The Faculty of Architecture and Building Technology of the College of Architecture and Planning, KNUST with support from the Standard Chartered Bank has held the first ever international postgraduate research conference on the built environment.
The Programme which took place at the Great Hall Conference Room of KNUST Kumasi from the 3rd to the 4th of June,2010, drew over a hundred participants across the globe. The Conference was meant for academia, professionals, students and all stakeholders in the built environment and was aimed at providing a special forum for sharing ideas and to network with their peers from different countries of the world. It was on the theme: The Changing climate and the built environment in the 21st century: Challenges and Opportunities.
The Pro Vice Chancellor, Prof. W.O. Ellis said that postgraduate research is very important in the work of any academic institution. He noted that the output of a good academic institution is the result of research work which comes from postgraduate programmes. Again he said that postgraduate research contributes greatly to the development of any nation. “The world is advancing today as a result of research because new technologies are being developed, new challenges are being tackled with great success and man is living longer in most continents due to research. It could be said that show me a developing economy and I will show you the output and extent of implementation of research” he added.
The Provost of the College of Architecture and Planning, Prof. S. O. Asiama in his address said the changing times seem to have left us behind in the drive towards clean and green cities. He continued that the amount of garbage that is created far outweighs man’s ability to deal with its collection and management.
“Cities are being engulfed in filth and one cannot help especially with the menace of plastic waste, in a country where citizens spend a greater percentage of their wealth on diseases it is no wonder that the NHIS is broke” he lamented.
Prof. Asiama therefore called on all professionals and academia in the built environment to redirect research towards issues such as poor accommodation, uncovered and choked gutters, inadequate open spaces, unsafe buildings for human habitation, sprawling of slums in cites, environmental pollution, among others.
He announced plans of the College to start a postgraduate degree in urban management.
The Area Head, Corporate Affairs, of the Standard Chartered Bank, West Africa, Nii Okai Nunoo speaking on the topic “the role of the bank in promoting environmental sustainability,” noted that the Standard Chartered Bank has opened a new chapter in corporate social responsibility in Ghana and brings to the fore the role in previously untouched areas by sponsoring the conference.
Mr. Nii Okai Nunoo said that Standard Chartered believes that banking is vital to building a vibrant economy. Banks are powerful contributors to ensuring economic and social progress. He said Standard Chartered’s “Sustainable Business Agenda” is a response to a rapidly changing world with multiple stakeholder needs and global challenges such as climate change and poverty in the seventy countries they operate.
He said it is for these and other efforts that the bank is currently the “Most Socially Responsible Bank” and also Ghana’s Best Company in Corporate Social Responsibility”.
