Environment formalizes partnership with the University of Cape Coast
By: Urja Patel | Estimated reading time: 2 mintues
In June, the Faculty of Environment formalized its partnership with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana to strengthen their connection and focus on key areas of collaboration including academic programs, joint teaching and research activities and mobility of faculty, staff and students.
Over the years, UCC has emerged as a key partner of the Faculty of Environment and the Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Global Partnership. In 2018, UCC through the Center for Coastal Management (CCM) and the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) were invited to join V2V hosted at the Faculty of Environment and supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This collaboration led to organizing the global conference on the Inclusive Blue Economy in Africa in November 2023. That same year, a Faculty of Environment delegation comprising of Dean Bruce Frayne, Prateep Nayak, Derek Armitage and Ella Kari Muhl was invited by UCC to the 10 Year Anniversary of the Center for Coastal Management to hold discussions on further bolstering institutional connections between the University of Cape Coast and the University of Waterloo.
As part of the ongoing collaboration, the Faculty of Environment appointed Dr. Denis Aheto, Director of ACECoR and the Center for Coastal Management at UCC, as the 2024 TD Walter Bean Professor. In his public and high school lectures, he engaged our local community in discussions and awareness building on Africa's Plastic Revolution in an era of climate change. In the same year, Dr. Aheto was also appointed as a Fellow under the 'Paul Onyango-V2V Visiting Fellows Program for Senior Scholars and Practitioners.' He also is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Environment.
Moving forward, new research collaborations have been initiated between UCC and the Faculty of Environment through New Frontiers in Research funding awarded by the Government of Canada. The collaboration, International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, focuses on the theme of climate change adaptation, dispossession and displacement. In addition, under an Africa-wide initiative of the V2V Global Partnership with the Faculty of Environment, UCC is hosting the newly founded Small-Scale and Artisanal Fisheries Association of Africa.
We look forward to this collaboration growing as it is poised not only to catalyze new ideas and enhance partner capacity but will also embody the cultural shift the university envisions – one that instills collaboration as a mindset and skill, both within the institution and in its students.
