RUFORUM 18th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS: JOINT CONVENING WITH THE AFRICAN CROP SCIENCE
SOCIETY
CONCEPT NOTE
Background
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is a network of 147
universities in 38 African countries. It was established in 2004 to (i) foster integration of African universities
into the national agricultural innovation systems (NAIS); (ii) provide a platform for training quality graduates
to support development processes in Africa; (iii) rationalise resource use and enhance economies of scale
and scope; and (iv) provide a platform for networking, resource mobilisation and advocacy for agricultural
higher education in Africa. RUFORUM envisions ‘vibrant, transformative universities to catalyse sustainable,
inclusive agricultural development to feed and create prosperity for Africa’. The Eight Africa Higher Education
Week and RUFORUM Annual General Meeting Conference will be held 12th-16th December 2022 in Harare,
Zimbabwe, under the theme “Sustainable Africa Industrialisation Through Innovative Agricultural
Research, Training And Outreach In The Post COVID-19 Era”.
RUFORUM, in partnership with the African Crop Science Society and the Zimbabwean RUFORUM member
universities, will convene a three-day scientific conference where scientists, academicians and students will
present their work orally focusing on the application of biological, ecological and social knowledge for the
development of resilient climate-smart agri-food systems including sustainable livestock production and
environmental and natural resources management for food and nutritional security and economic and social
stability. Digital innovations, data management, intellectual property rights, economics, policy analysis, and
education and research institutions-community engagement experiences will be highlighted.
Objective of the Scientific Conference
The Scientific Conference aims to bring together leading academicians, scientists, researchers and research
scholars especially from the continent to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all
aspects of Agriculture and agricultural related sciences, and emerging development concerns with a focus
on climate-smart innovations. It also provides an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder platform for policy
makers, researchers, practitioners, educators and students to present and discuss the most recent scientific
knowledge, technological innovations, emerging trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges
encountered and solutions adopted to strengthening agri-food systems. As in previous RUFORUM
Conferences, special provision will be made for graduate students to share their research findings and profile
their research. Themes for the scientific sessions will cover eight thematic areas (see Thematic Areas in
Annex).

CO-ORGANISERS:
Date and Venue
The Scientific Conference will be held 12th-14th December 2022 at the Harare International Conference
Centre, Zimbabwe. It is foreseen that this conference will be a blended session (face to face and virtuallyregistration link: (will be provided). The Conference will feature live-streamed webinars and will include both
invited speakers and contributed speakers. The webinars will contain a Q&A session for live online
audiences. In addition, there will be Posters and Exhibition Sessions (Links will be provided).
Participants
The Scientific Conference is targeting, graduate students, academics, researchers, policy makers, and
development practitioners.
Organisation of sessions and Expected Outcome
The conference is conceived as a dynamic multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary (in the agricultural field)
forum aimed at understanding and harnessing the socio-economic potential of innovation, its key drivers and
processes, and impact pathways through exchange of knowledge, information and practices, review of
enabling policies and platforms, and development of potential partnerships and action plans.
The expected outcome
 Strengthened networking among members of the scientific community working in agriculture and
related fields;
 Focus given to innovation in agri-food and nutrition systems, climate-smart agriculture and climate
change adaptation and mitigation
 Improved presentation and communication skills for especially the graduate students
 Increased visibility of research and development outputs from Africa
 Improved methods for increasing the uptake of research results by other stakeholders (dissemination
strategies)
The Conference will have one official opening session, then break into different sessions where participants
will split into small focused groups to discuss advances in science in the selected areas and make
recommendations for follow up actions. The outcome of the breakout sessions will be shared during the AGM
Closing Session and also online after the conference.
Submission and Publication of Conference Papers
Papers for both oral and poster presentations should be submitted by 31 August 2022 and should follow the
format in the RUFORUM Working Document Series (see Link). Following review, selected papers may be
published in the African Journal of Rural Development.
Please submit your papers for the Scientific Conference to ruforumpapers@ruforum.org

CO-ORGANISERS:
Organisers and Contacts
This scientific conference is organised by RUFORUM Secretariat in collaboration with African Crop Science
Society and Zimbabwean Universities.
Contacts: Zimbabwe Organising Committee: Dr. Sebastian Chakeredza: chakeredzas@africau.edu 
RUFORUM: Prof. Majaliwa Mwanjalolo: m.majaliwa@ruforum.org ; secretariat@ruforum.org 
African Crop Science Society: Prof. J.S. Tenywa: acss@mak.ac.ug; acsj@mak.ac.ug