System administrators working at research facilities in Africa and Europe gathered at SANBI last week to address the global skills shortage in the sector.
There is a demand for systems administrator skillsets, these are the people responsible for looking after the computing infrastructure for companies and organisations. These skilled professionals are taken up by the private sector as soon as they step out of the graduation halls, leaving public research institutions – who can’t match corporate pay checks – with an ongoing backlog.
One solution being adopted by the SAMRC/SANBI/UWC Bioinformatics Capacity Development Research Unit is to train and upskill new and existing system administrators. This initiative has recently obtained funding from the World Bank through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
In August, systems administrators working in the public research sector gathered at SANBI’s offices at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to discuss the training required.
“This meeting is phase one of the project,” explains Professor Alan Christoffels, SAMRC/SANBI/UWC Bioinformatics Capacity Development Research Unit director and advisor to the Africa CDC. “You first have to understand what is needed and what content is already there. However, that’s easier said than done”
The contexts within which system administrators work in Africa and Europe can be vastly different, however making a start is important for developing ways in which opportunities can be improved.
Training is scheduled to begin early in 2025. Peter van Hesuden, SANBI’s system administrator adds emphasis to the challenge up ahead by stating, “Systems administers can move from a small research centre in Europe to a larger one in the same country, this is the reality that the public research sector has to live with.”
“What we’re hoping will happen is that system administrators will pass on what they learn to others so that there is greater capacity within the system itself,” Prof van Hesduden notes.