U2CEB032224
Cooperative Agreement
Overview
Grant Description
Elwazi Open Data Science Platform and Coordinating Center - Project Summary/Abstract
The Open Data Science Platform (ODSP) and Coordinating Center (CC) for DS-I Africa is led by a well-established partnership between Prof Mulder (current PI H3ABioNet) and Dr Michelle Skelton (current Coordinator, H3Africa CC) hosted within the Computational Biology Division and IDM at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Using 8 years of experience in leading a pan African informatics consortium aimed at data and informatics resource and capacity development, Mulder will establish the ODSP Gateway and its Elwazi platform. Elwazi is a flexible, scalable African open data science platform for depositing, sharing, and accessing data. It allows users to select data-specific tools and data science methods, as well as deploy tools and workflows on a choice of computing environments suited to the African context. This platform aims to facilitate novel discoveries for health.
Skelton will use her 7 years of experience in coordinating the large H3Africa consortium to develop an efficient CC that addresses all the joint administrative, collaborative, and logistical needs of the consortium. Together, Mulder and Skelton will transition their current teams and activities from H3Africa to DS-I Africa, wrapping up one and starting the new complementary endeavor with highly experienced teams ready to provide immediate impact. They will support each other's activities, technically from the ODSP and operationally/logistically from the CC, and co-develop an effective data science and professional development training program.
The ODSP will support the CC on website and tool development, while the CC will support ODSP in events planning, managing data deposition, access policies and agreements, and integration with the DS-I Africa consortium.
The outcomes of this project will be:
1) An open, transparent, and sustainable ODSP developed with user input to ensure their needs are met, accompanied by adequate user and administrative support.
2) Access to a choice of public and private cloud and local African computing facilities for data storage and analysis.
3) Access to a comprehensive set of African and other relevant datasets, tools/workflows, and resources required for the implementation of data science techniques to biomedical data.
4) A comprehensive data science and professional development training program.
5) Consolidated consortium policies, documents, and resources.
6) Efficiently organized consortium activities, workshops, and events.
7) Avenues for exploration of new collaborative and translational ideas and partnerships with industry and other stakeholders.
Collectively, these outcomes provide the elements required for a fully supported cohesive consortium facilitating the application of data science to health. The ODSP and CC are African-led, developed in Africa by Africans, and for the benefit of African scientists and research participants.
The Open Data Science Platform (ODSP) and Coordinating Center (CC) for DS-I Africa is led by a well-established partnership between Prof Mulder (current PI H3ABioNet) and Dr Michelle Skelton (current Coordinator, H3Africa CC) hosted within the Computational Biology Division and IDM at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Using 8 years of experience in leading a pan African informatics consortium aimed at data and informatics resource and capacity development, Mulder will establish the ODSP Gateway and its Elwazi platform. Elwazi is a flexible, scalable African open data science platform for depositing, sharing, and accessing data. It allows users to select data-specific tools and data science methods, as well as deploy tools and workflows on a choice of computing environments suited to the African context. This platform aims to facilitate novel discoveries for health.
Skelton will use her 7 years of experience in coordinating the large H3Africa consortium to develop an efficient CC that addresses all the joint administrative, collaborative, and logistical needs of the consortium. Together, Mulder and Skelton will transition their current teams and activities from H3Africa to DS-I Africa, wrapping up one and starting the new complementary endeavor with highly experienced teams ready to provide immediate impact. They will support each other's activities, technically from the ODSP and operationally/logistically from the CC, and co-develop an effective data science and professional development training program.
The ODSP will support the CC on website and tool development, while the CC will support ODSP in events planning, managing data deposition, access policies and agreements, and integration with the DS-I Africa consortium.
The outcomes of this project will be:
1) An open, transparent, and sustainable ODSP developed with user input to ensure their needs are met, accompanied by adequate user and administrative support.
2) Access to a choice of public and private cloud and local African computing facilities for data storage and analysis.
3) Access to a comprehensive set of African and other relevant datasets, tools/workflows, and resources required for the implementation of data science techniques to biomedical data.
4) A comprehensive data science and professional development training program.
5) Consolidated consortium policies, documents, and resources.
6) Efficiently organized consortium activities, workshops, and events.
7) Avenues for exploration of new collaborative and translational ideas and partnerships with industry and other stakeholders.
Collectively, these outcomes provide the elements required for a fully supported cohesive consortium facilitating the application of data science to health. The ODSP and CC are African-led, developed in Africa by Africans, and for the benefit of African scientists and research participants.
Awardee
Funding Goals
NOT APPLICABLE
Grant Program (CFDA)
Place of Performance
South Africa
Geographic Scope
Foreign
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 398% from $2,242,394 to $11,175,319.
University Of Cape Town was awarded
eLwazi Open Data Science Platform and Coordinating Center
Cooperative Agreement U2CEB032224
worth $11,175,319
from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in September 2021 with work to be completed primarily in South Africa.
The grant
has a duration of 4 years 9 months and
was awarded through assistance program 93.310 Trans-NIH Research Support.
The Cooperative Agreement was awarded through grant opportunity Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa) Open Data Science Platform and Coordinating Center (U2C Clinical Trial Not Allowed).
Status
(Ongoing)
Last Modified 8/20/25
Period of Performance
9/20/21
Start Date
6/30/26
End Date
Funding Split
$11.2M
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$11.2M
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to U2CEB032224
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
U2CEB032224
SAI Number
U2CEB032224-4055053266
Award ID URI
SAI UNAVAILABLE
Awardee Classifications
Public/State Controlled Institution Of Higher Education
Awarding Office
75N800 NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Funding Office
75NA00 NIH OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
Awardee UEI
NN5NML6VUCF9
Awardee CAGE
SBH72
Performance District
Not Applicable
Budget Funding
| Federal Account | Budget Subfunction | Object Class | Total | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services (075-0846) | Health research and training | Grants, subsidies, and contributions (41.0) | $4,421,625 | 100% |
Modified: 8/20/25