SADC International Conference on Postgraduate Research for Sustainable Development

Preamble

Research is conducted to generate knowledge and this knowledge should be relevant to the needs of local communities and impact lives. In Southern Africa, most of the research output from institutions of high learning such as universities is not translated into solutions for industry and social needs. Hence there is a need to harmonize postgraduate research and its relevance to societal needs. In the process of solving societal problems, postgraduate research should also create employment and impart entrepreneural skills to communities. This will create a pathway of transfering knowledge from institutions of higher learning to industries. In this way, research will stimulate growth and development which is relevant to developing countries in Southern Africa. This conference therefore is aimed at challenging the status quo of how and why research is conducted in our universities and the role of research in changing societies and creating employment opportunities.

Research is conducted to generate knowledge and this knowledge should be relevant to the needs of local communities and impact lives. In Southern Africa, most of the research output from institutions of higher learning such as universities is not translated into solutions for industrial and social needs. Hence there is need to harmonise postgraduate research and its relevance to societal needs. In the process of solving societal problems, postgraduate research should also create employment and impart entrepreneurial skills to communities. This will create a pathway of transferring knowledge from institutions of higher learning to industries. In this way, research will stimulate growth and development which is relevant to developing countries of Southern Africa. This conference therefore is aimed at challenging the status quo of how and why research is conducted in our universities and the role of research in changing societies and creating employment and opportunities.

Goal of the conference

The goal of the conference is to provide a platform for sharing information on Postgraduate Research with regards to best practices relevant to countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The specific objectives of the conference are:

  • To provide a regional platform for knowledge sharing and to integrate and coordinate initiatives in graduate research.
  • To support capacity development through collaborative research for sustainable development.
  • To raise awareness and mobilization for research support to a broad range of stakeholders with the view of ensuring participation and ownership of interventions.

Future plans

The conference is an initiative by the School of Graduate Studies, University of Botswana and School of Research and Postgraduate Studies, North West University (South Africa). Although the inaugural conference to be convened this year is hosted by the University of Botswana, in the country where the SADC headquarters is also hosted, in the future the conference shall be hosted annually rotating among SADC countries universities as much as possible. This possible rotational plan will enhance SADC's regional integration objective. It is hoped that efforts through this conference will help towards achieving the SADC aspirations of a common future for now and beyond. This conference will particularly benefit the Regional Indicative Strategic Plan (RISDP) that contains 12 priority areas. Under the RISDP, the most relevant priority area is that of "Human and Social Development" (Priority 12). One of the objectives of the RISDP under this prority area is to increase supply and availability of qualified personnel in critical skill areas including science and technology and ICT.

Conference Website

http://sadc-icprsd.ub.bw

 

In pursuit of academic excellence