The Harare Institute of Technology’s School of Business and Management Sciences in collaboration with the British Council and the African Centre For Real and Land Economics (ACRELE) hosted a Research Writing Seminar under the theme – Advancing Cutting Edge Research For World Class Professionals.
The two-day Seminar, which was held on Campus and at the Meikles Hotel, was attended by local researchers from tertiary institutions, government and non-governmental organisations. The British Council sponsored the Management Express Seminar held at the Meikles Hotel.
In his keynote address on the opening of the seminar, the Dean of the HIT School of Industrial Sciences and Technology, Mr Perkins Muredzi said that his wish is for the seminar is that academic staff in the School of Business and Management Sciences as well as other invited stakeholders will understand vividly the process of writing a Doctoral research thesis and articles for publication.
“It can be appreciated that the attainment of Doctoral degrees has become a priority at the institutional level and higher education level in general for all academic staff and the time for action has arrived. At the same time, the publication of research articles is critical to the institution and nation in general because it is from research that nation-building ideas are generated, then incubated and developed into real products which will help the country to rapidly industrialize and eradicate poverty at the end of the day”, he said
Dean Muredzi expressed his appreciation to the sponsors for their generous support of this seminar. “The first is the British Council Zimbabwe Office. The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for education and cultural relations. They connect people in Zimbabwe with people in the UK and beyond. I would like to express my sincere respect and appreciation for the activities of the Council”, he said.
“As HIT we are mandated to commercialise technology through professionalism rooted in integrity. Having said that, words cannot sufficiently emphasize the importance of this Research Seminar for it is from research and development that we can achieve this audacious vision”, said Dean Muredzi.
The objectives of the Research Writing Seminar are to impact best practices in developing a Doctoral Research Thesis, Doctoral Thesis Proposal writing, Chapter Development within The Research, Research in a Dynamic World where Technology is Occupying the Center Stage, New Techniques In Data Mining and Analysis, Overcoming Possible Challenges and Pitfalls in Research, and Research and Publications.
The fulfillment of the objectives of this seminar should trigger the HIT staff and other stakeholders to embark on their research proposals in the near future.
Professor Mazuru Gundidza, Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology here at the Harare Institute of Technology was the keynote facilitator and he gave a comprehensive presentation on the research process, doctorial proposal writing, overcoming challenges and pitfalls in research as well as proposal writing to seek funding at the Business express Seminar at the Meikles Hotel.
Dean P. Muredzi, the Dean of the School of Industrial Sciences and Technology and Chairman of the HIT Research Board was also part of the facilitators and his presentations were on publication of research articles and data mining trends and research frontiers.
The Research Writing Seminar provided a productive discussion among all of the participants including both the facilitators and the audience.