RIMI4AC Capacity Building School, Buea, Cameroon

Research Management & Staff Development - Capacity Building School  for Central & West Africa, 28-29 July 2011

The University of Buea, Cameroon will host a Research Capacity Building School, with the theme “The Research Office: its place within the University” from July 28-29 2011. The event (which will be facilitated by the Association of Commonwealth Universities) will bring together both Research Management/Administrators and Researchers at the early, middle and senior levels of their careers.  The School will look at relations between Research Management/Administration Office (RMO) staff, and academic staff; relations between the Research Office and other administrative units (finance, human resources and public relations), as well as key components of the institutional planning structure, such as the allocation of research resources and the University Research Committee(s).

The event will facilitate  rigorous engagement of Research Managers/Administrators, and strengthen their skills on research and innovation management. It will especially focus on ways in which the RMO (and university) can better support and develop early career researchers.  It will also provide training on proposal writing; building and sustaining international collaborations; accessing and exploiting research; and using research funding databases. The school will provide an opportunity for the participants, from Central and Western African Universities  to share experiences and create new contacts.

One of the Capacity Building School sessions will run jointly with the Commonwealth Summer School, on 29th July.  (The Commonwealth Summer School runs from 26-30th July and will be held at the same venue) 

Programme
The event will run over two days - Thursday 28th and Friday 29th July.  Please see the provisional Programme for details

Expected outcomes

The Capacity Building School is expected to result in - The improvement of the capacity of Research  and Innovation Management/Administration staff to serve the research community & mission of their institutions. It will also enable enhanced networking between junior/middle level administrators, and early career researchers in the two regions.

If you would like to attend this event please let us know by emailing e.falk@acu.ac.uk

Call for Bursary Applications

We are pleased to announce that there will be a number of bursaries available to support the attendance of delegates at the conference.  The Bursaries will cover air travel cost and accommodation up to EUR 750. Applicants will be reimbursed by the ACU for travel and accommodation costs upon receiving appropriate documentation from candidates. The bursaries are open to the following categories of persons working in Universities in Central and West Africa;

• Institutional Staff with responsibility for Research Management
• Early or mid-level career researchers

How to apply

Bursary applicants should submit a 300-word statement describing how their work relates to the themes of the event, how attendance will be useful to them in their future work, and detailing any particular interests amongst the topics to be covered.  For Administrators, your statement should clearly show the relevance of the event to your present functions.  For early career researchers, your statement should clearly indicate the motivation to develop a research career (such as evidence of writing grants).

Please download and complete an APPLICATION FORM and email it to  Dr Josepha Foba Tendo: (HOD/Research & Publications, University of Buea, Cameroon) jnfoba@yahooo.com by 7^th June 2011.

The Capacity Building School is being organized as part of the EU-funded RIMI4AC project which aims to improve Research and Innovation Management in Africa and the Caribbean.  For further information on the RIMI4AC project, please visit the website at  http://rimi4ac.typepad.com/

If you would like to attend this event or require further information please let us know by emailing e.falk@acu.ac.uk