NURTURE’s Ph.D. Exchange Batch in Fall 2026

On this Wednesday, 12th August 2026, NURTURE International Project, funded by NORAD, welcomed another batch of Ph.D. exchange students from its Southern partner universities.

For the fall of 2026, NURTURE project evaluated tens of Ph.D. exchange applications from its Ethiopian partner universities and confirmed four cases to facilitate their further academic progress in their Ph.D. projects in Norway. As a result, Ashenafi Chalchissa Guta from Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU) and Lamesgin Addis Almaw, Serkaddis Adem Tsega, and Tesfahun Maru Assefa from University of Gondar (UoG) were selected to continue their Ph.D. journey at University f South-Eastern Norway (USN), campus Drammen, from August til December 2026.

Through NURTURE project, we aim for high quality capacity-building in higher education through impactful academic contributions and meaningful personal experiences. Therefore, after careful handling of applications, we provided the required documents to our selected Ph.D. students to ensure smooth visa-granting process for them, provided tickets for their flight to Norway, and helped them with accommodation processes. Upon arrival, we welcomed them at Oslo Airport, facilitated their transportation, and accompanied them to their first destination in Norway, Drammen. After helping them settling in their designated accommodation near the campus and providing the necessities for their stay, we had a tour around the campus to help them familiarize themselves with their workplace for the next six months, and ensured that they have access to their staff cards and bank cards from day one.

Every exchange batch at NURTURE project is the start of an exciting story for us that, with the help of NORAD, USN staff, and our Ethiopian partners, waits to be written as a great memory when it comes to its end. Wish our new batch of Ph.D. exchange best of luck in their journey with us ahead.

Below you can see some photos from the welcoming day:

Reviewing 5 Years of NURTURE’s Impact & Looking Ahead

Just recently, NURTURE Project hosted a wonderful staff exchange program, in which 6 guests from five partner universities of Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU), Hawassa University (HU), University of Gondar (UoG), Debre Markos University (DMU), and Jimma University (JU) joined us at the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) in Drammen. After 5 years of international academic collaboration for capacity building, project coordinators at partner universities gathered to review the impacts and plan for the future ahead.

The primary focus of this program was to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Nurture project’s activities over the last five years by taking a close look at:
-Academic Advancement: New programs and innovative methods introduced, alongside vital scholarships for PhD & MSc students.
-Growth & Equity: Successful staff mobility initiatives and dedicated gender & equity-related activities.
-Infrastructure & Community: Small-scale infrastructure development for our Southern partners, plus powerful outreach and partnership outcomes.
-Stakeholder Engagement: We hosted a fantastic half-day workshop bringing together key stakeholders from both Norway and Ethiopia.

Based on these evaluations, our team successfully identified the core thematic areas that will shape our upcoming application for NORHED III, marking a big takeaway from the program.

However, it wasn’t all work, at NURTURE Project we put great value on culture, community, and connection as well. The program’s week was beautifully enriched by strong community connections and sightseeing alongside warm hospitality in which project members enjoyed wonderful social gatherings with the Ethiopian community living in Drammen. A massive thank you, from NURTURE Project, to Alene and Meron for their incredible generosity and hosting a fantastic Norwegian grill party! We also explored Oslo with our guests as the beautiful Norwegian summer weather gave us all the chance to visit beautiful Oslo, taking in the sights of the Royal Palace and the vibrant Aker Brygge area. We ended Oslo’s exciting tour with a taste of home where we wrapped up our exploration with a declicious dinner at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant right in the hear of Oslo.

Last but not least, we owe all the members of the NURTURE Project, that accompanied us during all these years, a heartfelt thank you! This visit was overall highly productive, significantly expanding our networks and leaving us with a solid draft for the upcoming NORHED III call. We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who supported us and worked behind the scenes to make this exchange an absolute success. Together, we are creating lasting impact!

Below you can see some of the photos from this amazing program:

A Spring Gathering in Oslo: NURTURE Exchange Students Connect and Explore

March 29th marked another wonderful day for the NURTURE Global Project and its members. With spring officially returning to Norway, last Saturday’s beautiful weather provided the perfect opportunity for NURTURE’s Ph.D. and MSc exchange students to gather in Oslo for some social activity and a change of scenery. Professor Shegaw Anagaw Mengiste, NURTURE Project’s coordinator at USN, invited our latest batch of exchange students, who currently reside and study at the Ringerike and Drammen campuses, to share a joyful day in Oslo’s vibrant environment. At NURTURE, we believe that fresh air, a change of pace, and informal conversations are vital for our exchange students to recharge while experiencing academic and day-to-day life in Norway.

