By J. K. Nabary
Winneba (C/R), June 30, GNA- Prof Esther Yeboah Danso-Wiredu, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), has advocated for continuity of projects and programmes by successive governments for sustainable development.
“This is one of the important things which needs a policy agenda to guide our governance and also go by it no matter which political party is in government to help the country forge ahead to develop,” she stated.
Prof Danso-Wiredu, made the call when she chaired the Eighth Biennial Social Science Conference on behalf of Professor Stephen Jobson Mitchual, Vice Chancellor of UEW at Winneba.
The conference, under the theme: “Bringing the gown to town; seeking sustainable development in a polarised world,” was aimed at ending the era of academic isolation.
It was hosted by the Faculty of Social Science Education and the Faculty of Liberal and Social Studies Education of UEW.
Principals, Deans, Directors, Students, Heads of Departments, Faculty Members and Researchers in and from other sister institutions across the country and globally, were in attendance.
As part of the conference, there was panel sessions where participants listened to the research that their colleagues and students have conducted, while fruitful discussions were also held to enrich their knowledge to help them to move from university campuses into the communities.
According to Prof Danso-Wiredu, the theme was very timely in an era where people were confronted with so many challenges, socially.
“It is therefore important as academia and researchers, to come together, look within the research we have gathered and conducted, and to see how best we could use such findings and recommendations to help improve the nation.”
The theme, she stated, was to remind them that their research should not just stay on shelves but get beyond their campuses for people to benefit.
Prof Anselm Komla Abotsi, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Education, explained that the conference, held every other year, was a platform where a marketplace of ideas were shared for them to pause and examine the tectonic shifts occurring within local societies and the global world.
According to him the Bio- Sciences Conference was established as a robust legacy to bridge theoretical scholars with contemporary societal development to deliberate on the research conducted, and use them to support the growth of society,
“The World around us is fractured by practical instability, economic volatility, and social fragmentation and it is within this complex landscape that we chose such a theme which is urgent call to action and a roadmap for the future, bringing the gown to town, sticking sustainable development in the polarised world.”
He said for centuries the academia, represented by the gown, has been accused of isolating itself within an ivory tower.
They have historically been perceived as insulated theorists comfortable in their lecture halls, generating research that gathers dust on the library shelves, while the real world, the town, grapples with existential crisis.
He added: “Bringing the gown to town means to deliberately dismantle this world and also to convert our growth, quantitative modelling, qualitative insights and structural theories into actionable policies that improves our daily lives.”
“Therefore, our social scientists, educators, our researchers must rise up to save the bridge that holds this device.”
GNA
Edited by Alice Tettey/Benjamin Mensah