The University for Development Studies (UDS) has organized one of its flagship programs, which is usually held in September each year and allows researchers, students, and administrators from both within and outside the university to share their research and experiences.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Contemporary Global Crises: Threats and Opportunities for Research and Academic Freedom.”
Professor George Nyarko, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Seidu Al-Hassan, stated that the theme was carefully and purposefully chosen by the organizers, taking into account global crises-the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, climate change, and inflation, amongst others-and their impact on society and academic work.
He added that the conference also provides a learning ground for young researchers, especially Masters and PhD students, to showcase their research proposals and findings for comments and suggestions to improve upon their research work.
He revealed that the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIR) has worked hard to sustain the programme over the past 15 years.
“The importance of the research and the conference cannot be overlooked as they are vital in the development of every nation. This conference is, therefore, useful for both young and senior researchers [academic and administrative],” Prof. Nyarko said.
Dr. Abdulai Abubakari, who is the Director of IIR, mentioned that contemporary global crises come with challenges and opportunities for research.
According to him, these recent global crises present not only challenges to society but also opportunities for researchers to find solutions to them.
“Going through the abstracts, I could see a lot of interesting research work touching on various contemporary global issues,” he remarked.
The occasion was chaired by Dr. Vida N. Yakong, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Preventive Health Nursing of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She thanked the organizing committee, the entire staff of IIR and UDS, references, volunteers, paper authors, and presenters.
She also appreciated the Registrar, the Vice Chancellor, and the immediate past Directors of IIR for their technical pieces of advice and support.
