4th International Research And Development Conference
The SDD-UBIDS organised its fourth annual International Research and Development Conference between the 15th and 17th of October 2024 on the University campus. This year’s conference marks the fourth consecutive conference organised by this great University, following its autonomy in 2019. The conference comes under the theme: “Nine Years Down the Road to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: What is on Display from African Businesses and Other Stakeholders”. This translated into 23 sub-themes under which abstracts were invited. The University elected to use this conference as a platform to examine how far Africa has come in attempting to address these global challenges – nine years down the road to the year 2030. The Keynote Speaker for this year’s conference was Professor Godwell Nhamo from the University of South Africa. Also present were two panel discussants for the theme: Professor Hamidatu S Darimani, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr Hilla Limann Technical University and Mr Konton Salifu Issifu, Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA). This year’s conference attracted significant attention, with 104 registered participants from across many institutions in Ghana and beyond, including the University of Nigeria Nsukka, CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, University of Education, Wenniba, Ho Technical University, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Catholic University of Ghana, National College and Defence Studies, Ghana, Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization, and the Ghana Water Company Ltd. In all, about 40 postgraduate students registered for the conference.
The abstracts submitted for presentation at this year’s conference exhibit good quality, having successfully undergone a double-blind review process. A total of 118 abstracts were received, of which 81 were accepted, having passed the double-blind review and are scheduled for presentation. It is evident that this conference is making notable strides, given the consistent increase in participation from 2021 when the first conference was organised with about 40 participants. With elevated promotion and the necessary institutional support, this annual conference has the potential to draw more participants from more institutions within Ghana and beyond..
A 3-day Workshop on Referencing Software
The DRIC organized a 3-day training workshop on referencing software (i.e. Endnote, Zotero, & Mendeley) for university staff and postgraduate students on Wednesday, 22nd May 2024 at the New Auditorium, Bamahu. The objective of this workshop was to help build the capacity of staff and students to leverage technology to cite and generate references for their publications and thesis respectively. The workshop was opened by Prof. Bernard A. A. Akanbang – the Dean of Graduate Studies on behalf of the Vice of the Chancellor. In his address, he underscored the need for academics and postgraduate students to embrace technology to support their research efforts. He noted that postgraduates, in particular, should use the opportunity offered by DRIC to learn how to use software to organize and manage their citations and references in their thesis writing. In all, 110 participants including 72 students, 32 faculty, and 6 administrators participated in the workshop.
2024 Academic Visibility Seminar
The Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Consultancy (DRIC) has realised the need to organise a 1-day seminar on Academic Visibility for academic staff of the University on January 15, 2024, to (a) rouse the need to be visible as academics but also how to do it and (b) practically take participants through how to create a Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and ORCID accounts among others. While Professor Frederick Dayour, the Director of Research awakened the need for academic visibility and how to achieve it while Mr. Nicholas Tanye, the Ag. Head of Software and Systems, took the participants through practical sessions on how to open a Google Scholar, Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), ResearchGate, and LinkedIn accounts. About 82 participants from across all eight (8) faculties/schools registered and participated in the workshop.
The SDD-UBIDS second Research and Development Conference, which was held in Wa from November 2 to 4, 2022 under the theme “Leveraging Applied Research in Higher Education to Address Contemporary Development Issues”, marked another successful milestone as part of the efforts to make the new University a research-intensive university. The conference was attended by one hundred and twenty-five (125) registered participants compared to 62 people who participated in the 2021 conference. The theme focused on how research in higher educational institutions could be leveraged to address contemporary development issues. Professor Mariama Awumbila, who was the Keynote Speaker, shed light on the theme of the conference and stressed that the conference served as a platform for presenting innovative research findings and igniting debates across various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The presentations covered ICT and sustainable development, urban development and spatial planning, gender, conflict, and social inequalities, teaching pedagogies in contemporary education, climate change, sustainable agriculture, and disaster management, environmental policy and natural resource governance, capital development and financial economics, social policy and social work, poverty, livelihood and development, and indigenous knowledge systems among others. All 80 extended abstracts submitted for presentation went through a double-blind review process, out of which 77 were suitable for presentation at the conference. Parallel oral presentation sessions were organised for authors whose abstracts were accepted based on the blind review process. Each session was chaired/moderated by a senior academic expert assisted by a room rapporteur. Authors were required to revise their abstracts based on comments from reviewers and participants during presentations before acceptance for inclusion in this book of abstracts. The abstracts are of good quality and worthy of reading. The editorial team is thankful to the authors for their submissions and to the reviewers for the constructive comments that added quality to the abstracts.
