Episode Tendai Muronzi

“My two-month exchange at the University of Bern has helped me to attain outputs that I have taken back to South Africa and also an insight into what it means to do research outside Africa.”

Recording date: 17.09.2025

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor.

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Portland Kora Project-May 2017. Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Originating from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Tendai is a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Unit in Bioinformatics at Rhodes University, South Africa, which is part of the ARUA-The Guild Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE). She holds a PhD in Bioinformatics and specialises in drug discovery and protein–protein interactions, with a focus on elucidating mechanisms of pathogenicity and identifying therapeutic targets for malaria, rare diseases, and neglected tropical diseases. Her research is grounded in structural bioinformatics, encompassing mutational analysis, homology modelling, protein network analysis, and molecular dynamics simulations, with an interest in membrane protein systems.
In 2025, she undertook a two-month research exchange facilitated by the CoRE Genomics for Health in Africa (GHA) at the University of Bern, Institute of Cell Biology, under Prof. Dr Carmen Faso, where she received hands-on training in protein purification for malarial drug discovery. During her visit, she shared insights into her research work and reflected on her scientific experience in Bern. She regards this exchange as a fruitful and formative step in her career and remains strongly committed to continuous learning, viewing scientific development as a lifelong process.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Episode Tevodai Mambai

Recording date: 10.07.2025

Language: French

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Ethnic, by Sneaky Club; Village, by Sneaky Club. Free Music Archive.

Tevodai Mambai was borned at Mokolo, in Camerun and arrived in Bern in 2022. He has been pursuing his PhD research at the University of Bern at the Institute of Germanic Languages and Literatures.

He studied German language and literature, education and didactics at the University of Yaoundé and worked for several years as a secondary school teacher of German as a foreign language in Maroua, Cameroon. He completed his master's degree at the University of Maroua with a thesis on the modernization and Christianization of the mountain people of northern Cameroon based on the travelogues of the Swiss travel writer and filmmaker René Gardi. He examines how mountain dwellers in North Cameroon and North-East Nigeria were depicted in Swiss and German-language travel and mission reports from 1940 until 1990.

There is extensive information about his research in this article by UniAktuelle: https://www.uniaktuell.unibe.ch/2024/berner_reisende_afrika_essay_tevodai/index_eng.html

He feels that African researchers like him have new insights to contribute to the University’s landscape; “we have our own opinions, experiences, beliefs and way of doing things”.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Recording date: 02.07.2025.

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor.

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania. ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Free Music Archive.

Pooja Singh – “The time is right for capacity building in Africa so we can take control of our scientific landscape

Pooja Singh is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Bern, where she works on the genomics of cichlid populations and speciation. She is an evolutionary biologist from Botswana, living and working in Bern for the past four years. Growing up surrounded by nature in Botswana inspired her to become a biologist and to explore how wildlife systems function.

She feels strongly about representing Africa as a scientist. For her, being an African woman in science is deeply meaningful, precisely because there are still so few. She suggested that Initiative Afrique could support African PhD students and postdocs in navigating the European and Swiss academic environment, as well as the funding landscape. “We need to create longer-term and permanent positions for African leaders at the University, because there are literally only a handful…”

She would like to play a larger role in promoting equitable research partnerships between Africa and the University of Bern.

More info about her research here.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Recording date: 09.10.2024

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Giacomo Forte, "Nairobi"; Blue Dot Sessions, "Dirtbike lovers"; Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré, "Tamala". Free Music Archive.

Mike Mwanga arrived in Bern a year ago to pursue a PhD in the Experimental Virology group at the Institute for Infectious Diseases. Originally from Kilifi, Kenya, he was trained as a bioinformatician in his home country and developed a strong fascination for using computational methods to understand genetic data. His biggest challenge in Bern has been overcoming the language barrier. Mike believes his role as an African scientist is to serve as a bridge, fostering connections between his home country and Switzerland, especially within his field of expertise. He is part of the Genomics for Public Health Initiative, one of the Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE) launched by The Guild and the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA). In 2023, these two organizations jointly launched 20 Africa-Europe CoREs. Mike has proposed that Initiative Afrique could establish exchange programs to allow Swiss students to study at African institutions and vice versa. What he misses most about Kenya is his family and the food.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Episode Cecilia Olima

Recording date: 15.11.2024

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania. ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Rocky Marsiano, "Munana"; Ketsa, "No clouds"; Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré, "Tamaya". Free Music Archive.

