Networking trip to Ethiopia

In October 2025, the Scientific Coordination Office (WKS) Bavaria-Africa undertook a networking trip to Ethiopia, one of the focus countries of Bavaria’s Africa strategy. The first highlight of the trip was a conference at the African Union in Addis Ababa, where the ‘European Interdisciplinary Master African Studies’ (EIMAS) celebrated its closing and at the same time the start of an alumni network. The second important event was the ‘Excellence Lab: Grant Proposal Writing for EU Funding Programmes’ at Jimma University. 

Conference of the ‘European Interdisciplinary Master African Studies’ (EIMAS) at the African Union in Addis Ababa

At this conference, the coordinators, international guests, and the four cohorts of graduates of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters programme, funded by the EU, came together at the representation of the African Union in Addis Ababa. A week full of programmes celebrated the completion of the master’s programme and, at the same time, kicked off an international alumni network. The graduating students got the opportunity to network with invited staff from international organisations and to learn about further possibilities to participate in international and interdisciplinary research and innovation projects and the global job market. 

At the round table on ‘Joint (research) projects in international and interdisciplinary academic networks’, Dr Sabrina Maurus from WKS Bavaria-Africa presented opportunities for funding and getting involved in international EU research and innovation projects. Using examples from the ‘Guidance Paper for Collaborative Actions’, she reported on how international and interdisciplinary collaborations between African and European partners can be strengthened and what can be improved on a personal as well as a structural level. Fellow speakers in this round came from the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies, the DAAD in Ethiopia and the University of Bayreuth. Overall, the event offered participants many opportunities for exchanging and networking, including with researchers at Ethiopian universities and research institutions, as well as with representatives of the African Union, of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Goethe Institute.

The ‘European Interdisciplinary Master African Studies’ (EIMAS) was coordinated at the University of Bayreuth and organised in collaboration with the University of Porto and the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne. 

Training on writing grant proposals for EU funding programmes at Jimma University

On 10 October 2025 the WKS Bavaria-Africa, in collaboration with the Bavarian Office for Africa, held a training on writing grant proposals for EU funding at Jimma University. Participants from the Institute of Health were introduced to the structure and political guidelines of EU funding programmes for research and innovation. They learned about important selection criteria and key elements of proposals and improved and practised their writing skills by drafting applications for Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ proposals, on which they received feedback. Equipped with new knowledge and skills, further collaborations and projects between Ethiopian and Bavarian partners can now be started and continued.