The School of Medical Sciences, UCC would be hosting the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Visiting Scholar, Dr. Olumayokun Olajide, from the University of Huddersfield, UK from 9-23rd of September, 2017. As part of his activities at UCC, Dr. Olajide would give two faculty lectures on Tuesday 12th and Monday 18th September, 2017. He would also facilitate a half-day workshop on grantsmanship on Monday 18th September, 2017. All these activities are open to all postgraduate students free of charge.
The Department of Optometry in collaboration with a United Kingdom-based NGO, Vision Aid Overseas has organised a two-day eye screening exercise for the people of Nkanfoa in Cape Coast. The exercise, the second to be organised this year, after the first was held at Abakrampa in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese District, forms part of a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)between the Department and Vision Aid. A five-member team from the UK and some staff and students of the Department are taking part in the free eye screening exercise. In an interview, the Head of Department, Dr. Emmanuel Kwasi Abu, said the outreach programme would be held twice each year till the expiration of the existing agreement. Dr. Abu indicated that the team will be back in April next year to provide similar services to both the department and selected communities. He noted that the team was made up of professional Optometrists who would be deployed to provide optometry education through teaching clinical students in the Department for two weeks as part of the MoU. According to him, the team would also provide eye glasses for clients who will require them for a token. “Those who do not get their prescribed lenses here will be provided for at a later date from Accra”, he noted.
The Centre for Coastal Management (CCM) in conjunction with the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences is holding an intensive training course on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for selected officials from some government agencies, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). GIS is a computer system built to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and display all kinds of spatial or geographical data. The five-day training programme is aimed at building the capacity of participants on GIS and the need to improve sustainable development of coastal environment. Some of the topics to be treated at the workshop are Introduction to GIS, Developing Effective GIS Teams, Global Positioning System, Effective GIS Leadership and Communication. Giving an overview of the USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project, the Director of the Centre, Prof. Denis Aheto, noted that the project was to support government to achieve its middle-income development goals of poverty reduction, food security, sustainable fisheries management and coastal biodiversity conservation. He said CCM has been providing capacity building, research, and extension in coastal and fisheries management beyond the confines of the University. Annually, he said, CCM, through the support of USAID, trains personnel in areas as coastal governance, marine affairs, fisheries management, amongst others. The Director of CCM used the opportunity to introduce participants to FishCoMGhana, a platform which provides information on relevant data through the internet to support fisheries and coastal resource management and research in Ghana. He explained that FishCoMGhana serves as a one-stop shop for accessing historical data rescued from various sources and also contains social and scientific information, including new field observations and experimental results on inland, marine and coastal fisheries, as well as other resources in Ghana. He said as part of measures to curb the menace of dissertation malpractices among students, all the public universities have agreed to put all theses by their students on the online platform. That, he pointed out, would reduce the incidence where students go to other institutions to copy the works of their colleagues and present them to their supervisors as the originators of the works. In his opening remarks, the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences, Prof. Justice K. Sarfo, urged participants to make good use of the knowledge they would acquire during the week-long workshop to transform operations at their workplaces. The Head of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Dr. Noble Asare, stressed the need for officials of the MMDAs to keep data for future development of their assemblies.
THE FACULTY OF ARTS PRESENTS ITS MAIDEN PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES FOR THE 2017/2018 ACADEMIC YEAR. TOPIC: Naive Realism: The Rejected Stone that Becomes the Chief Corner Stone in Epistemological Theorising SPEAKER: DR. HUSEIN INUSAH DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER, 2017 VENUE: FACULTY OF ARTS CONFERENCE ROOM NB: Kindly download the abstract of the presentation below.
