“We are sad to hear of the passing of Harvard’s Professor @Calestous Juma. Not only was he an inspiration but helped us in many way ways. May his soul rest in peace,” iAfrican, a news outlet dedicated to science, technology & innovation in Africa, which were close to his heart, tweeted.
According to online reports, Prof Juma, who was listed among most reputable on earth in 2017, died in Boston, in the US.
“Shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Prof Calestous Juma, an African intellectual giant. He was a towering scholar and a great human being. The best of the best. Unbelievable,” US-based law scholar Prof Makau Mutua wrote on Twitter.
“I have received the news of the passing on of my friend, compatriot and a role model Professor Calestous Juma, with a deep sense of great personal loss. May his soul rest in eternal peace,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed also tweeted.
According to his profile on the Havard University website, Juma, a Professor of the Practice of International Development, was the Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalisation Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Faculty Chair of the Mason Fellows Program.
He also directed the Center’s Agricultural Innovation Policy in Africa Project and Health Innovation Policy in Africa projects funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In addition, he served as Faculty Chair of the Edward S. Mason Fellows Program as well as Faculty Chair of the “Innovation for Economic Development” and “Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Africa” executive programmes.
Juma is a former Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and Founding Director of the African Centre for Technology Studies in Nairobi.
He co-chaired the African Union’s High-Level Panel on Science, Technology and Innovation. He is on the jury of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, and the Africa Food Prize.
During his scholarly journey, Dr Juma was elected to several scientific academies including the Royal Society of London, the US National Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Sciences, the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and the African Academy of Sciences.
He also won several international awards for his work on sustainable development. He holds a doctorate in science and technology policy studies and has written widely on science, technology, and environment.
Juma served on the boards of several international bodies including the Aga Khan University and the Pan-African University and was the editor of the International Journal of Technology and Globalisation and theInternational Journal of Biotechnology. His new book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Source-businesstoday.co.ke
Renowned Diaspora Kenyan scholar, Calestous Juma, is dead