Cecilia Olima arrived in Bern 3 years ago to pursue a PhD in the Integrative Biodiversity and Conservation Science research team at The Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern. She holds a master's degree in Plant Ecology from Kenyatta University. Her master's project focused on assessing coastal protection and harvested goods provided by the mangrove forest in Mida creek, Kenya. She is passionate about the sustainable use of ecosystems and raising awareness among different stakeholder groups regarding environmental issues and possible ways to solve them. She would like to be a role model to African girls and women, giving them an example of the fact that one can still achieve their dream, even if you decide to have a family. It is never too late to go to school.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Gender studies and women’s welfare in global south cities

Philipa Birago Akuoko arrived in Bern to pursue a PhD at the Institute of Geography two years ago from Kumasi, Ghana. She is an urban development researcher focusing on spatial planning and informal economy through predominantly qualitative case studies and mixed-method approaches. Her interest also covers gender studies and women’s welfare in global south cities. Her biggest challenge at the University of Bern has been living alone without her infants and family, “fighting loneliness” every day. On the positive side, what she values most is the swiss canton’s uniqueness, the fact that each one has its identity and iconic image. She feels that one of her roles as an African researcher is to show other people what an African is; as an African woman, her role is to highlight misconceptions. She explained to us how important community building is for Africans and how much Africans love the idea of identifying with others. She suggested that Initiative Afrique could promote more social activities, such as a monthly lunch to share different cultures in a more informal environment. When asked about how to improve research collaborations south-north Philipa mentioned that Swiss researchers could benefit from the local environment, by getting in contact with researchers in Ghana through research stays.

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania. ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Crowander, "Afronauts"; Blue Dot Sessions, "Dirtbike lovers"; Blue Dot Sessions, "Around plastic card tables". Free Music Archive.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Samuel Agyekum is a PhD student at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern. He holds an MSc in Urban Environmental Management (Land Use Planning) from the Wageningen University and Research (The Netherlands). He arrived in Bern one year and a half ago after pursuing his bachelor's at Copenhagen as an Erasmus student and an MSc in The Netherlands. He was born in Kumasi, one of the largest cities in Ghana, and one of the few anglophone countries in the region. He feels that as an African scientist at the University of Bern, he has an epistemic responsibility to transmit true claims about his domain of research between Africa and Europe while at the same time, he has a social responsibility to align his research towards “desirable” ends and democratically held values. He reminds us of a Ghanaian proverb about promoting exchanges among UniBe and African institutions: “The path paver is not always aware that his back is crooked”, so you often need people by your side or behind you to steer collaborative processes. Inviting scholars from Africa to share their knowledge about how things work in their countries is one of the steps to achieving this collaboration. He thinks that Initiative Afrique is a good starting point as a platform where African researchers can discuss about common issues, always keeping in mind that “we should not be in a bubble”.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.

Episode 6. Prof. Zerihun Tadele

Recording date: 07.08.2024

Moderator: Hugues Abriel. Production: Patricia Teixidor

Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA- NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania. ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Tim Taj, "Desert Mysteries"; John Bovey, "Desert Days on Earth"; "Ethiopia". Free Music Archive.

Prof. Zerihun Tadele is a group leader in Crop Breeding and Genomics at the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Bern. He has a long history as a scientist at UniBE, 21 years! He is currently working on a HORIZON project called “Booster” involving 12 countries —among which is his country of origin, Ethiopia. It aims to improve drought tolerance in both maize and teff, while simultaneously exploring the potential for transferring species-specific drought responsive features. With this project, they are connecting Africa and Europe. For him, Initiative Afrique brings assets not only to Africans but also to friends of Africa! His advice to new African students arriving in Bern is to adapt to the working conditions and be open to integrating oneself in a team.

Members of the Initiative Afrique community at the University of Bern (Switzerland) introduce themselves in a series of podcasts.