PAUWES Res-2-Prac: PAUWES Research-2-Practice Forum 2018 PAUWES Institute at the University of Tlemcen Tlemcen, Algeria, April 16-18, 2018

Conference website	http://pauwes-cop.net/res2prac
Submission link	https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=res2prac
Submission deadline	January 8, 2018

Background

African Union – Agenda 2063

The guiding vision of the Agenda 2063 of the African Union is “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena”. The call for action of the Agenda 2063 with regards to energy refers to “harnessing all `African energy resources to ensure modern, efficient, reliable, cost effective, renewable and environmentally friendly energy to all African households, businesses, industries and institutions, through building the national and regional energy pools and grids,”. The Africa Water Vision 2025 and aspiration seventeen of the Agenda 2063 focus on the fact that “Africa shall have equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment”. With regards to climate change, aspiration seventeen of the Agenda 2063 requires that “Africa shall address the global challenge of climate change by prioritizing adaptation in all our actions, drawing upon skills of diverse disciplines and with adequate support (affordable technology development and transfer, capacity building, financial and technical resources) to ensure implementation of actions for the survival of the most vulnerable populations, including islands states, and for sustainable development and shared prosperity.”

PAUWES

A key role of PAUWES is seen in providing scientific and technological solutions to support a sustainable socio-economic development in the continent, science-based advice to policy makers on a local, national, regional and Pan-African level. PAUWES not only provides scientific knowledge for existing strategies but also acts as a think tank and thought leader in shaping future strategies.

The African Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA-2024) places science, technology and innovation at the epicentre of Africa’s socio-economic development and growth. Research, particularly applied research, can be considered as a tool and an enabler for achieving continental socio-economic development goals in order to accelerate Africa’s transition to an innovation led, knowledge based economy.

The lack of institutional networking is still a major challenge in the African research and educational landscape. The PAU as a whole aims to contribute to the establishment of networks in Africa and PAUWES aims to be the hub of a Pan-African research network in the area of energy, water and climate change.

Research-2-Practice Forum

Linking research and development as contributions to achieve goals of the Agenda 2063 is a priority for the Pan African University of the African Union. Applied research, networking and cooperation with strategic partners are essential pillars in this endeavour. In order to promote and support applied and practice-oriented research and strategic partnerships on renewable energy, water and climate security in Africa, the Pan African University Institute for Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES) with support from the German Government and in cooperation with a consortium of German universities (UNU-EHS, ZEF and ITT) led by UNU-EHS and the University Abou Bekr Belkaid in Tlemcen are jointly organizing an international forum in Tlemcen, Algeria from 23-25 April 2018.

The event builds on the integration of the following complementary components:

• Research components in line with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research to support synergies with institutions dealing with research questions addressed by ongoing research projects and priorities of the research agenda at PAUWES.
• Strategic networking components in line with the support of the German technical cooperation of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development though the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH” to support institutional development of the institute.

Main objectives and outcomes  

The Research-2-Practice forum aims to provide a platform for experts/scientists, education leaders, decision makers, entrepreneurs, private and public sector, policy makers, civil society actors and institutions interested or active in applied and practice-oriented research for development to discuss state of the art, challenges and innovative solutions in the areas of renewable energy, water and climate security and build strategic partnerships in Africa. The forum is in line with actions for the implementation of the cooperation and research strategy which further complements African Union goals to promote and support knowledge sharing and cooperation to addressing development challenges including leveraging opportunities for innovation.

The goals of the forum are:

• To discuss and exchange on the state of the art, challenges, practical and innovative solutions with regards to energy, water, and climate security in Africa in the frame of research questions addressed by ongoing projects and priorities of the research agenda at PAUWES
• To promote worldwide exchange of knowledge and cooperation between research and practice, beyond traditional “north-south” schemes whereby topics for joint research, collaboration initiatives and projects can be identified
• To assess and discuss practitioners’ approaches and solutions to challenges, lessons learned, best practices, and innovative models developed, etc. for cooperation between research and the private/public sectors(university/research and industry, science and policy)
• To explore modalities for multifaceted collaboration between researchers, policy makers and business based on learnings from notable cases, inventive research questions that have gained ground and understanding the partnership mixes/models that are compelling
• To strengthen the cooperation between PAUWES, African and international research institutions, Pan-African and international institutions, the private sector and civil society active in PAUWES related topics
• To support the integration of PAUWES into scientific networks in Africa and beyond and support the establishment of PAUWES as a Pan-African (and beyond) hub/platform for the topics of water, energy, climate change and their nexus
• To provide a platform for students to present scientific inputs in line with teaching and research activities at PAUWES and to expand their network to Pan African and international experts, institutions and companies especially in the fields of energy, water and climate change

