KM/Knowledge Services in the Academic/Research Environment

KM/Knowledge Services: The Future of Academic Knowledge Sharing is Now was the title of Guy St. Clair’s keynote address for Egerton University’s 5th Research Week and International Conference. The conference took place on 22nd – 24th September 2010 at Njoro (nr. Nakuru) Kenya at the university’s Agriculture Resources Center.

2010 marks the 71st anniversary of Egerton University, having started as a farm school for white settlers in 1939. Originally gazetted as a constituent college of the University of Nairobi in 1986, Egerton University became a fully fledged university through an Act of Parliament in 1987.

The Research Week and Annual Conference provides an annual forum where the findings of various researches conducted over the past year are shared with peers and other interested parties, contributing to the realization of Egerton’s vision – “A World-Class University for the Advancement of Humanity.”

For 2010, the 5th Annul Research Week and International Conference had as its conference theme Transformative Research for Sustainable Development.

Supported by more than 110 papers, sub-themes for the conference were agriculture; education, science and technology; governance, socio-economics and culture; health, environment, and natural resources; and climate change: adaptation and mitigation.

During the conference, exhibits from industry and service providers enabled attendees to interact directly with vendors and others.

The Opening Address for the conference was given by Professor Joseph Massaqoui, Director, UNESCO Regional Office, Nairobi. Keynote speakers addressed conference delegates on subjects related to the conference theme, beginning with Mr. Mboi Misati, Kenya Industrial Property Institute speaking on Intellectual Property Rights and Research on Wednesday, 22nd September. St. Clair’s keynote address – KM/Knowledge Services: The Future of Academic Knowledge Sharing is Now – was presented on Thursday, 23rd September.

On Friday, 24th September, two keynote addresses were delivered, by Ms. Kalimi Mworia, Director, International Cooperation and Assistance Division, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Netherlands, and Dr. Douglas K. Ngotho, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, Egerton University. Ms. Mworia spoke on Innovations: The Need for Commercialization and Dr. Ngotho spoke on Chronic Diseases and their Risk Factors: A Global Burden.

Conference Proceedings will be published. In the meantime, the text of St. Clair’s presentation can be read here, and the slides used in the presentation, not included in the published paper, can be viewed here.