BRAINS mobility programme launched at Strathmore University

The Centre for Research in Therapeutic Sciences officially launched the MoBility for Research and African Integration through Health Sciences programme - BRAINS - at Strathmore University on 23 November 2022. The launch marked an important expansion of CREATES' commitment to research training: from building capacity within individual projects to creating a structured, continent-wide pathway through which students, staff, and institutions can learn from one another.

A response to an African research challenge

Africa carries a substantial share of the world's disease burden, yet many universities and research centres continue to work with limited access to specialised training, modern research platforms, and opportunities for scientists to build experience across borders. BRAINS was developed in response to that gap. Its central idea is that African health challenges require not only excellent individual researchers, but also connected institutions able to share knowledge, infrastructure, supervision, and practical experience.

The programme contributes to human-capital development while strengthening intra-African collaboration in line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063. It is designed to improve the employability and professional competence of postgraduate researchers, enhance the quality and relevance of higher education, and support the modernisation and internationalisation of African universities.

Learning across borders

BRAINS brings together six African partner universities representing different regions of the continent: Hassan II University of Casablanca in Morocco, the University of Tunis El Manar in Tunisia, the University of Ghana, Strathmore University in Kenya, Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and the Université des Sciences de la Santé de Libreville in Gabon. Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France participates as the programme's European technical partner.

Through this network, master's and doctoral researchers can undertake mobility at a partner institution rather than remaining confined to the facilities and expertise of their home university. Staff mobility complements the student programme by supporting professional development, university administration, research management, and the exchange of institutional practice. Mobility is therefore treated as more than travel: it is a research and learning method that exposes participants to different laboratories, supervisors, scientific cultures, health priorities, and ways of solving problems.

Research training built around practice

The student mobility programme is organised around three connected areas: data acquisition using contemporary high-throughput technologies, the analysis of large and complex datasets, and hands-on experience in disease-specific research. Together, these areas respond to a growing need in African health science. Generating data is no longer enough; researchers must also understand how to manage it, interpret it responsibly, and connect it with clinical or public-health questions.

The formal research experience is supplemented by short courses intended to strengthen employability and scientific communication. Areas such as grant preparation, manuscript development, and science communication help researchers turn technical work into fundable programmes, peer-reviewed knowledge, institutional improvement, and public value.

Why BRAINS belongs at CREATES

BRAINS closely reflects the model on which CREATES was founded. CREATES was established as an open, multidisciplinary platform that would not restrict scientific opportunity to one institution. Its work connects therapeutic sciences, clinical research, data, laboratory practice, mentorship, and product translation. BRAINS extends that open-platform philosophy across Africa by giving researchers access to a wider academic and scientific community.

The launch was therefore more than the beginning of a scholarship programme. It represented an investment in an African research space where skills, infrastructure, and ideas can circulate more freely; where postgraduate training is connected to real health problems; and where relationships formed during mobility can mature into lasting scientific collaborations.

For CREATES, BRAINS is part of a longer-term ambition: to prepare researchers who can work across disciplines and borders, lead relevant science, strengthen their institutions, and translate knowledge into better health outcomes for African communities.