Traveling from Drammen, Ringerike, and within Oslo, we all met at the Central Station to start our adventure. Professor Shegaw and Hosein welcomed Kibrebeal, Maru, Daniel, Admas, Abebaw, and Menilik, kicking off the day beside the famous Tiger statue in Jernbanetorget. From there, we walked up Oslo’s busiest street, Karl Johan, discussing the city’s vibe, landscape, history, politics, and culture. Passing shops, restaurants, and the Parliament building, we made our way to the Royal Palace for a small tour of the beautiful surroundings and grabbed some photos with the Royal Guards. Along the way, we had interesting discussions about Norway’s National Day on the 17th of May, and how amazing it is to experience it. We then headed to the Nobel Peace Center, where we talked about famous figures, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who won the prize in 2019.

Our tour continued to Aker Brygge, where we took a break at a local coffee shop. Sitting under Oslo’s sunny sky, we enjoyed coffee and conversation about the local area, the municipality, and sea transportation. Our chats naturally flowed from life in Oslo to ongoing research projects.

For dinner, we visited an authentic restaurant to enjoy delicious Ethiopian food, giving our exchange students a comforting taste of home. Over the meal, we shared insightful friendly conversations about academic work and life in both Norway and Ethiopia, exchanging experiences to help each other learn and grow as hosts and guests. We wrapped up the evening by accompanying the students to their trains, discussing ideas for similar future activities, and heading home with great memories.

Ultimately, NURTURE Project, funded by NORAD, strives to create not only opportunities for academic advancement but also an environment for personal growth. It is a mission we are deeply proud of, and we are always looking for ways to improve the experiences of our project members.

Below, you can see some of the photos from our day together:

Hawassa University made EdTech industry and Institutions Experience-Sharing Visit to Addis Ababa

From February 26–28, 2026, Hawassa University conducted a three-day educational technology benchmarking and experience-sharing visit to selected institutions in Addis Ababa. The visit was organized and sponsored by the NURTURE Project (Nurturing SDGs through Higher Education Capacity Building in Ethiopia) and involved Educational Technology and Innovation (EdTI) postgraduate students, program leaders, faculty members, and a student club leader. The total visit participants were fourteen.

Led by Dr. Tesfaye Bayu, the University’s Director of the E-Learning Directorate and NURTURE Project Coordinator, the delegation visited Zeleman Communications, Advertising and Production PLC, Muyalogy Digital Services SC, American College of Technology (ACT), and Sebez System Technology PLC. Each visit provided practical insights into professional educational media production, AI-integrated digital learning systems, and sustainable EdTech and startup models.

At Zeleman, participants learned how high-quality educational content is produced through structured, team-based workflows emphasizing research, storyboarding, and quality assurance. Muyalogy showcased the power of localized, market-driven digital learning—delivering job-ready skills in local languages and leveraging AI for personalized learning pathways. The visit to American College of Technology highlighted comprehensive AI integration in online education, particularly in content development and secure online assessment systems that safeguard academic integrity. Sebez System Technology offered valuable perspectives on entrepreneurship, industry expectations, and the importance of project-based learning and startup culture within university education.

Overall, the visit strengthened participants’ understanding of how universities can align academic programs with industry needs through professional content production, AI-enabled learning, and strong university–industry partnerships. The experience generated actionable insights for Hawassa University in areas such as digital transformation, curriculum innovation, student entrepreneurship, and sustainable collaboration—marking an important step toward advancing technology-enhanced higher education in Ethiopia.

Below you can see some photos from this three-day visit:

Capacity Building Training for Math Instructors at Hawassa University

On February 21st, 2026, College of Natural and Computational Sciences at Hawassa University, in collaboration with NURTURE project funded by NORAD, organized a two-days’ training for mathematics instructors on blended teaching methods entitled, “Blended Teaching: Redesigning the Basic Mathematics Course and Providing Practical Training on Open-EdX”.

HU’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Fiseha Getachew, stated in his opening speech that blended learning would play important part in enhancing the quality of higher education. He also outlined the steps the university is taking to advance digital learning and indicated that work is underway to incorporate postgraduate programs into this approach in the future.

Dr. Zufan Bedewi, Dean of CNCS, on her part noted that the Department of Mathematics has taken improved steps to deliver its courses both through face-to-face and digital platforms. She emphasized that the resources gained from the training should be utilized to ensure its effective implementation.

Professor Shegaw Anagaw, the NURTURE project coordinator from University of South Eastern Norway, also spoke about the educational development objectives of the project and its impact on Ethiopian universities. He stated that such trainings play a significant role in modernizing the country’s university education system. 

The Director of e-Learning directorate and NURTURE Project coordinator at Hawassa University, Dr. Tesfaye Bayu, on his part elaborated on the tasks carried out in the development of the university’s e-learning system and the utilization of Open-EdX platform, and said the training will help strengthen instructors’ competencies.

Finally, Hawassa University signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with the African Digital Innovation Technology Academy (ADITA) after launching the training.