A team of researchers from the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences has expressed the University’s commitment to partner government to produce the requisite sugarcane for processing at the Komenda Sugar Factory. The research team led by Dr. Aaron T. Asare of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, through a pilot studies used rapid technology to develop the planting materials to produce a variety of sugarcane with very high level of sucrose and brix (the main products for the production of sugar) at the University’s Experimental Field. Addressing the press on campus, Dr. Asare said the sucrose and brix levels of the UCC sugarcane of 15-23 per cent was far above the minimum for industrial production adding “the University of Cape Coast has the research expertise to put together a short-medium and long term research plan for execution in collaboration with other stakeholders to enable the Komenda Sugar Factory operate”. He observed that lack of adequate research and planning contributed to the closure of the Komenda Sugar Factory few days after its inauguration in May 2016. Dr. Asare also noted that the team had come up with innovative irrigation module that could be harnessed to process water from River Pra and the sea to facilitate sustainable production of sugarcane in farms around the Komenda catchment area. He refuted suggestions that Ghana could not produce the right variety of sugarcane by pointing out that “sugarcane is a tropical crop and Ghana is a tropical country and, therefore, we have the requisite soil and climate factors for sugarcane cultivation”. In line with the government’s one district one factory policy, Dr. Asare said the University needed government’s definite policy and commitment to link research to industry at all levels for sustainable running of the current Komenda Sugar Factory. He therefore made a passionate appeal for “government commitment, financial support and release of land for use”. Giving the background of the work of the team, the Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, Prof. David K. Essumang, said the University constituted a team of researchers to bring out ideas that would contribute to the effective running of the Komenda Sugar Factory prior to its inauguration in 2016. He said after interacting with the managers of the factory, the team focused their work on developing the requisite varieties of sugarcane for the production of sugar; identifying cost effective irrigation technology and managing soil fertility. Prof. Essumang said the press conference was aimed at showcasing what the research group of the University has done concerning the Komenda Sugar Factory noting that “It is feasible if we use local research, we can run the factory.” Present at the press conference were the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Prof. Livingstone K. Sam Amoah, Dean School of Biological Sciences, Prof. Justice K. Sarfo and some lecturers from the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences.
The Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast is organising a one-day training workshop on " Gender Sensitive Practice in Healthcare Delivery' for Health Professionals in Ghana. The workshop is aimed at sensitising and building the capacity of health professionals in identifying and addressing gender issues in their practice and service delivery. Date: Wednesday 13th September, 2017 Time: 8:30am Venue: Cape Coast Teaching Hospital Conference Room
The Dean would like to welcome all fresh and continuing students of the University of Cape Coast, especially students of the Faculty of Arts, back to campus. Enjoy your stay!
The Centre for Educational Research, Evaluation and Development (CERED) conducted a two-day workshop on the theme, “Research and Publication for Early Career Researchers” for faculty members of the Mt Mary College of Education, Somanya. The training was organized at the invitation of management of the College. The training was held at its campus in Somanya on the 14th and 15th of March, 2017. The two-day workshop was aimed at introducing early higher education academics to writing tit-bits. It also looked at how to prepare grounds for institutions to know how to develop research agenda at institutional, departmental and individual levels. The team led by the Coordinator of the Centre in the person of Dr. Mark Amponsah effected this assignment together with other faculty members from the University of Cape Coast, namely, Dr. Might Kojo Abreh, Dr. Christopher Yaw Kwaah and Dr. Lebbaeus Asamani. At the end of the two-day session, the CERED team proposed a mentoring relationship as the way forward to engage the tutors on how to research and get published in peer reviewed journals. Through this workshop, participants gained insight and confidence in scientific writing. The activities undertaken during the training include understanding of types of academic papers and research paradigms; appreciation of the general structure of a journal paper and issues to consider when deciding to publish in a refereed journal. In addition, strengthening participants’ skills in APA referencing styles (the most common for publishers in education related fields) and the use of Mendeley; and how to avoid plagiarism were considered. Finally, participants were instructed on how to develop a college-based research agenda as well as held discussion on the proposed mentoring arrangement with the college tutors. The mentoring relation thereafter was instituted with four research-working groups of the college. Each of the four resource persons would work as critical Friends to each research group. Mr. Agyekum Darkwa (The vice Principal) on behalf of his colleagues and MMCOE acknowledged the importance of the workshop and thanked CERED for the opportunity to share their research knowledge and experience with the tutors.
