People and their research

Nada El Makhzen

As part of the Initiative Afrique, Bernese researchers of African origin talk about their careers, scientific and cultural challenges and their goals. Nada El Makhzen, a doctoral student from Fez (Morocco), encourages African students who come to Europe.

Photography: Justin Makangara 2024/09/09

Being able to achieve a lot

Nada El Makzhen from Fez (Morocco) came to Bern in 2022 to do her doctoral degree at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. In the Initiative Afrique podcast, she talks about the challenges she had to overcome during her application to the University of Bern. At the University of Bern, she feels responsible for showing "that people from Africa are here, that they can achieve a lot and that they have a scientific attitude."

To the podcast series

Related articles

Thanks to research partnerships

Better treatments for everyone

The research community is only slowly realizing that Africa's medical care problem begins with basic knowledge. The University of Bern is helping to remedy this shortcoming – for the benefit of both the South and the North.

Infographic

Africa in numbers

Our image of Africa often does not correspond to reality. Cultural diversity is much greater than in Europe, for example. Technological progress is sometimes ahead of ours. We try to give you an impression of this with a few examples.

People and their research

Jean Claude Makangara

As part of the Initiative Afrique, Bernese researchers of African origin talk about their careers, scientific and cultural challenges and their goals. Jean Claude Makangara thinks that studying at the University of Bern represents a huge opportunity for his career.

Initiative Afrique

“African expertise pushes the university forward”

Professor Margaret Owuor and Vice-Rector Hugues Abriel discuss the reasons and plans behind Initiative Afrique, a new program that aims to unite existing research expertise at the University of Bern.