The Africa Centre of Excellence in Oilfield Chemicals Research (ACE-CEFOR), University of Port Harcourt, was one of the 17 Nigeria ACE Impact Centres that participated in the 9th ACE Impact Workshop which took place in Marrakech, Morocco, from May 29 to June 2, 2023. Workshop activities for the Centre began on May 17, with a virtual Pre-Workshop Country Roundtable for the Nigerian ACEs. The workshop continued on Monday May 29, with the ACE Project Steering Committee (PSC) meetings. Other meetings which also took place on Monday include Financial Management; Procurement; Safeguards; Monitoring & Evaluation; and University Vice Chancellors and DLI 7 Focal Points meetings.
On Tuesday, May 30, the workshop kicked off officially with an Opening Ceremony, highlights of which included opening remarks by Prof. Olusola B. Oyewole, Secretary-General, Association of African Universities (AAU); Virginie Delisée-Pizzo, Head of Education Department, AFD Paris and Scherezad Latif, Practice Manager, West and Central Africa, World Bank. The workshop had 4 plenary sessions covering ACE Impact Progress Update; Changes due to Restructuring, M&E, and Verification; Nimble Impact Evaluation; and Vice Chancellor Panel Discussion. The workshop continued on Wednesday May 31 to June 1, for only selected ACE team members in the Joint ACE Impact-Morocco Partnership Forum. The Forum was made up of 4 plenary sessions covering Morocco-Sub-Saharan Africa Higher Education commitments and partnerships; Peer-Learning on Cross-border partnerships (featuring examples from the ACEs, Moroccan and Tunisian Universities); Commercialization of Research and Operating Technology Transfer Offices; and Protecting your knowledge and research – Importance and Management of Intellectual Property.
There were also 3 parallel sessions during this Forum covering Thematic Breakout Sessions to Initiate and Foster Partnerships (during this session Vice Chancellors embarked on a site visit to Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco); Mini workshops on the “know-how” of research commercialization by broad sector areas (during this session, there was a side meeting with Vice Chancellors on Financial Autonomy: Best Practices in Securing Research Grants) and Mini workshops on the “know-how” of research commercialization by broad sector areas. The selected ACE Team members for this Forum were Center leaders, Deputy Center Leaders, Vice Chancellors and ACE Impact University Technology Transfer Officers.
The workshop ended on Friday June 2, with site visits to Innovative Morocco-based Institutions (both public and private institutions).
ACE-CEFOR was represented at the 9th ACE Impact workshop by the Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt and Chairman, ACE-CEFOR Steering Committee, Prof. Georgewill Owunari; ACE Projects Coordinator for the University of Port Harcourt and Deputy Vice Chancellor Research & Development, Prof. Iyeopu Siminialayi; Centre Leader, Prof. Ogbonna Joel; Deputy Centre Leader, Prof. Ikechukwu Agbagwa; Procurement Officer, Prof. Ibisime Etela; Project Accountant, Dr. Benson Timah; Safe Guards Officer, Dr. Victor Aimikhe; Project Internal Auditor, Mr. Noble Maclin; Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, Mr. Uduma Ikpa; Communications Officer, Mrs. Benedicta Omeni; and the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO) Director, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Mary P. Iwundu.
