With an ageing professoriate and a missing middle of PhD qualified staff in African universities, investing in the next generation of researchers in Africa is becoming ever more critical. Not only is this vital to ensure the health of research in Africa, but the benefits to the UK research community of engaging with a revitalised African research base are obvious.

Foundations for the Future: Supporting the early careers of African Researchers seeks to explore these issues, offering an analysis of the challenges facing early career researchers in African universities, and setting out mechanisms through which these challenges might be addressed. It forms part of the Nairobi Process, a series of actions and initiatives which have developed in response to, or are aligned to, the key findings of The Nairobi Report, published by the British Academy and the ACU in 2009 with the aim of exploring how research in the humanities and social sciences in Africa might be rejuvenated.

The Foundations for the Future report was launched at the British Academy on Monday 27 February 2012. A panel of experts gave their responses to the report and key early career issues in general, before engaging with questions and discussion from the floor.

Foundations for the Future

The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. We mobilise these disciplines to understand the world and shape a brighter future. ​

From artificial intelligence to climate change, from building prosperity to improving well-being – today’s complex challenges can only be resolved by deepening our insight into people, cultures and societies.​

We invest in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas, ​engage the public with fresh thinking and debates, and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy for ​the benefit of everyone. ​