Engagement Office colleagues, from left, Drs Rize van Rooyen and Bruce Damons together with Osabuohien Uwuoruya in Girona Spain; Participants at the 10th Living Knowledge Conference in Girona, Spain.
Director of the Engagement Office Dr Bruce Damons, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Engagement Office Dr Rize van Rooyen and PhD student and Resource Mobiliation Coordinator at the Engagement Office Osabuohien Clifford Uwuoruya represented the University.
The team also participated in the Knowledge for Change (K4C) consortium, and in working sessions with a consortium from the University of Limerick and North-West University towards Community Engaged Learning to Transform, Innovate, and Capacitate (CELTIC).
The team also attended the pre-conference Science Shop on June 25 and participated in the conference on the latest developments in international community engagements.
They presented the "Hubs of Convergence" as a pioneering approach to converged engagement.
Numerous potential international collaborations were established, and Dr Damons also attended various K4C meetings, where global hubs discussed strategic plans for future initiatives.
Professor Budd Hall, the UNESCO Co-Chair for Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, convened the K4C consortia. Mandela University will work to establish itself as a K4C hub on the African Hub, which is coordinated by Gulu University in Uganda.
In alignment with the Engagement Office’s objectives under the GCSSRP Grant, the University representatives met with the CELTIC Quartet colleagues to draft a proposed action plan for the grant period. The CELTIC Quartet also showcased their collaborative efforts to formalise community engagement within their institutions.