WASCAL CCLU Centre hosted the Graduate Studies Programme Directors’ meeting  on the 2nd to 7th September, 2024 at the WASCAL Building, KNUST. The objective was to discuss the capacity, monitoring strategic activities, accreditation process, lessons learnt and way forward for the WASCAL Postgraduate Programmes.

The Executive Director of WASCAL, Prof. Emmanuel Wendsongre Ramde gave the opening remarks address where he emphasized on the fact that the WASCAL Graduate Studies Programme has produced nearly 500 graduates who have become leaders and innovators our subregion desperately needs. He further stated that these graduates have become pillars of resilience in their communities, applying their knowledge to combact the effects of climate change.

The welcome address was given by the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson who graced the meeting as the Special Guest of Honour. In her speech, she made a remarkle note that “These days when you mention climate change, you have touched the nerves of humanity. This is because the impacts of climate is something the keeps us awake all night”.

The Director of WASCAL CCLU, Prof. Wilson Agyei Agyare delivered the concluding remarks and welcomed all GSP Directors to the meeting.

All WASCAL GSP Directors gave a presentation on the status of the batch of students and achievements of their various GSP Centres. Amongst all the presentations, Prof. Daouda Koné, the WASCAL Capacity Building Director gave a key presentation on topic; “State of Art and Outlook of Capacity Building Department”. Dr. Michael Theil gave a presentation on the topic; “The contribution of German researchers to the WASCAL GSP Programme”. Prof. Kehinde Ogunjobi, the WASCAL Competence Centre Director gave a presentation on “WASCAL Research Achievement and Outlook toward the new strategy”.

To wrap up the Directors’ meeting, a visit was made to the WASCAL Waste to Energy Project site located at Gyankobaa. The facility managers at Gyankobaa took all directors through the project activities and success stories.

WASCAL CCLU Centre organized a 2-day training programme on Climate And Land Use Data Analysis and Applications. This programme took place on the 19th to 20th December, 2022 at the WASCAL Building.

The objective was to develop the capacity of WASCAL PhD students and other postgradute students from KNUST to apply spatiotemperal statistical metrics to climate data, analyse them and communicate their findings in a robust, scientifically sound and interpretable way. The study module focused on temporal (time-oriented) data assessments using Python Programming Language and R statistical software.

The facilitators were Dr. Akoto Yaw Omari-Sasu, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, KNUST; Dr. Maxwell Akwasi Boateng, Department of Mathematics, KNUST; Dr. Jeffery Nii Armah Aryee, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, KNUST; and Dr. Isaac Adjei Mensah, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, KNUST.

Participants included PhD students from WASCAL CCLU Centre, RWESCK, Department of Agroforestry, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Economics, Department of Environmental Science and CARISCA - KSB. All participants were given certificates after the completion of the training programme.