THE SIXTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION WEEK AND RUFORUM BIENNIAL CONFERENCE, 22 – 26 October 2018

Theme: Aligning African Universities to Accelerate Attainment of Africa’s Agenda
2063
Call for Research Application Summaries/ Extended Abstracts 
Venue: Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi Kenya
 

RUFORUM is a network of 85 Universities in 35 African countries with mission to strengthen the capacities of universities to foster innovations for strengthening agri-food systems through the training of high quality researchers, the output of impact oriented research and the maintenance of collaborative working relations among researchers, farmers, national agricultural research institutions and governments. The RUFORUM Sixth African Higher Agricultural Education Week and RUFORUM Biennial Conference, will be held 22 – 26 October 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya along the theme “Aligning African Universities to Accelerate Attainment of Africa’s Agenda 2063”. The Conference will bring together over 800 participants to discuss and recommend how to strengthen higher agricultural education in Africa to effectively support the attainment of Agenda 2063 – the “Africa We Want”. The meeting will bring together key development partners and stakeholders including Vice Chancellors from agricultural universities, university staff and students, private sector and civil society representatives, policy makers including from the African Union Commission and member countries, Regional Economic Communities and Sub-regional organizations, development partners, members of the press and others. The meeting will be co-organized by RUFORUM, and all the RUFORUM Member Universities in Kenya and other partners. The African Higher Education Week and RUFORUM Biennial Conference is held once every two years. As part of strengthening dissemination of research outputs and lesson sharing RUFORUM invites interested authors (University researchers, researchers and scientists from National, regional and international l Research Institutes, Higher Education stakeholders and beneficiaries of RUFORUM supported projects, including postgraduates students and their supervisors) to submit Research Application Summary/“Extended Abstract” maximum of 8 page (for examples and guidelines of developing Extended Abstracts please visit www.ruforum.org). The deadline for submission is 15th October, 2018. The Abstracts should be submitted via an online platform accessed from the African Journal of Rural Development website www.afjrd.org For inquiries about your submission please use ruforumbiennial2018@afjrd.org and editor@afjrd.org All submissions will be peer reviewed and published as open access resource materials in a serialized RUFORUM Working document series (ISSN: 1993-8462) which will be made available to various stakeholders in both print and electronic formats. The publication is bilingual and authors are free to submit abstracts in either English or French.

Conference objectives are focused on:
        1. Unpack university transformation: From what to where and when?
        2. Effective support mechanisms that enable business-university collaboration
        3. University-farming communities engagement and transformation space
        4. Innovations for making agriculture attractive and driving growth in Africa
        5. Making a difference in Africa through capacity building in research, outreach and community engagement

Parallel sessions will feature:
1. Discipline specific sessions in the broader realm of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) including STEM for example in the fields of: agronomy and crop science, livestock production and production systems, engineering, soil science, metrology, climate change, environment and natural resources, forestry, entomology, nutrition, information and communication technologies-ICT, agricultural education and extension among others.
2. Strengthening the transformative potential and role of the universities
3. Bridging the gap between academia and agricultural practitioners to drive agricultural production
4. Fostering innovation capacity through partnerships between academia and practitioners in agricultural value chains
5. African Youths in the innovation and entrepreneurial arena: Models, dilemmas and frontiers
6. Managing risks in agricultural production and commodity value chains
7. Positioning universities as hubs for entrepreneurship and enterprise development
8. Women in entrepreneurship: closing the gender gaps through Financial Inclusion and capacity development
9. Beyond the Horizons: Engaging Philanthropists, Development Partners, industry, private sector decision makers and other relevant stakeholders in redesigning impact oriented universities.
10. Africa for Africa: promoting Pan-Africanism in capacity development and higher education mobility
11. Postharvest management: building capacity in research, innovation and technology transfer
12. Re-aligning curricula and mode of delivery to impart relevant knowledge and skills to improve agricultural productivity
13. Increasing Africa’s competitiveness through harnessing ICTs, energy resources and engineering and infrastructure development
14. Policy analysis and fore sighting for achieving agenda 2063

Important links for preparing and submitting extended abstracts 
Guidelines for Research Application Summary / Extended Abstract [ Download ]
Guidelines on how to submit extended abstracts [ Download ]
Sample extended abstracts [ Download ]

 For any further information you may require, please contact overall Chair Scientific Committee
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM)
 P.O Box 16811 Wandegeya - Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256-417-713-300 (Office)

Contact: Dr. Paul Nampala
Grants Manager,
RUFORUM E-mail: p.nampala@ruforum.org; editor@afjrd.org