Exhibition report of the Microbiology Society at the RUFORUM Triennial Conference
Posted on February 22, 2022 by Philippe Sessou
From 6 to 10 December 2021, the seventh African Higher Education Week and RUFORUM Triennial Conference took place. The conference brings together around 1,000 participants, including Ministers and Technical Experts, Higher Education Leaders in Africa, development partners, private sector leaders, researchers, innovators, students and farmer organisations, among others from a consortium of 143 universities from 38 countries.
The conference was held in the Republic of Benin at Centre International de Conférences and Palais des Congrés de Cotonou, Benin. This conference is set under the theme “Operationalising Higher Education for Innovation, Industrialisation, Inclusion and Sustainable Economic Development in Africa: A call for action”, which responds to the urgent needs for African governments, development partners, private sector and citizenry to take actions to invest in higher education. This triennial conference was convened with the following objectives:
- Catalyse investment in Higher Education for human capital development in Africa.
- Promote international linkages and partnerships for excellence in Higher Education.
- Strengthen collaboration and mutual learning to spur innovation and industrialisation for economic transformation in Africa.
- Promote youth employment and skills acquisition for development.
- Strengthen University-Private sector business linkages.
At this scientific meeting, speakers communicated and shared their experiences in the field of agriculture. In addition, exhibitions of products from Agriculture, Livestock and Agriculture were displayed. At this event, Dr Philippe Sessou, a Microbiology Society Champion, in collaboration with Dr Victorien Dougnon, another who was awarded a Benin Young Scientists Award in 2021, presented an exhibition of the Microbiology Society to the participants. Dr Philippe Sessou talked about the founders of the Society and explained where the Society is located, how many members it has, the reasons for joining this learned Society, the benefits of membership and how to join. In addition, after distributing flyers and T-shirts with the Microbiology Society’s logo to around 300 participants, Dr. Philippe Sessou explained the place of microbiology in agricultural production. He insisted on the useful roles of microorganisms in biopesticides and biofertilisers for soils and crops and their harmful roles in crop adulteration. He also showed how microbiologists can work with other actors in the agricultural sector to promote it. This scientific meeting was enriching for participants because it introduced them to the Microbiology Society and sparked a great interest to join it – several participants were motivated to join as affiliate members.
