“AGC 2023,” the second (2nd) Annual Graduate Conference (AGC) for the year 2023, was held by the University for Development Studies (UDS) Graduate School. The two-day event began on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, and will take place at the Tamale Campus’ Multi-purpose Auditorium. Under the theme “Youth in Research for Sustainable Development,” the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) collaborated to organize the program, which brings graduate students together to present on issues related to their research topics.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of UDS Professor Elliot Haruna Alhassan gave the welcome and inauguration speech. He emphasized the significance of the seminar and compared it to the annual harmattan school, stating that both provide a platform for researchers to interact with one another and gain knowledge from their diverse fields of study. To get the most out of the two days of the event, he urged attendees to actively participate.
“One of the most innovative and exciting events created especially for postgraduate research students is the annual graduate conference. The program’s goal is to celebrate and advance academic excellence by providing a venue for the public and the larger university to view exceptional postgraduate work in an engaging manner. He said.
Professor Elliot went on to say, “Our graduate students have a special chance to be recognized as they share important results from their research conducted at this university. It’s comparable to the annual harmattan school hosted by UDS. This esteemed occasion also demonstrates the university’s dedication to providing graduate students with opportunities for professional development and capacity building.
Deans, department heads, and directors from the various faculties, departments, and directorates were present. Among the others were Amina Kaguah, a lawyer and managing partner of ENS Africa, and Professor Amin Alhassan, the director-general of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. Major participants whose research was on display were UDS post-graduate students in all faculties across the university’s two campuses.
During his keynote speech, Professor Amin Alhassan expressed gratitude to the UDS graduate school for organizing the AGC 2023 and mentioned the event’s theme, stating it was appropriate for the times.
The two main topics covered in Professor Amin Alhassan’s talk were the necessity for young people who have chosen research as a career to make sure their studies are based in the scholarly discourse that will advance the development that Ghanaians have been promised by our different national leaders over the years, for which important questions must be asked. Additionally, he emphasized that in order for research findings to reach their intended audience, they must be appropriately disseminated.
According to Prof. Amin Alhassan, local accountability and NGO activism represent the new paradigm in the field of study, and young people need to be very interested in these topics.
“We at UDS have an indisputable obligation to lead development research in Ghana, as we are the nation’s first university with the mandate to guarantee that our teaching and learning has the character of ensuring national development.” said Professor Amin.
“NGOs, which receive most of their funding from foreign donors, do not answer to the people; however, they justify their existence by claiming to be working on their behalf,” he continued. There is a lot of research on the subject, which is where the conference’s theme of youth for research in sustainable development comes in.
Professor Amin Alhassan emphasized that researchers must figure out how to get the word out to the general public about the results of their investigations. How do we present our new idea to the general public if we are working on the project of reinventing democracy, thinking creatively, and challenging the fundamental tenets of liberal democracy? And that has to do with sharing your research outside of scholarly journals, or dissemination.
“Our scholarship must go beyond publishing in the academic journal in order to translate knowledge for service into reality,” he continued. Dissemination refers to communication research activities that go beyond scholarly publications. We should all be very concerned about knowledge dissemination at a university that supports knowledge for service. Additionally, there are many channels for distribution; social media is just one.
Amina Kaguah, ENS Africa’s managing partner and attorney, gave the enrichment lecture. According to her, ENS Africa is a fully African-owned legal practice with operations in seven African nations.
Her presentation’s main goal was to inspire graduate students to work hard in their studies despite the difficulties that typically accompany it by drawing on her personal experiences. On Thursday, the two-day conference came to an end.
Source: Ghana360news.com
