UniSey hosts first interdisciplinary research conference |12 April 2017

Local scholars, academics and post graduate students discuss their work

The University of Seychelles (UniSey) held its first interdisciplinary research conference at the Manchester Hall of its Anse Royale campus, with the principal aim of creating a platform for local scholars, academics and post graduate students to present and discuss their work. Convened by Dr Justin Valentin of UniSey, the one-day conference was held under the theme ‘Unpacking newer challenges’.

A subsidiary aim of the conference was to present an ideal space for active researchers around to know what others are doing and ultimately initiate collaboration within and/or across disciplines.

Dr Valentin’s presentation was entitled ‘Interdisciplinary research: Multiple perspectives to dealing with national and regional challenges’.

Explaining how the idea for such a conference came about, Dr Valentin said in Seychelles we have a limited number of researchers in a certain discipline and they function more or less alone. Therefore they at the university decided to group people in various disciplines to talk on the work they are doing with the aim of having another researcher in another discipline hear of what his/her colleagues are doing with the possibility of detecting something that will interest him or her, meet and collaborate in a bid to find solutions to various problems and factors affecting us like education, environment, drug, crime, just to name some.

The conference was held in the presence of UniSey’s vice-chancellor Dennis Hardy, who also presented a piece entitled ‘Paradise Lost’. Professor Hardy highlighted the various definitions of paradise where he said most countries have a concept of paradise. As to Seychelles being a paradise he questioned the existence of such a place. But he considered Seychelles very beautiful and a paradise with a human aspect to it which he says is a partial concept of paradise. What came out clearly was what is a paradise to one is not a paradise to another.

This was followed by discussions on what each individual considers a paradise.

Various speakers presented their piece with topics based on the environment, education, drugs based on researches done in climate change, TVET in the context of small island developing states, weather anomalies and events, multiple perspectives to dealing with national and regional challenges, to name some.

Explaining his topic, the convener, Dr Valentin, said newer emerging challenges call for newer approaches to research. He said the three faculties of UniSey are framed within intertwined concepts: sustainable development, social growth and enterprise and innovation, and to navigate within all three concepts require an interdisciplinary attitude.

“And to achieve the objectives of each of these three faculties demand a profound appreciation of interdisciplinarity,” he said.

“We want through this conference to trigger a new conversation within our local jurisdiction. Through the forum and subsequent ones, we want to trigger a discourse around interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research paradigms,” he said, adding that we should focus our attention on the collaborative framework that working in a small state like Seychelles presents to researchers, hence the need to create a new generation of researchers who may combine a rigorous disciplinary depth with the ability to reach out to other disciplines and work in interdisciplinary teams which he said is much more crucial.

“Consequently, whatever we will discuss throughout the day will have implications for us as university professionals as we attempt to prepare newer postgraduate students. We have to instill in them this capacity to transfer skills from one discipline to another and more importantly, work in teams,” he said.

Dr Valentin said the findings of each presenter’s research will be shared with relevant partners like government departments and organisations. Because, he said, it is the professors at the university who help create knowledge hence are in a better position to share them.

Dr Valentin said UniSey plans to hold such a conference twice a year.