Workshop on writing Policy and Advocacy Briefs
The DRIC organized a workshop for UBIDS faculty, administrators, and postgraduate students on crafting policy and advocacy briefs. This training was essential for enhancing researchers’ ability to convert their research findings into policy or advocacy briefs that policymakers can utilize. The University’s mandate to pursue applied research makes this training crucial, providing staff and students with the skills to translate complex research results into actionable policy recommendations for relevant authorities and users. Held over two days, from June 19 to 20, 2024, the workshop was facilitated by Prof. David Millar and attended by 87 participants.
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2024 Academic Research and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Seminar
DRIC organised a seminar on Academic Research and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for staff and postgraduate students on 16th February 2024. AI holds paramount importance for academic researchers across diverse disciplines. The advent of AI technologies has revolutionised the research landscape by offering powerful tools and methodologies that enhance efficiency, accelerate data analysis, and unlock new realms of knowledge. Therefore, DRIC aimed to build the capacity of university staff on research-based AI to enable them to take full advantage of such to accelerate their research endeavors. The event was attended by about 176 staff and students.
The Directorate of Research, Innovation, and Consultancy (DRIC), SDD-UBIDS, organised the third successive Research and Development conference between the 17th and 19th of October, 2023 on the University campus. The primary purpose for organising this conference and previous ones is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge among academics, researchers, scholars, and professionals. The Keynote Speech for this year’s conference was delivered by Prof. Ransford Edward Van Gyampo on the theme: “Bridging the gap between applied research, policy formulation, and implementation” followed by a panel discussion on the theme.
The conference garnered significant attention, witnessing about 92 registered participants hailing from diverse universities and institutions across Ghana, including the CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, the University for Development Studies, the University of Ghana, and the Ghana Health Service.
The papers submitted for presentation at this year’s conference exhibit a good level of quality, having undergone a rigorous double-blind review process with success. Compared to 72 papers presented in 2022, this year’s conference witnessed a surge in abstract submissions, totaling 104. Impressively, 84 of the abstracts (grouped under 13 different themes) successfully passed the blind review and were scheduled for presentation between the 18th and 19th of October, 2023. It is evident that this conference is making notable strides, and with more efforts and innovation, has the potential to draw even more participants from various institutions within Ghana and beyond.
The SDD-UBIDS maiden research conference held in Wa, on November 10 and 11, 2021 under the theme “Transforming Communities and Enterprise Development Amidst COVID-19 Through Impactful Research and Scholarship”, marked a successful milestone as part of the efforts to make the new University a research-intensive university and an epitome of Third Generation Universities. The conference focused on how research and scholarship can create an impact through the transformation of societies, businesses, and livelihoods, especially in developing economies. Consequently, the conference served as a platform for presenting innovative research findings and ignited debates across various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The presentations covered information communication and technologies, environmental sustainability, development planning, and governance, financial management and enterprise development, and conflict management, among others. All the 30 extended abstracts listed here went through a double-blind review process. Parallel oral presentation sessions were organised for authors whose abstracts were accepted based on the blind review process. Each session was chaired and moderated by a senior academic expert. Authors were required to revise their abstracts based on the comments from the reviewers and the participants during presentations before the abstracts were accepted for inclusion in this book of abstracts. The abstracts are of good quality and worthy of reading.
Three-Day Research Capacity-Building Workshop
As part of DRIC’s mandate to strengthen the capacity of staff members of the University to undertake quality research to help realise the University’s mandate of being a research-intensive institution and become globally visible, the Directorate, with the support of the University Management organized a 3-day capacity-building workshop between the 13th and 15th of June 2023. The workshop targeted Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and other non-academic staff of the University.
ECRs constitute a large portion of the population of academic staff in the University – often inexperienced in scholarly writing and lacking knowledge in the use of basic data analysis software hence the need to build their capacities to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the research drive to the University. Therefore, the 3-day workshop involving manuscript preparation and NVIVO software training saw about 65 participants taken through what goes into the various sections of an academic article and the basic uses of NVIVO – which is a qualitative tool.
Objectives of the workshop
- To expose ECRs (both academic and non-academic staff members) to the details required in publishing quality scientific papers
- To expose ECRs to qualitative data analysis software (NVIVO)
- To provide a platform for networking and collaboration among university staff.
Participation
The staff of the University showed great interest in this workshop. Sixty-five (65) academic and non-academic staff registered for the workshop with a lot more people calling in to register after the close of registration. The three days witnessed the active participation of participants.