Chiku Mtegha, a researcher at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture an Natural Resources, explains to African journalists research into using chemicals from local plants to deworm goats.

Knight Center Senior Associate Director David Poulson contributed to a recent article on building the capacity of academics to do relevant research at African universities.

“How design thinking united researchers and farmers” appears in the African edition of The Conversation.

It reports on a strategy that encourages academics to create, develop and implement their own research agendas to more directly address the needs of people.

The Knight Center was part of that USAID project which also included the development of The Food Fix, a news service using researchers, journalists and students to report on food system innovations. The center also helped teach workshops that helped researchers better explain their work and to foster relationships with journalists.

The work was done in Malawi in partnership with the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The primary authors of the article in The Conversation are Bill Heinrich, director of assessment at MSU’s Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology, and Kurt Richter, assistant director of MSU’s Global Center for Food Systems Innovation.