Prof Tawana Kupe, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, presided over a Resilience Dialogue and Ideas Lab at Future Africa on 14 October 2019. The panel was titled Transdisciplinary Flocking: Afrocentric Resilience Knowledge to Address Global Challenges and was informed by the book Flocking Together: An Indigenous Psychology Theory of Resilience in Southern Africa, by Prof Liesel Ebersöhn, Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience.

A panel of scholars from seven ecologies of knowledge spaces answered to the question: “How can knowledge from Africa be included into mainstream science discourses?” The panel members were: Prof Felix Maringe (Deputy Dean Education, University of the Witwatersrand) and Prof Lekan Ayo-Yusuf (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Postgraduate Studies & Innovations, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University) representing the PEOPLE perspective of resilience. Prof Coleen Vogel (Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand) and Prof Sheryl Hendriks (Director, Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-Being and Head of Department and Professor of Food Security, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development, University of Pretoria) from the PLANET perspective. The BUILT ENVIRONMENT Perspective was represented by Prof Chrisna du Plessis (Head of Department, Architecture, University of Pretoria). Ms Marlene Ogawa (Country Director, Synergos Institute) represented the NGO perspective and Ms Netsai Gwata represented a student perspective.

The informative panel discussion focused on the importance of integrating transdisciplinary knowledge from Africa on resilience into mainstream scientific discourses. To create sustainable resilience requires communities and researchers from Africa to actively engage on global platforms in order to foreground evidence-based innovations that are responsive to global challenges.

Prof Liesel Ebersöhn (Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience) introducing the panel

Panel members addressing questions from the audience.

Prof Tawana Kupe, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, presiding over the panel.

Front: Prof Liesel Ebersöhn (Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience), Prof Tawana Kupe (Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria), Ms Netsai Ogawa and Prof Colleen Vogel (Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand).

Back: Ms Marlene Ogawa (Country Director, Synergos Institute), Prof Lekan Ayo-Yusuf (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Postgraduate Studies & Innovations, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University), Prof Felix Maringe (Deputy Dean Education, University of the Witwatersrand), Prof Chrisna du Plessis (Head of Department, Architecture, University of Pretoria) and Prof Sheryl Hendricks (Director, Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-Being and Head of Department and Professor of Food Security, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development, University of Pretoria).