The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cluster Farming Holding Limited (CFH), a commercial company which focuses on agriculture, aquaculture, sales, food and supply chain management. The purpose of the MoU is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship which will stimulate cooperation and strengthen research, teaching and outreach to promote development, broaden experiences and promote sharing of knowledge and understanding amongst staff and students of UCC and workers and management of CFH. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, signed for UCC, whilst the Managing Director of CFH, Mr. Gerrit Valkenburg, initialed for CFH. The MoU shall among others allow students of the School of Agriculture to do attachments at CFH for the purpose of practical training and collection of data for their projects. The MoU permits the students to visit the CFH Farms during field trips and also facilitates UCC staff and students to collect data from the Farm for research purposes. CFH will supply day-old chicks and cat fish fingerlings to UCC for research, teaching and commercial production purposes and, CFH will also facilitate collaboration and cooperation between the School of Agriculture and colleges/faculties in the Netherlands. On its part, UCC will help CFH to give talks on emerging issues in their livestock and fishery industry and also assist CFH in its breeding and management programmes. In an address, Prof. Ampiah said the signing of the MoU was a clear demonstration of the commitment of both the School of Agriculture and CFH to partner and to discharge their responsibilities professionally. “…this is the responsibilities you have taken upon yourselves, but I believe that you will be able to do it. Please make sure you don’t fail us. If you fail us, you have failed the whole University,” he said. Prof. Ampiah advised the two partners to eschew lackadaisical attitude towards the objectives of the MoU. For his part, Mr. Valkenburg thanked the University management for giving CFH the opportunity to partner the School of Agriculture. He assured the Vice-Chancellor that the CFH would abide by the provisions in the MoU. Present at the signing ceremony were the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro; Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and the Dean School of Agriculture Prof. Elvis Asare Bediako. Others were the Head, Department of Agriculture Economics & Extension; Prof. Festus Annor-Frimpong; Head, Department of Animal Science, Head, Department of Soil Science, Prof. B. A. Osei; Dr. Julius Hagan; Head, Department of Crop Science, Dr. (Mrs.) Grace C. van der Puije and Coordinator, Technology Village, Dr. Kwame Agyei Frimpong
A member of the Planning Committee for the Ghana Astronomy Radio Observatory, Dr. Bernard Duah Asabere, has urged students to embrace the study of Astronomy as it has a wide range of job prospects for them after school. According to him, Astronomy was a very important field of study because it had enormous benefits and also enabled students to explore other opportunities even if they would not remain in the field. “Astronomy is a wide field. There is a vast range of things you can do. we have all those interdisciplinary like physics, astroarchaeology, astrogeology, infra-reds astronomy, radio astronomy, among others”, Dr. Asabere made these remarks at a seminar organized by the School of Physical Sciences at the Main Auditorium. It was on the topic “Radio Astronomy in Ghana”. The seminar, which was jointly organised by both students and faculty of the School, was aimed at making students and other stakeholders of the School aware of the benefits of the study of Astronomy. He told the students that jobs abound for those who do not intend to remain in the field, saying “Job is not a problem for astronomist. you can work in the banks, insurance companies, even if you want to get out of the field". Dr. Asabere indicated that there were plans to run the programme on part time basis for a start in the University of Cape Coast. The Programme Manager of Physics with Astrophysics, Prof. Melvin Hoare, speaking on Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA), said the DARA project was aimed at developing high tech skills using radio astronomy in a number of African countries. He said the DARA project would afford students opportunity to be trained in the high tech skills of radio astronomy. A past student of the University of Cape Coast, Mrs. Naomi Asabere Frimpong, who touched on “My Journey in Astronomy”, shared her life experiences as a student of chemistry who later ventured into the field of Astronomy. She challenged the students to develop interest in astronomy because there were job opportunities for those who would studied the subject. For his part, the Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, Prof. David K. Essuman, thanked the resource persons for the insightful presentations to enlighten both students and faculty on the benefits of astronomy.