Accra, June 4, GNA – The University of Ghana, Legon (UG) has launch College of Humanities activities of the celebration of the day of Scientific Renaissance of Africa (DSRA) with a call on policy makers to bring all disciplines in sciences on board to achieve the desired developmental goals of the country.
Professor Joseph Mensah, a Professor of Geography at York University, Canada, who made the call, said: “There is the need to adopt holistic approach in our effort to promote science in Ghana”.
“The idea of we have Physics, we have Biology, we have Chemistry, among others, is good but if we have national issues to address, the way forward is holistic approach. We need all the disciplines in sciences, for example, Geographers, Psychologists, Economics, etc, to achieve total results”.
He said: “…We turn to undermine the utility of sciences, whenever we focus primarily on STEM, to the neglect of the humanities and the social sciences, in our well-intentioned advocacies for scientific research.
“Arguably, it is the synergic mutual interactions between the physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities that is bond to move our ‘development needle’ forward, and not the isolated contributions of the individual fields of study.
“If we want to move forward, we need to bring everybody to the table, otherwise, we are shortchanging the system,” he added.
Every June 30, the DSRA is celebrated to showcase the contribution African Scientists to the Continent’s development.
This year’s theme is “Celebrating Scientific Renaissance of Africa: A Holistic Approach to the Contribution of Science to National Development”.
As part of this year commemoration, the presentation celebrates the contribution of Ghanaian scientists to its national development, and highlights the challenges and prospects of the enterprise of science in Ghana.
Professor Mensah was also the former Head of the Department of Geography and the former Associate Director of the Harriet Tubmaan Institute for Research on the Global Migration of African Peoples at York University, Canada.
Professor Daniel Friempong Ofori, the Provost, College of Humanities, UG, said each College in the University would plan to execute activities of DSRA throughout the Month of June.
Professor Joseph Teye, the Director of Center for Migration Studies, UG and the Chairman of the Planning Committee, said the College of Humanities planned three set of activities to be implemented in the month.
The three sets of plan, he said, include the launch, Unit based activities, and exhibition of scholarly works, roundtable discussion with some renowned scientists about research work in Africa on June 27.
The University will also organise a bigger lecture to crown the celebration on June 30, 2022.
GNA