The African Genome Education Institute (AEGI) is dedicated to the public discussion of genetics and biotechnology in the African continent. We seek to share, discuss, and disseminate information about genetics and biotechnology as it impacts upon the continent.

This website provides a place to notify members and guests of events, courses, and news concerning genetics and biotechnology. It also serves to provide a platform for all interested parties to take part in discussions of these matters, which are of great concern to the future of Africa. We encourage you to join the forum where you can post questions and answers about a wide range of topics - from news of advances in genetic science, to ethical concerns raised by stem cell research, and the wider socio-economic implications of importing and exporting of GMOs seeds and foodstuffs.

It is also a place to tell us about relevant courses and organisations operating at all educational levels and outside of educational establishments. We would be particularly keen to hear of courses being run in connection with science journalism and genetics, teaching genetics in adult education centres, and engaging farmers with new technology.

The website is host to the Africa Genetics and Biotechnology Network and is intended as a resource for scientists of various disciplines working within higher education to collaborate across academic boundaries. It is also intended as a resource for teachers and public outreach specialists wishing to ask questions and share their experiences of how genetic science is understood by local communities and how to approach the teaching of genetic science to a wide range of ages and educational groups. The network will also function as a resource for genetic scientists, biotechnology experts, and science journalists to establish contacts and share access to information.

As such, it is hoped that African science journalists will use the Website to access to information and expertise relevant to presenting genetics and biotechnology to a wide audience. It is also intended that members of the public will contribute their own perspectives on what genetics and biotechnology means to them, and new students will find this site useful in finding ways into this rapidly evolving area of science and technology.

For the present, we welcome you to the network and look forward to your contributions.

Programs consist of:

• The Darwin Seminars, four to five of which are arranged annually on a topic in evolutionary biology (in partnership with the Division of Human Genetics, University of Cape Town);
• The Nelson Mandela Science Lecture, held annually and hosted by a South African university (2007 lecture was given by Nobel Laureate Dr David Baltimore on the topic of viruses);
• Five research and education projects,
• The Living History Project (DNA ancestry testing) [completed]
• The Evolution of Skin Colour Project;
• Building Interdisciplinary support for the New Genetics and Biotechnology in Africa Project [completed];
• The Teaching Biology Project, a four year long effort to train and retrain secondary school biology teachers in the Western Cape [starting 1 October 2008]; and
• Darwin in the Cape celebrations 2009 as part of worldwide Darwin 200 programme of events.

The AGEI has organised major genome related conferences in Stellenbosch (2003), Cairo (2004), Nairobi (2005), Somerset West (2006) and workshops on HIV technologies (2006) and Science Communication (2008).

The AGEI is governed by a Board of Directors who meet twice a year. The Board is committed to the highest standards of good governance practises.

The Honourable Derek Hanekom, MP, Deputy Minister of Science & Technology of South Africa, launched the Institute as a legally incorporated not-for-gain company on 10 May 2005.

Registration 2005/003563/08 | NPO 048242-NPO | PBO 930017204