Scotland  

CR&DALL (the Centre for Research and Development in Adult and Lifelong Learning), the School of Education at the University of Glasgow and its partners would like to invite you to an international seminar to launch the Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Asia and Africa (SUEUAA) project funded by the British Academy under the Cities and Infrastructure programme, which is part of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

The project led by the University of Glasgow includes six international partners from Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The seminar will introduce the work of the project, and include both keynotes and breakout discussion groups around some of the issues identified in an earlier scoping exercise.

The project addresses a core problem in emerging economies of strengthening the urban engagement role of universities, and ways they contribute to developing sustainable cities in the context of the major social, cultural, environmental and economic challenges facing the global south. It uses a set of well-proven benchmarking tools as its principal method, and seeks to strengthen the capacity of universities to contribute to city resilience towards natural and human-made disasters. Examples of urban engagement include supporting the development of physical infrastructure, ecological sustainability, and social inclusion (including of migrants). It calls upon contributions from science and engineering, the arts, environmental sciences, social sciences and business studies. It assesses the extent to which universities in 6 countries under study can respond to demands of society, and how through dialogue with city stakeholders this can be enhanced and impact on policy; it uses a collaborative team from the UK and emerging economies.

Draft Agenda

12:30     Lunch

13:00     Introduction – Prof John Briggs, Clerk of Senate, University of Glasgow

An introduction to GCRF, and its importance within the University of Glasgow

13:20     Keynote 1 – Prof Charles Nherera, University of Zimbabwe

An introduction to the main work of the project from a Global South perspective

13:40     Keynote 2 – Prof Keith Kintrea, University of Glasgow

An introduction to a related GCRF project funded by the ESRC, the Global Centre for Sustainable, Healthy, Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods.

14:00     Breakouts 1: focussing on key themes of the project, led by partners from the Global South, together with researchers from the University of Glasgow:

Migration (Dr Zenaida Reyes, Philippine Normal University and Dr Muir Houston, University of Glasgow)

Economic and employment issues (Prof Nematollah Azizi, University of Kurdistan, and Dr Mpoki Mwaikokesya, University of Dar es Salaam)

Environmental resilience (Dr Heriel Moshi, University of Dar es Salaam and Prof Nickey Janse van Rensburg, University of Johannesburg)

14:30     Plenary including feedback from groups

15:00     Breakouts 2:

Gender issues (Dr Tendai Chakarisa, Africa University and Dr Lavinia Hirsu, University of Glasgow)

Health (Dr Sezar Dosky, University of Duhok, and Dr Muir Houston, University of Glasgow)

Sustainable energy/resource development (Dr Kamal Ketuly, University of Duhok and Dr Neil Burnside, University of Glasgow)

15:45     Plenary including feedback from groups

16:15     Seminar Closing remarks – Prof Mike Osborne, University of Glasgow and Dr Mosleh Mohammed Saeed Salih, President of the University of Duhok

The seminar begins with Lunch at 12:30 on the 19^th December 2017 in Room 432 in the St Andrew’s Building, University of Glasgow

To reserve your place, please register by contacting [email protected]