Nigerian research partnership

Prof. Mur being interviewed by Nigerian Television after his keynote speech

Prof. Mur being interviewed by Nigerian Television after his keynote speech

17 December 2014

A keynote speech on Working towards improving food security and health in Africa, resulted in significant coverage on Nigerian TV and radio recently.

The speech was delivered by Professor Luis Mur from IBERS and stressed how a new partnership with Aberystwyth University could help in meeting the challenges experienced by the emerging Nigerian economy.

Prof. Luis A. J. Mur was visiting the Federal Polytechnic of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria with whom Aberystwyth University signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August of this year.

A joint programme is already in progress focusing on developing Sorghum – an important tropical cereal – in areas of southern Nigeria where this is rarely grown. The project is proving to be highly successful and will be extended so that it will eventually improve the year-round supply of this new food source in this part of Nigeria.

His visit aimed to align key research areas between the two institutes with a particular focus on the research undertaken by the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Science (IBERS).

Prof Luis Mur said “I have been greatly impressed by the abilities and the enthusiasm of the Nigerian scientists that I have met. There is clearly a lot that we could learn from each other.

The partnership with IBERS will enable the pooling of resources and expertise so that projects can be established to provide solutions to problems of global importance – ensuring a good food supply and a healthy population”.

In his lecture, Prof. Mur underlined several further new collaborative research projects, including:

  • Schistosomiasis, the parasitic disease which is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, and will involve Professor Karl Hoffman and Dr Iain Chalmers.
  • Research into mapping Malaria which is being led by Professor Chris Thomas and Dr Donall Cross
  • Identifying potential drug leads from traditional Nigerian medicine led by Dr Ifat Parveen.

The Rector of the Federal Polytechnic of Ado-Ekiti Rector Dr. Theresa Taiwo Akande added “We are immensely pleased to be working with Aberystwyth University and value the contributions that they can make to our research.  In the little time since we have signed our Memorandum of Understanding we have already made great progress in designing new programmes and identifying topics for further development.  We are looking forward to great things in the future!”