Year 2026

1st Podcast – Initiative Afrique and its partners. Swiss-Africa Cybersecurity Community

Photo © Initiative Afrique

Do you want to know more about Cybersecurity threats?

Listen to our partners, Franka Ebai, from the Institute for Information Systems (FHNW), and Roman Bögli, at the Software Engineering Group (SEG), in the University of Bern.

Recording date: 19.11.2025

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor. Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Serge Quadrado – Brazilian. John Bartmann – One Night in Africa. Andrew Oliver Kora Band - Kaira. Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Franka Ebai was born in Cameroon but has lived in Switzerland since 2016. She is a Research Assistant at the Institute for Information Systems, in the FHNW, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Roman Bögli is a PhD Candidate in the Software Engineering Group (SEG) at the University of Bern. His research focuses on software variability, applied cryptography, and cybersecurity in the realm of quantum computing. In this interview, they shared with us different aspects of cybersecurity that affect both Africa and Switzerland. They both collaborate with the Swiss-Africa Cybersecurity Community, an initiative that brings together universities, researchers, and professionals from Switzerland and Africa to address global cybersecurity challenges, and supports workshops on quantum computing and digital resilience. We discussed the association's goals, activities, and future plans. The African countries involved in this initiative are: Rwanda (Africa Blockchain Institute), Ethiopia (Hawassa University), Cameroon (University of Buea and SwissLink Higher Institute of Business and Technology), and Nigeria (University of Ibadan).

 

Franka Ebai and Roman Bögli (MP3, 21.1 MB)

Episode 13

Tendai Muronzi – “My two-month exchange at the University of Bern has helped me to attain outputs that I have taken back to South Africa and also an insight into what it means to do research outside Africa.”

Recording date: 17.09.2025

Moderator: Djouroukoro Diallo. Production: Patricia Teixidor. Music: Intro and outro: "Yadina" (xylophone duet). CD 1. MBUDI MBUDI NA MHANGA-NYMBO ZA WADODO. The Musical Universe of the Wagogo Children from Tanzania ©PoloVallejo. Musical pauses: Portland Kora Project-May 2017. Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Originating from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Tendai is a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Unit in Bioinformatics at Rhodes University, South Africa, which is part of the ARUA-The Guild Clusters of Research Excellence (CoRE). She holds a PhD in Bioinformatics and specialises in drug discovery and protein–protein interactions, with a focus on elucidating mechanisms of pathogenicity and identifying therapeutic targets for malaria, rare diseases, and neglected tropical diseases. Her research is grounded in structural bioinformatics, encompassing mutational analysis, homology modelling, protein network analysis, and molecular dynamics simulations, with an interest in membrane protein systems.
In 2025, she undertook a two-month research exchange facilitated by the CoRE Genomics for Health in Africa (GHA) at the University of Bern, Institute of Cell Biology, under Prof. Dr Carmen Faso, where she received hands-on training in protein purification for malarial drug discovery. During her visit, she shared insights into her research work and reflected on her scientific experience in Bern. She regards this exchange as a fruitful and formative step in her career and remains strongly committed to continuous learning, viewing scientific development as a lifelong process.

Tendai Muronzi Audio (MP3, 23.7 MB)