ECRLF Conference: Promoting Multidisciplinary Research Approaches for Sustainable Development: 6-8 July 2021

The Future Africa Research Institute, University of Pretoria Early Career Research Leader Fellowship (ECRLF) Conference: Promoting Multidisciplinary Research Approaches for Sustainable Development will be held on 6-8 July 2021.

The ECRLF programme set out to offer an opportunity for the development of research leaders that will be able to fill in a critical gap in the African research capacity ecosystem.

This conference/workshop is organised to mark the end of the ECRLF programme.

The Fellows who were involved achieved various outputs and achievements. Some important activities that were supposed to take place face-to-face did not happen because of travel restrictions occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic. This conference seeks to bring an alternative engagement process to increase the impact of the project that was undertaken by Fellows who received research funding. The Future Africa Research Institute, in collaboration with Laikipia University, has organised a workshop as a platform for the Fellows to disseminate their research findings, identify future opportunities for new participants and consolidate leadership training for learners who may want to undertake postgraduate studies in related areas. The workshop will be conducted at Laikipia University.

The following are the objectives of the workshop:

To connect disciplines within the natural and social sciences and the humanities that are affected by, or engage with, specific goals shared by scholars, practitioners in industry and nongovernmental organisations, and policymakers (transdisciplinary).
To encourage mutual learning and joint problem solving to create sustainable solutions in a real-world context.
To integrate the Fellow into a Pan-African network of researchers that are geared towards advancing a new paradigm for African science.
Strengthen the research of the Fellow at her/his home institution as well as the hosting institution.
Using the project as a basis to launch or advance the development of a research programme at the home institution of the Fellow.
Promoting interaction between a University of Pretoria researcher and academic leaders at the home institution of the Fellow.

Thematic areas of ECRLF workshop: