{"id":4323,"date":"2024-02-23T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.wpcarey.asu.edu\/carisca\/?p=4323"},"modified":"2024-05-17T22:05:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T05:05:29","slug":"asn-ra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.wpcarey.asu.edu\/carisca\/2024\/02\/23\/asn-ra\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting African Researchers to Address Local Supply Chain Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alfred Salwa<\/strong> (Mzumbe University, Tanzania), Bonny Bagenda<\/strong> (Makerere University, Uganda), Assilah Agigi<\/strong> (University of Pretoria, South Africa) and Mona Ali<\/strong> (German University in Cairo, Egypt) present their research theme to participants at the Africa Supply Network Research Accelerator (ASN-RA) meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CARISCA is committed to strengthening the capacity of African researchers, fostering networks, and promoting research addressing local challenges and producing locally relevant solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 8-9, CARISCA hosted its inaugural Africa Supply Network Research Accelerator (ASN-RA) meeting. The meeting was inspired by Arizona State University\u2019s Complex Adaptive Supply Networks Research Accelerator (CASN-RA), which involves 140 scholars from 25 U.S. states and 18 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both events act as research accelerators by creating opportunities for scholars interested in supply networks to forge new teams to pursue interesting and challenging research projects. To date, CASN-RA teams have published at least 30 papers in some of the fields\u2019 top journals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think of ASN-RA as a think tank of young leading researchers in Africa that will push the leading edge of thinking in our field,\u201d says Thomas Choi, CASN-RA co-director and CARISCA senior technical advisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Held in Accra, Ghana, the ASN-RA meeting brought together 21 scholars from seven African nations. The meeting\u2019s objective was to refine research ideas into prominent topics and facilitate the development of manuscripts, articles and research proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI consider this group as the ones who will shape the future of research and teaching in African higher education,\u201d added Choi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-day meeting featured brainstorming sessions, breakout discussions and presentations. These provided a platform for scholars to connect, share knowledge and collaborate on supply chain issues specific to Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have put this network together for African scholars to be able to look at local issues, local problems, and bring rigorous research into solving these problems,\u201d says Adegoke Oke, a CARISCA senior technical advisor who co-led the meeting with Choi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following brainstorming sessions, six teams formed to work on research projects for future publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe came up with several research ideas and believe that a lot of issues in the supply chain, especially in the context of Africa, are going to be addressed,\u201d said participant Usman Abbas, a lecturer at Kaduna State University in Nigeria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The six research topics<\/strong> are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n