WASCAL, NASA school West African climate students
West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), a large-scale research-focused climate service organisation, has organised a 12-day capacity-building workshop on interdisciplinary remote sensing, modelling, and validation of environmental processes for students studying climate-related courses in West Africa.
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The workshop, held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), was in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the University of Missouri – Kansas City of the USA.
In a welcome address, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Rev. Professor Charles Ansah, expressed the excitement of the university’s management about the introduction of the WASCAL PhD programme in Climate Change and Land Use (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany} in the university. He noted that the training workshop was very useful as it would train the next generation of scientists, enhance their knowledge and stimulate research interests in space science.
It is a delight
“As a university, we welcome the initiative by the German Government, NASA and the University of Missouri – Kansas City to support the training of Africans to solve Africa’s challenges especially on issues relating to climate science, with particular focus on Remote Sensing Climate Modelling,” Rev. Prof. Ansah stated.
A scientist of NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Dr Charles Ichoku, expressed delight about the workshop and said its outcome was going to contribute immensely towards West Africa’s development.
The Director for Capacity Building at WASCAL, Professor Janet Adelega, traced the history of the WASCAL-NASA collaboration and explained that the workshop was aimed at building the capacity of early career scientists on remote sensing and modelling of climate data in West Africa.
The workshop, sponsored by the International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and WASCAL, with supplementary funding support from African Development Bank (AfDB), aimed at equipping students with knowledge in space-based interdisciplinary remote sensing and modelling, which is in its infancy in West Africa.
Over all, nine lecturers from NASA and other Institutions in Europe and West Africa, and 30 early career scientists from WASCAL Doctoral Schools in West Africa, postgraduate students and academic faculty participated in the workshop.
