51 Closer to home, the centre addressed mental health challenges head on through its employee wellbeing programme. Drawing on lessons learned in the first year of the pandemic, 2021 saw the establishment of a committee to support wellbeing activities for ACE staff and postgraduate students. All of the activities were carefully designed for inclusivity and to adhere to C19 safety guidance. The activities included a virtual midyear social with care packages delivered to staff, regular virtual socials to mimic social connection at an in-person office, and wellbeing walks. 1.4. Internationalisation ACE is recognised internationally as a leader in the evidence field. This recognition is reflected in the ease with which the centre confirmed 13 new Memorandums of Understanding in 2021 (four in South Africa, six in Africa, and three beyond Africa). ACE’s status as an internationally preferred centre is also reflected in the five international students who chose to progress their studies with the centre in 2021. In addition to international students and highprofile MOUs, ACE was invited to be part of multiple global collaborations to support evidence-use in 2021. Three include Partnership for Evidence and Equity in Responsive Social Systems (PEERSS), the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVIDEND), and the Global Commission on Evidence to address Societal Challenges. Finally, other global evidence-use experts and researchers are eager to be affiliated with ACE. In 2021, ACE enjoyed a total of 11 research associates, nine of which were based outside of South Africa. 1.5. Visiting academics The second year of the pandemic included the difficulty of travel. However, ACE did not allow this to prevent the centre from welcoming 46 evidence-use experts from around the world to ACE virtually. We also welcomed 121 evidence practitioners within Africa to four virtual gatherings of an Africa Evidence Network working group. The aim of these meetings was to work together to progress a manifesto on capacity development for evidence-informed decisionmaking in Africa. These members included academics such as Professor Sandy Oliver (University College London, United Kingdom), Professor John Lavis (McMaster University, Canada), Professor Nelson Sewankambo (Makerere University, Uganda), Professor Sudhakar Morankar (Jimma University, Ethiopia), Professor Barthelemy Nyasse (University of Yaounde, Cameroon), and Professor Mohamed Ali Marouni (Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and Institute of Research for Development, Tunisia). 1.6. Staff & student achievements ACE measures its staff and student achievements in terms of funding secured, graduations, and awards. We are proud to say that in 2021, researchers at ACE were successful in winning 11 grants with a total value of R12,7million. Our biggest grant awarded in 2021 was awarded jointly by the International Development Research Centre and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for R3,75 million. ACE supervisors were proud to see two PhD students complete their doctoral studies and one Masters student graduate during 2021. Many of ACE’s senior colleagues and partners either won or were nominated for prestigious awards in 2021. ACE director Professor Ruth Stewart was inaugurated as a member of the Academic of Science of South Africa in recognition of her immense contribution to the science of evidenceinformed decision-making. Professor Stewart and, separately, ACE senior researcher Dr Laurenz Langer and colleague in the Department for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Harsha Dayal were nominated for the international Campbell Collaboration’s Robert Boruch Award, which aims to recognize distinctive contributions to research that informs public policy. ACE’s early-career researchers also achieved greatly in 2021, with ACE researcher Promise Nduku being awarded the Farah Jamal Award on 7 December 2021. As well as hosting a 4IR GES Professor of Practice (Beryl Leach) and one staff member holding 4IR GES postgraduate bursaries, ACE staff and research associates delivered four high-profile 4IRrelated keynotes and presentations in 2021. These are listed below:
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