Page 24 - DUT Excellence Semester 2

MAGUBANE’S BOOK EXPLORES LOVEIN THE ERA OF
the form of Chapter in Book, Journal and Conference proceeding articles,” added Prof Ojo.
Passing her congratulatory remarks, the DUT Acting DVC: RIE, Professor Keolebogile Motaung said: “We are proud to know that DUT-Led Carbon Literacy forYouth Employability and Job Creation (CL4YEJC) Network Partnership Team has been awarded three IAU Oscar Awards. The exciting news of the team winning the awards has filled us with extreme joy and pleasure. It’s difficult to express this joy in terms of words. But this is through team work. I look forward to hearing about many more of the team successes. Best wishes for more successes in the future. Keep up the good work!”
Giving insight on the establishment of the project he said: “The CL4YEJC project journey commenced with the idea of having an integrated solution for Climate Change (CC) andYouth Employment (YE) grand challenges of SSA.The journey seemed bumpy having to manage the multi-dimensional diversity of idiosyncrasies of project team members from four different countries, along the way. Realising the CC-YE integrated solution in the form of new knowledge area termed Carbon Literacy for Green Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CL4GIE) with the learning materials developed and made ready for youth training on a Moodle LMS platform! Having youth from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa trained through workshop series using learning materials. Receiving their positive feedback pointing to the effectiveness of our CL4YEJC TTK. After that came the CL4GIE Dialogue Forum where the project results were presented to an audience of HEI and Ecosystem players representatives, with positive feedback received. All this culminating in the IAU Oscars Awards gives one an exciting feel-good moment!”
Prof Ojo believes that the CL4YEJC project is strongly intertwined with the DUT ENVISION2030 strategic objective of INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP where the aim is to leverage new knowledge and solutions for societal impact. He said Carbon Literacy is heralded as key player in recent, global attempts to arrest out of control climate change. Initiatives and pragmatic efforts towards increased carbon literacy of regions in the global North and West have trail-blazed far into the distance, Africa lags behind dramatically. At the same time, soaring unemployment and underemployment of youth consistently feeds collapsing socio-economic situation.
The next step after winning the three awards, Prof Ojo said the British Council will soon announce a Call For Proposal for a competitive Consolidator Grant to consolidate and sustain work already done during the just ending phase of the IAU programme, and deepening scope of already existing projects such as our CL4YEJC project, towards fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and Innovation within Universities in SSA.Their project team will be applying for the grant.
He encouraged the DUT staff and students to be immersed into research as research is one of the key pillars of every Higher Education Institution such as DUT. He believes it is through research and innovation activities that academic staff and postgraduate students advance knowledge and enhance their capacity as productive thinkers and change agents, proffering solutions to practical societal problems.
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DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY