The University of Namibia recently welcomed a delegation from Iowa State University (ISU) as part of a collaborative grant project focused on two key components: “strengthening capacity” and “improving rural education systems.”
The ISU delegation included Prof. James Reecy, Associate Vice President for Research; Prof. Army Tetmeyer, Associate Vice President for Finance; Becky Musselman, Director for Grants and Sponsored Programmes Administration; and Shyler Polasky, Senior Assistant to the Associate Vice President for Finance. The visit aimed to share experiences, formulate action plans, and agree on modalities for advancing the collaboration and partnership.
Apart from engaging in discussions related to research services, grant management and postgraduate support services, there were also virtual engagement with campus and school research and postgraduate research champions to make sure that campuses benefit from the partnership with IOWA State University.
Prof. Nelago Indongo, Director: Centre for Research Services, said: “The aspect of taught PhD, joint research skills development seminars for academics and postgraduate students as well as joint supervision and expansion for independent chair database featured prominently in our discussions.
“Other areas of action are to jointly submit research proposals to NIH and USAID for funding. IOWA state is well known for its strong partnership with industry which funds most of the research and innovation project and this resulted in a well-developed University Research Park. This is something we want to learn from moving forward.”
Also, during engagements on future grants, research collaborations, and seminars presented by ISU partners, numerous important points were agreed upon. These include sharing research concepts in respective fields and share these with Prof. Reecy to establish peer collaborations at the ISU, identifying relevant NIH grant calls for collaboration as well collaboration on capacity building and mentoring in grant proposal writing.
Prof Army Tetmeyer and finance team engaged in discussions mainly looking at how university can make profitable investments given the resources they have. A number of recommendations and lesson learnt were discussed and paved way forward for collaboration between the two universities.
The visit concluded at the Neudamm Campus, where the ISU delegation visited numerous laboratories and engaged with academics in areas of possible collaboration, and ISU expressed high interest in the field of agriculture.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for them to come and have experience of our systems, a learning lesson but also impressed by the work and achievements of our university. This collaboration has yield great potentials of long-term partnership between the two universities” concludes Prof Indongo, the PI of the project.
