The theme, "Crossing the borders of knowledge", is part of an ongoing conversation about the nature of knowledge and knowers in a post-colonial setting. Increasingly, there is a need for multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to research that can tackle the complex problems of people and the planet.

The unprecedented changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic raise questions about who research is for and how it might best be disseminated. The university exists for society working with society to co-create knowledge that can make a meaningful impact in the world.

The conference comes at a time when universities are trying to grasp a way forward through post pandemic discourses, practices and realities. How do we construct a environmentally-sustainable and socially just reality through research? How can our research contribute in crossing the boundaries of knowledge such that the emergent knowledge is transformative? How do we move away from the university as closed-off ‘ivory tower’ to instead serve as a space of solidarity for knowledge exchange?