Following the signing of an MoU with a consortium of five Portuguese universities on the 8th of April, 2024, including Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade de Evora, Universidade Nova De Lisboa, Universidade de Aveiro and Instituto Poletecnico de Tomar and the University of Port Harcourt, which covered the subject areas of Science and Social Sciences and which was to enable graduate student and staff mobility, the University of Port Harcourt was to nominate a staff to visit the four universities in Portugal in the first phase of the exchange programme.
Prof Chioma Blaise Chikere, a professor of environmental microbiology and an expert on bioremediation of polluted soil, was nominated to visit Portugal in fulfillment of the Erasmus+ staff and student exchange programme.
During her visit, Prof Chikere had a series of collaborative engagements, meetings and discussions with senior faculty and the leadership of the University of Lisbon and the University of Evora aimed at strengthening the Africa-Europe partnership through the Erasmus+ AMIGO ICM Programme. The meetings also centred on exploring areas where research interests could be co-developed into cross-continental projects that will deliver impactful results aligned with the African Union Agenda 2063, AU-EU priority partnerships and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Prof Chikere also gave lectures at both universities, one of them, university-wide at Évora
which was attended by faculty from Nigeria, including the Secretary General of the Association of African Universities and others across the globe.
We are grateful to Prof Ana Ribeiro of the University of Lisbon and Prof Manuela Morais (the Coordinator of the Erasmus+ AMIGO Consortium), wonderful women both and amazing hosts for making this visit possible.
We look forward to and are preparing for a member of the Consortium visiting the University of Port Harcourt in the very near future.