In Sub-Saharan Africa, insufficient research infrastructure is still a major impediment to the advancement of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This can be attributed to inadequate research funding, limited technical capacity, low prioritization of STEM as well as a weak policy framework to support research. Africa Open Science Hardware (AfricaOSH) is a pan-African community of makers, researchers, and educators who are dedicated to advancing open science and hardware across the continent. Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, AfricaOSH was established in 2016 as a response to the need for more inclusive and accessible approaches to science and technology in Africa.
Through their deep engagement with the Ghanaian research community, the AfricaOSH team learnt that accessing high-performance microscopy is a challenge for most institutions of higher education due to the high upfront and maintenance costs associated with the equipment, coupled with exorbitant shipping costs. This presents a significant challenge for many local clinics and laboratories, and particularly affects students who rely on such microscopes as an essential tool for their learning, research, and acquisition of practical knowledge.
AfricaOSH’s Solution
As a solution to the challenge, the AfricaOSH team offers training workshops on the use of the OpenFlexure microscope to students at Ghanaian universities. The OpenFlexure Microscope is an open-source, 3D-printed, and fully automated laboratory microscope that was jointly developed by teams at the University of Bath and the University of Cambridge. Since its launch, its use has spread to over 50 countries due to its high level of customization, offering various options such as trans- and epi-illumination, polarization contrast imaging, and epi-fluorescence imaging. Designed to facilitate local manufacturing and maintenance, the OpenFlexure Microscope significantly enhances accessibility by reducing costs. Given its affordability and accessibility, the AfricaOSH team chose the OpenFlexure Microscope as the preferred microscope for its capacity-building workshops.
Support from IOI’s Open Infrastructure Fund
AfricaOSH received financial support from IOI’s Open Infrastructure Fund to conduct further OpenFlexure microscope training workshops at three Ghanaian Universities in 2024. The Open Infrastructure Fund aimed to provide catalytic funding for open infrastructure projects with a specific focus on three areas — capacity building, strengthening community governance, and critical shared infrastructure. 60% of the total funding available was reserved for individuals and organizations in Low- and Middle-Income Economies (LMIEs) and/or services that are widely adopted by communities in LMIEs.
Implementation and Impact
Between January and May 2024, the AfricaOSH team trained 93 students from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Garden City University, and the University of Energy and Natural Resources, 33 more than what they had aimed to train, demonstrating the overwhelming interest in the training.
"The impact of the training goes beyond the impact on the 90+ students who were directly trained. Those who attended the training shared knowledge with interested students who could not join the workshops. At Kwame Nkrumah University, some students who completed the training voluntarily supported their student scientific council’s research as part of a science competition. They won third place and received funding to build additional OpenFlexure microscopes. Beyond the academic setting, the increased awareness and use of the OpenFlexure Microscope is also helping the development of makerspaces and Biolabs which can 3D print certain components, and all this enhances the technical expertise of the country," said Samuel Duah Boadu, AfricaOSH Executive Manager.
Institutions also supported and endorsed the workshops. Due to the delay in shipping OpenFlexure microscope components from the UK to Ghana, some of the training had to be delayed. However, some universities offered to host students on Campus beyond the end of the academic year so that they could benefit from the training, and covered the extra food and accommodation costs. This was a great gesture of good faith that is also a testament to the level of interest and buy-in from the universities. Students had also expressed interest in taking these trainings to other universities in Ghana and the broader region.
"This training is essential because our students were introduced to new technologies they had never experienced before and were able to gain hands-on experience. As an institution, we appreciate AfricaOSH for including us in the training considering that we are a private university, and we encourage other universities to also embrace this particular technology because of its adaptability and cost-effectiveness, which are critical for our context in Africa," remarked Dr Yeboah Marfo, head of the Medical Laboratory and Technology, Garden City University.
Lessons Learnt
- The need for policy change to facilitate the acquisition of science equipment and infrastructure. One of the significant challenges encountered in this project was the excessive bureaucratic procedures in importing research equipment. This underscores the opportunity for collective action in advancing legislative changes that could provide tax breaks, exemptions, or reduced tax rates for products intended for research.
- Establishing a good communication line with key stakeholders is essential to the success of a project. At the start of the project, the AfricaOSH team intended to meet with the universities virtually. Still, once they saw the challenge of confirming these meetings, they decided to go in person. This was very important because they developed relationships that would prove valuable in the project implementation. A good example is Garden City University, which was willing to help students stay in school beyond the anticipated timeline due to the delays caused by the shipping challenge. This meant the University had to provide food and accommodation for the students during the holiday period, and this was a good gesture of cooperation.
- The AfricaOSH team successfully navigated project challenges with critical support from aligned partners like Kumasi Hive and Open Bioeconomy Lab. Their unwavering dedication and adaptability were critical to the project's success.
- Contingency plans are important. The AfricaOSH team's project design lacked contingency provisions for challenges that could cause delays in project execution, such as staff turnover and shipping and fund transfer issues. This experience underscores the importance of incorporating buffer time and resources in future projects, ensuring flexibility and adaptability in the face of unforeseen challenges.
The Way Forward
Looking ahead, AfricaOSH plans to extend the training to additional universities in Ghana but also to other countries on the continent. "Even in Ghana, we are still scratching the surface — there are so many institutions beyond the three universities we can impact. At the same time, we’re seeing interest in us offering the training beyond Ghana — there was at least one non-Ghanaian student in each of the sessions we conducted in this project. Considering resource constraints, it will be most logical for us to start in West Africa, for example in Nigeria and Gambia, where we already have community members who own makerspaces and can easily replicate the format we used. We are planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign soon, but additional assistance is also welcome," says Samuel Duah, AfricaOSH Executive Manager.
"Prior to the training, I had never heard of the OpenFlexure Microscope and this training has really given me very good insights and skills into how microscopes are built and used. The practical nature of the training made it easy to learn," explained Ooreofeluwa Victoria, third-year student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, "As a Nigerian doing the training in Ghana, it would be valuable to have this training offered within the Nigerian context, where such expertise and training are not available at the moment."
Based on the success of the project, AfricaOSH is also looking at offering training based on other open hardware in other fields of science that may be beneficial to the research community in Africa, for example, a colourimeter or an incubator used in culturing bacteria and analysing their growth, or a gel electrophoresis machine used to visualize polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results.
Social media image by Inés Álvarez Fdez on Unsplash.