Below you can see some photos from the training:

NURTURE Partner, Hawassa University, organized a Policy Dialogue Seminar on AI in Education

On February 13, 2026, in collaboration with NURTURE project, Hawassa University organized a Policy Dialogue seminar on “Artificial Intelligence in Education: Emerging Trends, Ethical Considerations, and Future Pathways (Global and Ethiopian Context)” at Institute of Technology (IOT). The Guest Speaker was Dr. Fitsum Deriba (PhD), an Independent Scholar at the University of Eastern Finland, and Assistant Professor at Wachemo University.

In his opening remark, Dr. Mihret Dananto, Scientific Director of the Institute of Technology raised the pivotal role of Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Ethiopia 2030 Strategy. He also raised emerging challenges of digital infrastructure, data sovereignty and curriculum renovation to minimize increased risks of dependency on Artificial Intelligence tools in teaching and learning.

Dr. Fistum Deriba’s presentation addressed AI emerging uses in personalized learning & adaptive tutoring, AI-powered assessment & feedback, and intelligent tutoring system. Moreover, he took time to outline the importance of AI for accessibility & inclusion and the roles in learning analytics,and to discuss ethics, bias and academic integrity issues of AI in Education. There were more than 60 instructors and students in attendance, a third of which were females. The  panel discussion that followed-up attracted many engaging comments, questions and feedback in relation to infrastructure reality of Ethiopia and the AI, data sovereignty, and national and institutional AI policies for education. The policy dialogue seminar concluded with identification of three thematic areas – challenges, opportunities and initiation of southern Ethiopia universities’ cluster AI collaboration as immediate policy brief areas and assignment of focal persons.

The seminar was co-organized by the NURTURE Project in collaboration with the Faculty of Informatics of Hawassa University.

Below you can see some photos from the seminar:

Global Research Without Borders

On 5th February 2026, NURTURE Global Project, which is Funded by NORAD, held an inspiring session in which talented growing researchers and highly experienced professors from multiple international universities met to drive global research forward via collaborative knowledge sharing and discussion.

In this session, NURTURE warmly welcomed its latest cohort of Ph.D. exchange group, who come from four partner universities in Ethiopia, at USN to facilitate a fruitful kick-off to their Ph.D. journey in Norway. Below, you can see a brief introduction of the cohorts and their projects:

  • Maru Meseret – Assistant Professor of Health Informatics at Debre Markos University as well as a PhD candidate at the University of Gondar
    Project title: “The Effect of an AI-Driven Clinical Decision Support System on Viral Suppression among People Living with HIV Receiving ART in Public Health Facilities of East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia.”
  • Abebaw Agegne – Lecturer at Debark University and a second-year data science PhD candidate at the University of Gondar
    Project title: “Causality-Enhanced Interpretable Ensemble Framework for Stunting Risk Prediction”
  • Admas Abtew – Lecturer in the department of Information Science and a fourth-year Information Science PhD candidate at Jimma University
    Project title: “EthioPolicyNet:A Hybrid Ontology-Deep Learning Explainable Framework For Ethiopian Policy Document Classification”
  • Kibrebeal Getinet – Lecturer at Hawassa University and second-year PhD student in Data Science at the University of Gondar
    Project title: “End-to-end Personalized Cancer Medicine: An Explainable Multimodal Deep Learning Approach” 

Professor Shegaw Anagaw Mengiste, NURTURE Project Coordinator, opened the seminar, welcomed all the Southern and Northern partners, and chaired the session for presentations. Throughout this session, Ph.D. exchange group shared their groundbreaking research and outlined their plans for contribution to global knowledge during their exchange, creating an energetic atmosphere for an insightful conversation with highly recognized researchers in their field of expertize. Session’s discussion and mentorship panel included Professor Shegaw Anagaw Mengiste (USN), Professor Jens Kaasbøll (UiO), Professor Josef Noll (UiO), Professor Frank Karlsen (USN), Professor Lasse Berntzen (USN), and Associate Professor Marius Rohde Johannessen (USN). Below, you can see the points of discussion:

  • Overview of Ph.D. research including progress, problem statement, motivation, gap, research question, objective, design, methods, frameworks, models, ontology, epistemology, plans and expectations during stay at USN, proposed future work and timeline, and potential opportunities and challenges anticipated during PhD studies
  • Importance of the research to the policy, academia, industry, research, and community at large
  • Rationale, feasibility and applicability of the studies
  • Scope and source

Thanks to the impactful research of these growing talented minds and to the presence of NURTURE’s fantastic academic mentors the discussions turned out to be super engaging, deep, and constructive, framing an influential global collaboration that knows no border but ambition. Together with the Ph.D. students, NUTURE Project’s funders, coordinators, and collaborators aim for high quality research via effective and strong support means that span from co-authorship on publications to providing access to specialized resources like high-performance computing. NURTURE is committed to the success of these amazing Ph.D. students and their projects by enabling transformative research exchange and powerful partnerships, making them part of USN’s international family.

