| Eidos South Africa - Congress 2011 |
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The Eidos Institute, in partnership with the LH Martin Institute, invites university member researchers, associates and affiliates to join network researchers and policy leaders on a; Tour to the Eidos South Africa 2011 Research Congress. This is the first annual Eidos Congress in South Africa, where up to twelve roundtables will be held to discuss, develop and propose research agendas and proposals of cross-national mutual interest. Topics tabled include, but are notwithstanding, to Digital inclusion and Social Innovation, Social and Economic Impact of Mining, Online Pedagogy, Sustainability in Education and Education in Sustainability and an Indian Ocean Research Institute. The tour represents a valuable opportunity to engage South African and Australian researchers, public policy and political leaders, and corporate and philanthropic industry partners. More than fifteen South African Vice-Chancellors and Senior Executive Representatives from across South Africa will be present in Cape Town for Congress. There will also be Dinner with Senior Executives, government representatives and political leaders and orgainsed networking events and opportunities amongst a travelling Australian delegation. Individual meetings can also be arranged through Eidos Institute where possible. Visits to the Stellenbosch wineries will also be organised for the weekend following the Congress.
The historical and cultural similarities between Australia and South Africa are wide-ranging from colonialism to indigenous population difficulties, integration and issues concerning access to education. Inaugural Congress will be the first of many annual meetings where South African and Australian senior executives, researchers, governmental partners and external industry partners will come together on areas of strength to champion high quality evidence based research and forge partnerships on topics of mutual interest. This initiative will foster links and set the agenda for coming research and set about a framework leading to Congress 2012. Our strength and our future lies within our University network and supporting agencies. Through international collaboration across the increasingly blurred lines of traditional borders - which modern media and technology have thrown into disarray - is the opportunity for great undertakings. Themes of interest tabled for the Inaugural Congress include, but notwithstanding to, Digital Futures, Access to Education for Indigenous and the Socio-Economically disadvantaged, Information and Complex Systems, Social Impact of Mining and Good Governance. Eidos is looking to represent both its strengths and diversity from across our expanding network. To learn more please see these pages and contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for expressions of interest from interested parties. We hope to see you in South Africa!
Eidos South Africa University Network (Founding Participants)
Congress 2011 concluded with the submission of roundtable proposalsincluding suggestions of the ways forward for multi-national collaboration. Two large-scale projects are being developed out of these proposals. Progress on the 2011 roundtable includes: Roundtable 1: Digital Inclusion and Social Innovation Congress 2011 The proposal developed at Congress 2011 (June) recommended the exploration of two concepts:
Current State of Play Since the Inaugural Congress, the following progress has been made, a UNDP workshop was organised in Pretoria to finalise and endorse e-Si’s path forward and identify funding sources and partners. Two further proposals have also been added to the prospective project portfolio, namely:
A fledgling leadership team in both Australia and South Africa has been informally formed (including Greg Hearn from QUT, Julian Thomas and Ellie Rennie from Swinburne ISR and Denise Meredyth from RMIT). Eidos is pleased to announce that these proposals are being large-scale projects that have the potential to radically empower the South African government to develop the opportunities into large-scale projects that have the potential to radically empower the South African nation. Roundtable 2: Innovative Education Initiatives in Government Congress 2011 Rugby union is a passionate sport of Australia and South Africa. Social inclusion sits high on the agendas for both nations. At Congress 2011, Catherine O’Sullivan from DEEWR and Ian Mackie from DET, shared their valuable experience on the Learn Earn Legend initiative that began in Queensland in 2010; where the sport of rugby is introduced as a bridge builder to solve the deeper social challenges such as inclusion and empowerment on the education and policy interchange. By the end of the 2011 congress, roundtable delegates had developed a collaborative vision of establishing cross-national initiative that builds on the foundations laid by Learn Earn Legend! to create social inclusion value for South Africa and Australia. Current State of Play Following on from Congress 2011, the Queensland Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and Eidos are establishing a Rugby Union Cross-National Exchange Programme that leverages the power of rugby in both nations to resolve Indigenous youth disadvantage. The central idea is therefore premised on the opportunity for connecting public policy challenges with elite sport and rigorous research and lent to significant interest in engagement from entities in these fields in both nations. This groundbreaking venture brings together a number of South African and Australian organisations including: the University of Pretoria, the University of Queensland, the Queensland Reds and the Classic Wallabies who will represent the program as Ambassadors. This initiative demonstrates the potential of bi-national collaboration as over two million Australian dollars will be raised for the programme over the next few months! Funds will be used to provide opportunities for resource-poor youths in South Africa and members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities n Australia to participate in international university student exchanges, business mentoring and rugby training. Roundtable 3: Conceptualizing an Indian Ocean Research Network (IOR) Congress 2011 Eric Louw, Associate Professor at UQ gave a jaw-dropping presentation on the impact that the emergence of China as a major player in the Indian Ocean region is causing with regards to socio-cultural, resource, environmental and governance issues. The proposal from Inaugural Congress 2011 recommends an initial scoping study to review whether a “scramble” for power in the Indian Ocean is taking place. The recommendation includes the establishment of a research network to conduct comparative research in the region, which would prove to be of value to policy-makers across Australia, South Africa and India. Current State of Play Professor Louw left no stone unturned in demonstrating the importance of Australia and South Africa in taking a proactive role in the understanding and management of progress in the Indian Ocean Region. Unfortunately, Prof Louw is unable to attend Phase 2 of the IOR roundtable. However, Eidos is currently looking into the establishment of a cross-national Roundtable Host group to take this important proposal forward. Roundtable 4: CSR is Dead: Long Live The Sustainable Enterprise Economy! & Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurialism: Congress 2011 Neil Paulsen from the University of Queensland (UQ) and Malcolm McIntosh from Griffith University hosted this roundtable. The CSR roundtable focused on the need for preparing business leaders to develop a new way of business – the sustainable enterprise – in response to our rapidly changing environment with concerns over climate change, environmental degradation and social inequality. Current and proposed research projects included the linkages between corporate responsibility initiatives and national sustainability indicators in the Asia –Pacific region. Current State of Play Entrepreneurship is arguably the bedrock of establishing a productive nation through innovation and economic growth, so the development of potential opportunities will be included at a Phase 2 roundtable at Congress 2012. Hosts currently include the University of Queensland with input from Peter Ball (iContribute) who has been pivotal in setting up “Buffed!” which is a social inclusion organization that promotes the concept of disadvantaged individuals in establishing a self-run enterprise. Roundtable 5: Understanding Violence and Violence Prevention Congress 2011 At Congress 2011, the term violence was defined as “intentional harm towards others, including physical and psychological violence”. Cathy Ward from the University of Cape Town and Philip Stenning from Griffith University led the discussions, which resulted in a future road-map proposal. The proposal recommends the establishment of a research team in order to seek to map the policies and programmes in the anti-violence sector (such as Police violence, hate violence and human trafficking) in order to investigate whether the policies are evidence-based and whether they have any evidence themselves. This will assist the governments of both countries to improve policy and to make better financial programming, in this area. Current State of Play The topic of violence prevention is a crucial aspect of maintaining National Productivity. With this in mind, a second phase of this roundtable is planned for Congress 2012. Roundtable hosts will work with participants to further the vision of establishing a peaceful and productive nation; and to work through the possibilities of trans forming the vision into a tangible reality. Eidos is following up this opportunity with Paul Mazerolle from the University of Griffith along with South African counterparts. Please do not hesitate to contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information or if you wish to propose a roundtable chair or to sign up as a Congress 2012 Delegate. |
