University of Galway ROSETTA Fellow Dr Thompson Kwarkye convened leading researchers and practitioners from across Africa and Ireland for a two-day international workshop exploring Africa’s role in the global digital value chain.

Held on 16–17 July 2026 at the BizHub, University of Galway, the workshop “Africa in the Global Digital Value Chain” was organised as part of the AfroGAIN Project. The two-day workshop examined Africa’s position within global digital systems, covering the extraction of critical minerals and digital labour, artificial intelligence (AI) governance, digital infrastructure and electronic waste.

In her opening remarks, Professor Frances Fahy, Director of the Ryan Institute at the University of Galway, welcomed participants and expressed her enthusiasm for the workshop. She highlighted the importance of the workshop’s focus on the social, political and environmental dimensions of digital technologies, noting that it provides a timely opportunity to examine how value, power and responsibility are distributed across global digital value chains. Professor Fahy emphasised that bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives to address these issues is essential for advancing more equitable and sustainable approaches to digital transformation.

Unlike traditional workshop style, a central feature of the workshop was a series of collaborative writing sessions in which participants co-developed a position paper outlining priorities for research, policy and practice. The paper will provide recommendations for governments, researchers, industry and civil society organisations seeking to promote more equitable and sustainable digital futures.

The workshop is part of the broader AfroGAIN project, supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) ROSETTA Fellowship. The project investigates how political, ethical and socio-cultural factors shape AI governance across Africa. The workshop was supported by Research Ireland through the New Foundations Programme, with additional support from the School of Law, the ROSETTA Programme, and the Ryan Institute at the University of Galway. Many thanks also to Prof Rónán Kennedy, Dr Mahya Ostovar, Emma Brinton and Dewan Scholtz for their support in organising this workshop.

More information about the workshop can be found here: https://www.afrogain.com/afronet-workshop