In the first 6 months of the project, workshops were held at the Lancaster University Ghana campus for each of the four substantive research workpackages (WP1-4) and the cross-cutting Knowledge Exchange and Engagement theme. Research teams from all Phase 1 partners (Lancaster University, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (Ghana), University of Benin (Nigeria) and Lancaster University Ghana) were joined by other staff from these institutions and individuals from their communities of research users. The workshops addressed the challenges of co-designing and co-creating solution-focussed research to address Africa’s needs around a circular water economy.

In the second year of the project, two of the workshops (Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Knowledge Exchange & Engagement) were repeated with most of the participants nominated from our Phase 2 partners: African Technology Policy Studies Network (Kenya); Botswana International University of Science & Technology (Botswana); The Copperbelt University (Zambia) and National Commission for Science & Technology (Malawi). These were held in Lilongwe, Malawi (in collaboration with NCST) and Kitwe, Zambia (in collaboration with The Copperbelt University).

In the third year these workshops will be run in Gaborone, Botswana (in collaboration with BIUST) and Nairobi, Kenya (in collaboration with ATPS).

An additional workshop was staged in Accra, Ghana in February 2019. The  Stimulating Entrepreneurial Thinking in Scientists training event had been requested by CSIR and was delivered to staff from all 13 of their institutes along with representatives from other Phase 1 partners.