A one-day workshop on interdisciplinary has been held at University of Cape Coast (UCC). The workshop forms part of the project dubbed, "Building Expertise and Training for growth in the consumer goods and Processing Industry in Ghana (BET GHANA)."
University of Cape Coast is currently collaborating with Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) in implementing three and a half years project funded by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) which translates in English to the German Academic Exchange Service..
The project, to enhance graduates' employment in the goods and consumer food industry, is also aimed at increasing the competiveness and growth of the Ghanaian consumer goods and processing industry and promote innovation and job creation, facilitated by the transfer of knowledge between the UCC and the private sector.
Addressing participants drawn from different Colleges and Directorates in UCC, a lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Engineering-UCC, Prof. Robert Sarpong Amoah, called for interdisciplinary research among teaching and non- teaching staff of UCC to solve problems confronting society.
Prof. Amoah, who treated the topic: "Interdisciplinary perspectives to food and consumer goods research in Ghana", bemoaned the lack of collaborative research among staff members, adding that multi-disciplinary research was the game changer to achieve a common goal amongst researchers.
He opined that Researchers working in silos- where, for example, the finance person is doing his market research and the social scientist is doing his research- were not the best to achieve a common research goal.
“Even though this approach is good. I believe that it is not going to produce the best of solutions because there is no cross talk (exchange of ideas),” Prof Amoah noted.
He noted there were numerous opportunities for multi-disciplinary researchers, including “gaining fresh insights and different perpectives, opens avenues for networking amongst professionals from different fields and, enhancing the significance of research for greater impact.”
Prof. Amoah walked participants through the challenges of multi-disciplinary research, mentioning, for example, the appointment of research team leaders, the choice of research and methods and, issues with journals for publication.
In a welcome address speech read by Prof. Daniel Agyapong on behalf of the Dean of the School of Business, Prof. John Gatsi, he lauded the project which had been of immense support to faculty in UCC.
He noted that unemployment had been exacerbated occasioned by Covid-19 and the Russia and Ukraine war. Prof. Gatsi added that the food and consumer industry could provide jobs for the teeming job seekers in the country and urged participants to take the workshop seriously.
THE BET GHANA PROJECT
BET Ghana is a project designed to increase capacities in applied research and teaching, entrepreneurship and digitalization in Ghana to enhance employability and self-employment opportunity for the Ghanaian youth, as well as to strengthen the international outlook, skills and opportunities for both German and Ghanaian graduates. It does so by building tighter networks with the private sector, offer training and enhance university education. The sectoral focus of the project is on the consumer goods and food processing industry.
Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC