MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

RIE-SETEXPO 2015

First Call for Papers

THEME: RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION

Preamble

The Research and Intellectual Expo – Science, Engineering and Technology (RIE-SET) Week is a Zimbabwean initiative bythe Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Developmentthat was set up to showcase the best research and intellectual work by Zimbabweans both at home and in the Diaspora. It seeks to harness the very best research and intellectual work by Zimbabweans for national development. It therefore provides a platform for sharing knowledge, networking and collaborating for all Zimbabweans and other stakeholders. Since the inaugural expo in 2011, the Expo has established a reputation as a focal point for new ideas and new practices in research and learning.

The Expo will address a range of critically important topics under the various sub-themes. Plenary speakers will include some of the country’s leading luminaries in various disciplines, as well as numerous paper, workshop and poster presentations by researchers.

The theme for the fifth edition of the RIE-SET Week is:“Research and Innovation for Socio-Economic Transformation.” The Expo is scheduled to take place in the 1st week of September 2015 at a venue to be announced. It will bring together Zimbabweans from all disciplines to share latest research findings and brainstorm new research ideas across disciplines. The Expo is a unique forum for academics and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests to meet and interact with each other. We are therefore inviting papers on sub-themes that will deal with issues around this year’s theme.

There is a common consensus that Zimbabwe is currently facing numerous challenges that are affecting people’s relations to time, space and society as a whole. From that perspective, the constraints bedeviling the economy should be taken as an opportunity to introduce social transformations that aim to redefine society as espoused in the country’s economic blueprint - the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZIM ASSET). The economic blueprint identified four major pillars that the nation needs focus on in order to rejuvenate economic performance namely food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities as well as value addition and beneficiation.

In that context, the challenge for Zimbabwean researchers consists of identifying not only the failures but also the new avenues and opportunities that are emerging. Through research and innovation aligned with the ZIM ASSET perspective, RIE-SET Week 2015 seeks to understand research-oriented innovative development outputs that could produce action-oriented knowledge which has a determining influence on social transformation.

It is through a new way of seeing and solving problems that research innovations can play an influential role in the process of social transformation.

Researchers wishing to submit papersfor the RIE-SET Week 2015 are invited to do so. The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday the 27th of February 2015. Authors with abstracts that are selected for presentation at the RIE-SET Week will be notified by the 27th of March 2015 and will be expected to submit full papers by the 12th of July 2015. In particular, we invite them to addresssub-themes relating to how research and innovation promote socio-economic transformation.

Papers to be presented can cover any of the following sub-themes:

  1. Arts, Culture and Humanities
/
  • Unhu/Ubuntu for social transformation
  • African Philosophy and governance
  • African indigenous knowledge systems for socio-economic transformation
  • Culture, identity and social transformation
  • Empowering youths through arts and culture
  • Transforming the economy through humanities
  • Indigenous languages, innovation and socio-economic transformation
  • Puncturing imperial discourse through African Critical Theory
  • African authorship and intellectual property rights.
  • Ethics and artistic production

  1. Social Sciences
/
  • Regional economic development
  • Intra-trade; Common market
  • ICTs for socio-economic transformation
  • Entrepreneurship for socio transformation
  • Public – Private Partnership
  • Indigenization and empowerment
  • Gender and socio-economic transformation
  • Youth empowerment
  • Gender based violence
  • Decision making and investment
  • Trade and Investments
  • Emerging epidemiologies and their impact on socio-economic
transformation
  1. Religion and Spirituality
/
  • “Gospereneurship”
  • African religion and social transformation
  • Harnessing African values from foreign religions
  • Zimassetising Africa-centred metaphysics
  • Religion and gender: An African perspective
  • Methodological approaches to research in Africa – centred metaphysics
  • Interreligious dialogue for national development
  • The interface of religion and politics
  • Religion, peace and conflict

  1. Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism
/
  • Agricultural production, value-chain and the environment
  • Tobacco production, value-chain and the environment
  • Climate change: Implications and opportunities
  • Scale of agricultural production and socio-economic transformation
  • Conservation of natural resources for socio-economic transformation
  • Promoting agriculture and tourism linkages
  • Biotechnology, agriculture and the environment for socio-economic transformation
  • Promoting agricultural niche markets for socio-economic transformation
  • Innovative agricultural financing for socio-economic transformation
  • Gender, environment, agriculture and socio-economic transformation
  • Utilization of Invasive species
  • Land-tenure systems