Results and recommendations from the forum will be integrated into ongoing and future activities at PAUWES such as the consolidation and upscaling of results of ongoing research projects, initiation of joint project proposals for the implementation of the research agenda at PAUWES, the establishment of a Pan-African network and knowledge hub on the Water-Energy and Climate Change nexus. Furthermore the results and recommendation will be followed up and further discussed with regional and Pan-African institutions such as the African Union, African Development Bank, NEPAD and regional commissions.

Program & Costs

he forum is a three-day event bringing together renowned experts/scientists, educational leaders and policy and decision makers, entrepreneurs, representatives of Pan African and international institutions, actors from the private and public sector and civil society.  The first day will start with welcome and key notes speeches to set the institutional frame and the scientific context of the forum followed by discussions and exchanges on Water and Energy Security in the frame of the WESA at PAUWES projects, as well as a scientific poster session and science slam performed by students at PAUWES. The second day will focus on risk assessment and reduction strategies for sustainable resource supply in Sub-Saharan African cities and research questions, practical projects in the frame of priorities of the research agenda at PAUWES (refer to section: Call for Extended Abstracts). Working groups to initiate cooperation and discuss on joint projects will be organized throughout the day. The third and last day of the forum will focus on utility and application of results of research activities and projects at PAUWES in joint practice with actors from the private sector, civil society actors, policy makers, policy making institutions, transregional and Pan-African institutions.

The forum is structured in thematic sessions, panel discussions, poster sessions, workshops, exhibitions and open spaces dedicated to facilitate networking and research cooperation.  Scientific contributions of the forum will be selected trough a call for extended abstracts.

Upon acceptance of submitted abstracts, forum costs and travel expenses of participants will be covered by the organizers.

Submission Guidelines

Extended abstracts must be submitted in accordance with the related form (refer to http://pauwes-cop.net/res2prac/#apply-now) and written in English. The deadline for the submission of extended abstracts is 8th January 2018. Proposals must be uploaded via  https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=res2prac . The selection process will be carried out by a Scientific Committee of international experts presented below. Notification of acceptance will be in March 2017. For more information on the symposium, visit http://pauwes-cop.net/res2prac.   

We actively encourage applications by female researchers who will have a special attention/consideration.

List of Topics

Contributions

The call for extended abstracts aims to create vertical and horizontal linkages between the research and practice stakeholders in the priority areas below. Fundamentally, the forum provides researchers and practitioners in civil society, private sector and public institutions an opportunity to feed into each other’s value chain where practice informs new knowledge and research informs change at various societal and institutional levels.

Research / Scientific Contributions

The main topics of the extended abstract should fit within the following areas which are in line with ongoing projects and priorities of the research agenda at PAUWES as contribution to the Agenda 2063 of the African union:  

• Energy
  • Energy resources assessment
  • Technological development: from raw materials to systems, including smart-grid and off-grid
  • Energy stakeholders and society
  • Energy economics and governance
  • Current and future urban energy supply systems in Sub-Saharan African cities
• Water
  • Water and food security (production and sustainable livelihoods)
  • Water management (basin water management and urban water management)
  • Water and environment (water related hazard, health, etc.)
  • Water economics and governance (policy, education, planning, economy, cultural, etc.)
  • Transboundary water and resources management (conflict or cooperation, etc.)
  • Current and future urban water supply systems in Sub-Saharan African cities
• Climate Change
  • Climate impact modelling (data and appropriated infrastructure, prediction models and services)
  • Risk, vulnerability and impact assessment (environmental sustainability of renewable energy projects, etc.)
  • Adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change security in Africa 
  • Risk assessment and reduction strategies for sustainable urban resources supply in Sub-Saharan African cities
  • Mitigation research
• Energy, Water and Climate Change Nexus
  • Water-Climate nexus
  • Energy-Climate nexus
  • Water-Energy  nexus
  • Energy, water, food security and climate change nexus

