(Source: The Association of African Universities (AAU), interview, Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Andreas Mehler, Abena D. Oduro, Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, 5th Oct. 2018)

The Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) has held its inaugural conference at the University of Ghana. Under the theme “Africa’s Institutions for Sustainable Governance” the event spanned between Thursday, 27th and Friday, 28th of September, 2018. The conference was attended by over 300 scholars from universities in Germany and across Africa. Participants were enlightened on topics in the areas of Gender, Democracy, Sustainable Energy, Agriculture, Elections and Peace during keynote addresses and plenary sessions.

This inaugural event featured the fundamental role of Africa’s institutions, past and present, in shaping sustainable governance - in the fields of democracy, conflict management, economy, and socio-ecological transformation - and stimulated discussions about knowledge production in African contexts, drawing on the experiences of academics and professionals from diverse disciplines.

Institutes for Advanced Studies all over the world are the ideal places for such interdisciplinary work, encouraging encounters of different generations of researchers and providing knowledge hubs for innovation. Therefore, the conference was devoted to developing the philosophy of MIASA, the new research institute based at the University of Ghana.

Program

Conference program (download PDF)

Media coverage in relation to the conference   

The Association of African Universities (AAU), interview, Andreas Mehler, Abena D. Oduro, Gordon Crawford, Bernd Kortmann, 26th Sept. 2018