Get Guardian on GoogleThe Pan-African University Life and Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI), hosted by the University of Ibadan (UI), has commenced developing a comprehensive research agenda to advance African development and support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through 2030.
The initiative was unveiled during the second edition of the institute’s research agenda workshop, coming shortly after the recent full accreditation of all its postgraduate programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The one-day workshop brought together programme coordinators, academic staff, and external experts from research institutes and industry to deliberate on and refine a consolidated research agenda to guide the Institute’s research priorities through 2030.
Declaring the workshop open, the Director of PAULESI, Prof. Mubo Sonibare, described the exercise as more than a procedural requirement, saying it was designed to provide a strategic direction for the institute’s research activities and position it to respond effectively to Africa’s development challenges.
Sonibare said the research agenda would serve as “the intellectual compass” for PAULESI, stressing that research at the Pan-African University was expected to provide the intellectual, innovative, and human-resource foundation required to achieve the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
She said the agenda would also support the SDGs and contribute to the realisation of “The Africa we want.”
The Director recalled that the process began in 2025, when her office engaged programme coordinators in developing a research agenda, leading to the inaugural workshop.
The Head of PAULESI’s Research Office, Dr Adedapo Adediji, who coordinated the development of the agenda, presented an overview of the process in a paper titled, “The PAULESI research agenda: What was, what is and what is to come.”Adediji explained that the Research Office began the process in May 2025 by retrieving research agenda documents from sister Pan-African University institutes for benchmarking to ensure that PAULESI’s agenda aligns with continental best practices and standards.
He said the office subsequently conducted a SWOT analysis of the programmes’ initial submissions and developed a nine-segment research agenda template covering programme overview, research priorities, implementation strategies, timelines and milestones, resource requirements, partnerships, validation and monitoring, risk mitigation, and expected impact.
He added that following ratification, the document would be disseminated to partners, collaborators, supervisors, research teams and scholars across the institute for implementation.
PAULESI is one of the five thematic institutes of the Pan-African University, an African Union initiative established to strengthen academic and research excellence across the continent.
As the West African node of the Pan-African University, the institute offers postgraduate programmes spanning the geo-sciences, environmental management, plant sciences, veterinary and human health, and sports management and policy.
The initiative is expected to strengthen PAULESI’s contribution to research, innovation and knowledge generation in support of African development and the realisation of the continent’s long-term development aspirations.
