towards practical life of our ''Motto'' of Academia for Society and Industry, and this will make a substantial contribution to the national agenda of Industrialization which. The DVC-Planing, Finance and Administration, Prof. Charles Lugomela added that the plan of NM-AIST is to make more factories of the kind, make it a cornerstone of the Industrialization Agenda of Tanzania and East Africa.
The Principle Investigator of the centre, Prof. Hulda Swai who is also the Centre Leader of Africa Centre for Research, Agricultural advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability (CREATES) expressed her heartfelt appreciations to IUCEA for the seed funding of the centre, she also thanked the Management of the NM-AIST for the support to the initiative and promises to use the opportunity to feed to the vigor goal of the NM-AIST.
