A former Deputy Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, has urged the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CANS), to set up an interdisciplinary research team to undertake vigorous research and development projects to find solutions to local and national problems.
Speaking on theme “Fostering Interdisciplinary Partnership in the Life Sciences: Prospects and Challenges in a Globalised World,” Prof. Oteng-Yeboah said there were numerous benefits of Interdisciplinary Partnership in the Life Sciences. He said through that approach the College could investigate and explore the vital links in Agriculture, Forestry and Medicine to Biology for the human well-being.
Prospects of Interdisciplinary for CANS
Prof. Oteng-Yeboah who was the guest speaker at the fourth K. N. Eyeson Lecture organised by the School of Biological Sciences, noted that with interdisciplinary approach, the College could vigorously pursue research and development projects with collaboration with local industries and enterprises to find solutions to their operational difficulties. For instance, he said “What comes to mind immediately is the contribution to raw material availability for sugarcane and pineapple industries or enterprises, and also for lagoon, estuarine and coastal marine fishery for artisanal fishers, fish processing including fish smokers and fish mongers”.
Prof. Oteng-Yeboah said institutions that have already applied interdisciplinary approach equip their students to advance critical thinking and cognitive development and appreciate ethical dimensions of various disciplines. “Interdiscipline promotes significant learning in the sense of foundational knowledge application, integration, human dimensions, caring and learning and thus obtain insights into the process of learning” he noted.
The Professor of Botany said this approach to learning helped the student to appreciate the fact that the problems of the world were complex and, therefore, no single discipline could adequately describe and resolve them. Prof. Oteng-Yeboah was presented with citation by the School of Biological Sciences after he delivered the lecture.
About K. N. Eyeson Annual Lecture
The K. N. Eyeson lecture was instituted by the School of Biological Sciences to honour Emeritus Kodwo Ndzeba Eyeson for his outstanding contribution to his field of specialisation and also training some of the lecturers in the School.
Brief Profile of K. N. Eyeson Lecture
Emeritus Prof. K.N. Eyeson attended the St. Monica’s School (1942-44) Government Boys’ School (1952-51), Mfantseman School (1952-57) for his ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level examinations all in Cape Coast, and studied for the B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology (1958-62) at the University of Ghana. He proceeded to the University of Leeds and between 1965 and 1968, obtained a PhD in Zoology, specializing in Comparative Endocrinology.
Emeritus Prof. K. N. Eyeson had gone through all the gamut of teaching in the University of Cape Coast: he was appointed Assistant Lecturer by the University in 1963, he was promoted to Lecturer (in 1965) and then a Senior Lecturer in 1972. By dint of hard work, he was promoted again to the rank of Associate Professor in 1978 and ultimately to Professor of Zoology in 1988. He served as an Acting Vice-Chancellor of UCC from 1988-1989.
