The annual Sustainability Research and Innovation (SRI) Africa satellite event took place from the 21st-24th of May 2024 at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban South Africa. The IWR was represented by the director, Prof N Odume, Postdoctoral fellow Dr F Materechera-Mitochi and recently qualified PhD candidates Mary Chibwe and Enahoro Owowenu. The SRI is a leading global platform to connect knowledge to action and advance a global sustainability transformation. The four-day event provided an opportunity for anyone working in sustainability – from research, business, government, and civil society – to showcase their work and knowledge to a continental audience and generate action around their priority issues. Participation took place in a variety of forms i.e., interactive plenary sessions, workshops and tutorials, and targeted networking activities.
The event was centred around four themes:
- Green Transitions
- Transforming Technologies and the Future of Work
- Living on the Frontlines of Change – the Arctic and Beyond
- Powering the Word.
This year’s satellite event had the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of Kwa-Zulu Natal as the academic hosts and incorporated numerous platforms to showcase its involvement in sustainability science research and innovation, including taking the lead in both the opening plenary on the first day (titled Toward Climate Justice for the Most Vulnerable Communities) and the closing plenary on the last day under the title From theory to action: UKZN’s Leadership in Sustainable Research and Innovation. Representation from all regions on the continent was present.
The event was also an opportunity to increase visibility and awareness of the work of the Future Earth Africa Hub and its Leadership Centre which Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 is a partner in. The Leadership Hub led an informative session under the title: Shaping the future of knowledge coproduction and transformation co-design toward sustainability in Africa. Prof Odume was one of the speakers in this session. The SRI satellite event has always maintained a focus on capacity building of Early Career Researchers as a priority focus area and this is reflected in the inclusion of targeted activities in the event program. Dr Materechera-Mitochi presented a talk as a speaker in a session titled How African ECRs can shape African Sustainability Science Innovation. Amongst the highlights of the satellite event was the official launch of the Belmont Forum Africa Regional Call on the last day by Executive Director of the Belmont Forum Dr Nichole Arbour. The announcement of the call was met with much interest amongst delegates and was followed by a session lead by the Belmont Forum aimed at explaining the breadth and flexibility of this multinational funding process and to help you to start planning your next Belmont Forum project proposal. Overall, the satellite event was successful in achieving the objective of connecting knowledge to action through networking between diverse actors in sustainability science and innovation in Africa and by so doing make a meaningful contribution to the advance a global sustainability transformation.