Below you can see the photos from the session:

NURTURE Welcomed Its 1st Batch of 2026 Ph.D. Exchange

On 19th January 2026, NURTURE project welcomed yet another batch of 4 exchange Ph.D. students to Norway from 4 different Ethiopian universities who are part of NURTURE’s international academic group. After arrival to Oslo’s airport (Gardermoen), our 1st batch of 2026 Ph.D. exchange were welcomed by NURTURE’s members and helped to get to Drammen, where they will stay to continue their academic journey at USN’s campus. In Drammen, Prof. Shegaw, NURTURE Project’s Coordinator, met our talented batch of Ph.D. exchange, provided necessary equipments for their stay, showed them around the campus, and helped them settle down at USN’s dormitory.

NURTURE project is so glad to have you all here and wishes you a great academic and life experience while in Norway. Good news to be heard from your success and experiences soon!

Below, you can see some photos from the day:

Digital Skills and Prospects of Software Engineering in the Era of AI and Big Data Analytics: Experience Sharing Seminar for Students at AASTU

Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU) conducted an experience sharing educational Seminar on “Digital Skills and Prospects of Software Eng. in the Era of AI and Big Data Analytics,” which was organized by the Department of Software Engineering in Collaboration with the Nurture International Project (NORHED II: 2021 – 2026) at AASTU on Oct. 22, 2025. This very important timely seminar was presented and delivered physically by Highly Qualified Professionals and Researchers as well as senior and alumni students at AASTU. The Seminar was attended by more than 120 junior (Second Year) and senior UG students as well as faculty members and researchers at AASTU. The Seminar was concluded with an inspiring and motivating closing Remarks of Dr. Dinku Siyoum, Dean, Engineering College, (AASTU). 

Some of the major seminar presentation topics covered in the seminar include:
1. Overview of the Department of Software Engineering presented by Dr. Lemlem Kassa, HoD, Department of Software Eng., (AASTU). 

2. From Data to Wisdom: Navigating the Digital Revolution, presented by Dr. Yodit Gebrealif, Head, HPC & Big Data Analytics CoE, (AASTU). 

3. Digital Innovation in EdTech, by Mr. Felix Edesa, Innovation, Incubation Center and IPR Coordinator, (AASTU). 

4. Experience sharing of female student (Ms.Tasmin) about her 2 years exigence at the Innovation and Incubation Center of AASTU. 

5. Experience Sharing of Mr. Bisrat Kebere, (award winning team leader of the Department of Software students) about his experience on how to build and promote AI driven smart software solutions for local industries. 

6. Gender Issues, Adolescence and Girls’ Health, presented by Dr. Aster Teshome, CEO and Founder of Centre for Adolescence and Girls’ Health 

Belo you can see some photos from the seminar:

A Distinguished Public Seminar on Ethical AI and Data Security in Digital Education at AASTU



Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU) conducted a distinguished “Public Seminar on “Ethical AI and Data Security in Digital Education,” which was organized by the AIR, HPC and Big Data Analytics Centers of Excellence in collaboration with the Nurture International Project (NORHED II: 2021 – 2026) at AASTU on Aug. 28, 2025. This important timely seminar was presented and delivered both physically and virtually by Highly Qualified Professionals and Data Security Experts from International and National Research Institutions including INSA, USN (Norway) and XtremeIQ (USA). The seminar was attended by more than 130 researchers, faculty members and industry experts at AASTU as well as from Southern Partners including Hawassa University (HU) and University of Gonder (UoG). The Seminar was started with the Opening Remark and Welcome Speech of Dr. Abraham Debebe, VPRTT (AASTU).



 Some of the major seminar presentation topics covered in the seminar include:
1. Information Infrastructure and Data Security for Digital Education, by Dr. Shegaw Anagaw, Professor and Main Coordinator of Nurture Project (USN, Norway).

2. Issues and Concerns of Ethical AI, Data Security, and Privacy in Digital Education by Dr. Denekew Jembere, Data Scientist and founder of XtremeIQ AI & Data Solutions (USA). 

3. Navigating Data Privacy in Digital Education and Beyond, by Mr. Terefe Feyisa Industry and Data Security Expert from INSA (Ethiopia). 

4. Empowering Women in Academia: A Digital Intervention for Research, Publication, and Leadership, by Dr. Lemlem Kassa, Head, Dep’t of Software Engineering (AASTU) 

5. Responsible AI in Different Industry Sectors: Current Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, by Dr. Habib Mohammed, Head, AI and Robotics Center of Excellence (AASTU). 

6. Data Privacy and Protection Issues in Digital Transformation Dr. Kula Kekeba, Coordinator of Nurture Project (AASTU).

Below you can see some photos from the seminar