UKZN hosts global Challenge
Top young researchers will gather in Durban next week to engage in solutions for sustaining the planet at third Biennial Global Change Conference.
THE brightest young “green” minds in South Africa will gather in Durban next week (5 to 8 December) to share, discuss and debate ways of sustaining the planet for the third Biennial Global Change Conference, hosted by the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal at the Elangeni Hotel.
At least 350 postgraduate students, academics and researchers from multiple disciplines are expected to attend the conference to explore solutions for complicated challenges around climate, water, food security, pollution, the environment, transformation, health and similar topics.
The conference is part of a ten-year Global Grand Challenge designed by the Department of Science and Technology as a project for global science, and is co-sponsored with the National Research Foundation.
The conference, which is being arranged with an “eco-friendly” approach, will be an opportunity for postgraduate students, academics, government officials and researchers to
meet, discuss their work, and collaborate on innovative solutions for global challenges facing southern Africa.
“The Global Change Conference is very much about a trans-disciplinary approach, reflected in the comprehensive breadth of topics covered in the presentations that will be made,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UKZN’s College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, Professor Deo Jaganyi.
A highlight of the programme will be a presentation in the opening plenary by eminent climate change and sustainable development expert Dr Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh and Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), who will be speaking on Reflecting on Climate Change Adaptation Science from a Developing Country Perspective.
The four-day conference also includes field trips to expose delegates to innovative programmes working to understand and mitigate any negative changes to the natural environment brought about by systematic global changes. Trips will include exposure to KwaZulu-Natal’s oceans, human settlements, catchments and grasslands.
