TPAAE researcher from Technical University of Mombasa, Dr. Wanyenda Chilimo, took up her first secondment to the Academy of Arts and the National Museum in Szczecin in December 2022 to January 2023. As part of her secondment, Dr. Chilimo made a visit to West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin (ZUT) on January 4th 2023 where she was accompanied by other TPAAE researchers including Marlena Chybowska-Butler and Ewa Prądzyńska from National Museum in Szczecin and Prof. Stephen Muoki from Pwani University.
At ZUT, the TPAAE team met University officials including Prof Jacek Przepiórski, Vice- Rector for Scientific Research, Anna Gryta, library director, Pola Żylińska library deputy director and other staff of ZUT library. This was followed by a Seminar presentation by Dr. Chilimo on Development of Open Science and Digital Libraries in Kenya. After the seminar an open discussion on the topic took place where the participants engaged on a dialog and shared their experiences.
The climax of the visit was a tour of the ZUT library activities and services both at the main library and at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Among other services, ZUT library features an Art gallery where contemporary art work of both amateur and professional artists from Szczecin is exhibited. Furthermore, ZUT library participates in the West Pomeranian Digital Library project that digitizes heritage materials dating back to 1800s. At the end of the tour the team was delighted by a culinary surprise in the form of an edible flag of Kenya which was prepared by Mrs. Joanna Rudna of ZUT library.
ZUP Vice- Rector, Prof Jacek Przepiórski has organized a follow up meeting Dr. Chilimo and Prof. Stephen Muoki to discuss possible areas of collaboration between ZUP and Kenya Universities
