Welcome to the Hub
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), on behalf of the Research and Innovation Network for Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action in Africa [RESEN-RAICAIA], in partnership with West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) and AKADEMIYA2063 invites applications for innovation research proposals from eligible researchers universities and academic research institutions in Africa.
- Emission of greenhouse gases
- Predicting climate hazards and disasters through improved climate modelling
- Assessment of impacts of climate change and adaptation practices using AI
- Climate smart agriculture
- Climate smart cities development
- Climate change, landscapes and renewable energy
- Climate change and water resources
Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa
AI4D Africa partners with data scientists and policymakers to support the home-grown development of artificial intelligence in Africa
Like the internet, artificial intelligence (AI) systems are rapidly becoming a new layer of infrastructure, with transformative potential. Fuelled by the increasing availability of computational power, improved connectivity, and big data, AI applications offer exciting possibilities for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by spurring new start ups, improving food systems, enabling higher-quality education delivery, and contributing to tackling pressing health and climate challenges.
As with any widely adopted technology — especially one as powerful and potentially pervasive as AI — the benefits come with risks that must be managed and mitigated. It can reinforce structural inequalities and bias, perpetuate gender imbalances, threaten jobs, and facilitate oppressive government surveillance. The time to write the future of AI in Africa is now, as the policies and practices put in place today will shape the benefits and harms of AI in the decades to come.
To contribute to these efforts, IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency launched the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (AI4D Africa) program in 2020. This four-year, CA$20-million partnership will seek to address the above challenges by supporting the African-led development of responsible and inclusive AI. The program will promote excellence in applied research as well as in applying AI technologies to solve development challenges and improve livelihoods for those living in poverty.
The approach
AI4D-Africa support focuses on three pillars:
- scaling proven responsible AI innovations that address Africa’s different development challenges, through the creation of four, pan-African AI4D Innovation Research Networks, and supporting innovative small-grant programs
- supporting policy research think-and-do tanks to establish responsible AI, by funding two AI4D research-to-policy think-and-do tanks in East Africa, and a policy network in West Africa, to engage in AI policy research
- academic capacity building to foster African talent and skills around AI, through the development of two multidisciplinary AI4D university labs as well as the African AI4D Scholarships Program.
Call for Innovation Research Grants on Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action
Call for proposals: AI for climate action Innovation Research projects
Launch date: May 2nd, 2022
Deadline for submission: June 30th, 2022 (17:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time)
Grant application budget should range between US$ 50,000 to US$ 60,000 and duration of up to 18 months will be considered
The initiative is part of the AI4D Africa program co-funded by IDRC and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM; www.ruforum.org), on behalf of the Research and Innovation Network for Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action in Africa [RESEN-RAICAIA], in partnership with West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL; www.wascal.org) and AKADEMIYA2063 (https://akademiya2063.org ), invites applications for innovation research proposals from eligible researchers universities and academic research institutions in Africa. The general objective of the Network is to advance climate action in Africa through the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence innovations. Specifically, the Hub aims to; i) deepen understanding of how to develop and scale responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations for climate action in sub-Saharan Africa; ii) build the capacity of eight (8) groups of African innovators and researchers to develop, deploy and scale responsible AI applications in climate action; and iii) facilitate the contribution of African research to international AI policy and practice conversations.
The Call for Proposals is aimed at competitively identifying eight (8) innovation research projects in Responsible AI for Climate Action in Africa. Funding for this Call for Proposals comes from the Artificial Intelligence for Development-Africa (AI4D) programme, a joint initiative funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
Climate variability and change remains one of the most significant challenges for Africa in the 21st century. It threatens to undo the development gains made over the last two decades and could potentially reduce the region’s capacity to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Action is required to bolster the region’s capacity to respond and urgently address the debilitating effects climate variability and change has on agricultural production, water resources, energy as well as the propagation of conflicts in the region. Deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in other regions of the world especially in the global north has proven critical because of its ability to increase adaptation and mitigation capacity and improve the precision of evidence-based decision making. This climate change AI network seeks to advance climate action in Africa through the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence innovations with respect to: (i) development and scaling of responsible AI innovations for climate action in SSA, (ii) building capacity of African innovators and researchers, and (iii) increasing the contribution of African research to international AI policy and practice. Through this network, Africa’s climate change research and innovations will be enhanced and application strengthened at various levels including the community. Women and youth that represent Africa’s greatest capital today and the future will be at the forefront of science innovations and solutions development as well as innovations deployment at various scales required in the region.
This Call seeks to competitively select innovation research proposals that deploy responsible AI for climate action with demonstrated relevance/links to national processes and livelihoods of vulnerable communities.
a) The call is open to researchers from accredited universities, public and private research institutions, with mandate and expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Climate Change research in Africa
b) Participation of an accredited university in Africa is imperative to be able to train post-graduate students in Africa
c) Research should be conducted in Africa
d) Collaborating researchers may be from government departments, local and international research centres, NGOs, private sector or other relevant institutions
e) As much as possible research teams should have equal representation of women and men. In any case, participation by women should not be less than 40%.
f) The research should be participatory and demonstrate its relevance and/or response to demand. It should have a monitoring and evaluation component, clearly highlighting the deliverables and dissemination strategy for the results of the research
g) All applications must get support letters from official university administrative offices (Principal, Dean or Head of Department).
RUFORUM, WASCAL and AKADEMIYA2063 rely on the professional expertise, experience and judgment of the independent reviewers in the Proposal review process.
| Evaluation Criterion | Weight | |
| 1. | Quality of the proposal (Background, clarity of the problem statement, the quality of research questions, clarity of methodology; Dataset quality and impact; Responsible AI/ML relevance; Climate relevance) | 35% |
| 2. | Quality and feasibility of the project pathway to impact | 10% |
| 3. | Demonstration that the innovation will be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner | 10% |
| 4. | Importance/relevance of the innovation | 5% |
| 5. | Expertise of team | 15% |
| 6. | Feasibility of the study within the time frame (18 months) and budget (between US$50,000 and US$60,000) | 10% |
| 7. | Equity (Gender balance in research team, and gender balance in student recruitment, inclusion of vulnerable community groups, etc.)) | 15% |
The winning proposal must:
a) demonstrate innovative use of existing datasets, and/or active collection and generation of new
b) be compliant with the FAIR Data Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable)
c) ensure that the dataset/simulator produced and (if applicable) trained models or detailed descriptions of architectures and training procedures are made publicly available under an open
d) All grant Intellectual Property — e.g., the dataset/simulator produced and (if applicable) trained models or detailed descriptions of architectures and training procedures — must be made publicly available under an open license
The foreseen time frame for the award process is as follows:
i. The deadline for receiving applications at RUFORUM Secretariat is June 30, 2022
ii. Administrative check / Compliance Review and feedback to applicants by July 5, 2022
iii. Review of Proposals completed by July 25, 2022
iv. Communication to Successful applicants by July 30, 2022
v. RUFORUM Secretariat sends out Grant Award letters by August 10, 2022
vi. Official commencement of project implementation August 21, 2022