  1. Education
/
  • Technical Vocational Education and training
  • Enhancing curriculum delivery through ICTs
  • Inclusive Education
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Culture and Education
  • Curriculum Review for National Development
  • Education for poverty eradication
  • Quality Assurance in education
  • Education for sustainable development
  • Gender and diversity in education
  • Unhu/Ubuntu and Education
  • Language and education
  • Education for national conscientiousness

  1. Science Engineering and Technology
/
  • Value Addition and Beneficiation
  • Information Society Technologies
  • Biotechnology
  • Capacity Building for Research and Development
  • Energy Development and power management
  • Green technologies
  • Emerging technologies
  • Food Product development
  • Mining and Metallurgy
  • Manufacturing/Engineering technology
  • Transportation and Logistics
  • Infrastructure development and Services
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialisation
  • Product Design and Development
  • Process Engineering
  • Water and Sanitation
  • Quality Assurance and Control for Global Competitiveness

  1. Health and Well being
/ Category A: Biomedical Research and Development
  • Evidence Based Health Practice
Diseases Diagnostic Tests
Diseases Modelling/Biostatistics
  • Organ Transplant Medicine
Stem Cell Research
 Medical Nanotechnology Practice
  • Medicines and Vaccines Therapeutic Development
  • Prostheses Development (Artificial Limbs, Pace Makers etc.)
  • Scientific Medical and Industrial Equipment Maintenance and Repair
Category B: Public Health
  • Nutrition and Diet Food Security at Household Level
  • Lifestyle Diseases
  • Reproductive Health
  • Water, Sanitation and Environmental Health
  • Climate Change and Health
  • Application of Framework for Sanitary Safety in Trade
  • Health Policy and Legislation Frameworks (Public Health Act, International Health Regulations)
  • African Spiritual Health/healing
  • Medical Tourism
  • Occupational Safety and Health
  • Health care Financing
  • Access to Health Care/community participation
  • Private Partner Participation
  • Ethics in Health Practice
  • The Food Value Chain and Food Safety
  • Biosafety and Biosecurity Regimes
  • Bioterrorism
  • Health Information systems
  • Quality Assurance/ Patient Satisfaction
  • Alternative Medicine (homeopathy, acupuncture, religion)
Category C: Management of Diseases, Pests and Vectors
  • Zoonotic Diseases and Pests
  • Diseases, Diagnosis and Technologies
  • Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases
  • Human-Domestic Animal-Wildlife Interface
  • Epidemiology and Diseases Control
Category D: Sports
  • Sports Medicine
  • Physical Exercise
  • Physical Health
  • Physiotherapy

  1. Management, Leadership and Governance
/
  • African leadership Systems
  • African leadership behaviour and management
  • Corporate Governance
  • Citizen Participation
  • Governance in Post Colonial Africa
  • Social Justice
  • Leadership for corporate social responsibility
  • Formulating creativity in leadership and Corporate Governance
  • Gender in Governance and Leadership
  • Management for sustainable development and transformational leadership

Guidelines for papers

Papers must be between 4000 to 6000 words maximum and must have a 100 word abstract at the beginning with a 50 word bio-sketch of the author. Papers must be on double spaced A4 paper, tables, graphs, pictures must be camera ready. All copyrighted material must be cleared by the author. References and notes must be cited in the paper as author and date, full reference to be given at the end of paper.

Only those authors who submit full papers by given deadline will be allowed to present at the expo. After the presentations at the expo all papers will be first subjected to the ithenticate antiplagarism software. Those with a similarity index of less than 5 % will then be subjected to a through peer review process. Papers accepted by the peer reviewers will be published in the two journals namely: Journal of Zimbabwe Studies: Science, Technology and Health and Journal of Zimbabwe Studies: Arts, Humanities, Education

Abstracts should be submitted to the RIE-SET Secretariat at the following address: Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE), 21 J.M. Nkomo Road, Box H100, Hatfield, Harare. You can also submit via e-mail

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