Dialogue of Continents in Research: Russia-Africa Scientific Forum at LETI

Representatives of Russia and 40 African countries will discuss the prospects of cooperation between young scientists and the academic community at the forum co-organized by LETI within the Russia-Africa Summit.

231

On 26 July, a scientific forum "Russia-Africa: Dialogue of Young Scientists" will be held before the second Russia-Africa Summit. The event will be held in a hybrid format in two stages: Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The forum is organized by St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI," the Russian Centre for Scientific Information, and the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). The initiative is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Guests from more than 40 African countries will take part in the scientific forum. The academic community of Russia will be represented by more than 20 academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, heads of leading scientific institutes and organizations.

The forum participants will explore the opportunities and prospects for interaction between young scientists and the academic community of Russia and African countries and find the most effective forms of cooperation. They will also focus on the prospects of introducing scientific and educational components into Russian and joint investment and production projects in African countries. Сareer guidance programs for African citizens studying in Russian universities will be discussed.

LETI will host youth sessions dedicated to scientific cooperation. 21 young researchers from Russia, as well as Nigeria, Burundi, Mali, Angola, and Tanzania, will present their research with prospects for international cooperation.

The Cooperation in Biomedicine section will have reports on advanced developments in medical systems and innovations in personalized diagnostics of various diseases.

Speakers in the Current Engineering Technologies section will cover a wide range of engineering topics, from an interdisciplinary approach to the conservation of African elephants in Tanzania to the simulation of solar cells based on the crystal structure of perovskite.

In the section Research in Artificial Intelligence and Information and Computer Systems Applications, speakers will talk about the use of machine learning both for solving current problems in Africa, such as forecasting energy demand, and for developing promising technologies, such as driverless cars.

RUDN University will host five sessions: "Agrotechnologies," "Medicine," "Ecology," "Prospects for Russia-Africa Cooperation in the Energy Sector," and "Social and Humanitarian Studies: a View from Russia and Africa."

There will be an exhibition of books showing the diversity of publishing activities of the Russian Centre for Scientific Information on African issues.

As part of the Russia-Africa summit, in addition to the scientific forum "Russia-Africa: Dialogue of Young Scientists," LETI will host a mentoring session "Women in STEM" on 28 July. In addition, representatives of the university will take part in the round table "Nuclear Technologies for Africa's Development" and the strategic panel "Cooperation in Higher Education," which will be held in ExpoForum.

The organizers of the Russia-Africa summit expect that the event will contribute to the development and expansion of mutually beneficial scientific ties between Russia and the countries of the African continent, marking a long-term course for a close and fruitful partnership.