Research-2-Practice Contributions

The call for Research-2-Practice contributions aims to showcase existing collaboration between practitioners in private sector, policy makers, financial institutions, civil society and beyond with academic, scientific or research institutions. The contributions should exhibit research interaction with practice guided by the following priority areas:

• Research-2-Private Sector
  • Current state in Africa, challenges and perspectives
  • Innovative models for research to private sector cooperation in Africa
  • Lessons learned for research to private sector cooperation in Africa
  • Innovative and sustainable funding models for research to private sector cooperation in Africa
• Research-2-Policy makers
  • Role/contribution of African research centres to Agenda 2063
  • Expectation of Pan-African actors and needs analysis for research within water, energy and climate change
  • Evidence based policy making,  planning and  Innovative tools/solutions
  • Global and finance policy dialogue, possibilities, realities and consequences for research in Africa.
• Research-2-NGOs/Civil Society
  • Research and NGOs/Civil society partnerships for transformation, action and sustainable development
  • Open innovation/participatory research and action in energy, water and climate change
  • Applied research and innovation for social entrepreneurship

Practice/Applied-oriented Contributions

Within these broad themes, forum organisers further encourage non-scientific participants/stakeholders interested or involved in practice and applied oriented initiatives to send a submission linked to the areas below. These participants may be seeking knowledge, strategic partnerships, funding strategies or merely an opportunity to showcase their work based on real-life scenarios and practice within the priority areas of this call.

• Private sector corporations
  • Showcase initiated or supported activities of interest to the organisation in line with priority areas of this call (These initiatives may be requiring on the ground support or scientific lenses)
  • Contribution from private sector and non-formal research environment (AfriLabs) to sciences and innovation in Africa
  • Can be extended with new focus areas
• NGOs/Civil Society
  • Civil society movements/NGOs involved with grassroots work which might be of potential interest to private or public sector funding
  • Grassroot work needs to be within the priority areas of this call
  • Civil society movements/NGOs seeking knowledge partners to study their new societal initiatives of experimental or innovative nature which may be of interest to researchers
  • Share data and studies from the ground with practical real case problems, which may feed into academic theory or contribute to research. NGOs would thereby gain knowledge or even generate interest from funding institutions.
• Funding
  • Presentation of research grants available for researchers
  • Grants needs to promote research specifically in the priority areas of this call.
  • Presentation of funding initiatives available for supporting research-2-practice work

Committees

Foum Chair

• Prof. Dr. Abdellatif Zerga - Director, Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES)
• Prof. Dr. Jakob Rhyner - Vice-Rectorfor UNU in Europe and the Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security

Experts Committee

• Prof. Dr. Abdellatif Zerga - Director, Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES)
• Prof. Dr. Jakob Rhyner - Vice-Rector for UNU in Europe and Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security
• Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister - Director Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Ramchandra Bhandari - Professor of Renewable Energy Systems and Vice-Director at ITT, Cologne University of Applied Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Rabani Adamou, University of Niamey, Niger
• Prof. Dr. Abdramane Ba, University of Science, Techniques and Technology of Bamako, Mali
• Dr. Bernhard Tischbein - Senior Researcher, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn
• Dr. Erick Gankam Tambo – Research coordinator at PAUWES
• Dr. Amazigh Dib - Private sector coordinator at PAUWES
• Mr. Phumlani Nkontwana – Sustainability Institute and Stellenbosch University 

Organizing committee

• Dr. Erick Tambo
• Ms. Margaret Koli
• Mr. David Paulus
• Dr. Navneet Kumar
• Prof. Ramchandra Bhandari
• Mr. Phumlani Nkontwana

Publication

Accepted extended abstracts will be compiled in a stand-alone publication with ISBN and distributed among the participants as output of the forum. The opportunity to publish selected high quality papers in a special issue of a scientific journal will be investigated.

Venue

The conference will be held in Tlemcen, Algeria.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to res2prac@pauwes-cop.net

Sponsors