From June 20th till June 15th July 2022, IPBO, the VIB's outreach cell, organized a one-month course in Ghent, Belgium. 12 African researchers from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin attended the course.

The program started with fundamental background sessions on maize breeding; this included; the use of molecular markers in plant breeding, plant biotechnology, genetic transformation, and new breeding techniques for maize. Experts from Europe and Africa gave an overview of all biotic and abiotic stresses affecting the growth of maize and possible solutions to overcome these threats. In these sessions, particular emphasis was given to the effects of fungal contamination, drought, and soil fertility on the growth and yield of maize. The course continued with theory and exercises on fundamental principles and methodologies of crop safety, risk assessment, and practical exercises about maize phenotyping and bioinformatics. Each session was interactive as the researchers engaged in group work, presentations and discussions.

The researchers attended three workshops. They acquired practical skills on; How to design a poster and present a one & three-minute pitch, how to effectively utilize social media platforms, including print media,  to communicate their research work and finally, how to write a competitive EU proposal.

During the course, the researchers had two field visits, one being to Jorion Philips-seeds company, where they learnt about processing various grass seeds from the field to the distributor. They also attended a two-day conference titled "The potential of genome editing for sustainable African agriculture."