Expanding the Ghana/Nigeria oceanography summer school to include acoustics modules and relationship
Abstract
The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Ghana (COESSING;https://coessing.org) is an international collaboration aimed at buil,ding capacity inoceanographic and environmental sciences in Ghana and neighboring West Africancountries. Summer schools have been he,ld for one week every year from 2015-2021. The 2020 and 2021 schools were entirely virtual, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2015-2,019 schools were held in-person, and alternated between the Regional Maritime University (RMU) in odd-numbered years and the Univers,ity of Ghana (UG) in even-numbered years. Both institutions are located in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. UG is a world-recognize,d center for research withinsub-Saharan Africa. The University hosts over 38,000 students, including Masters andPhD graduate program,s, as well as international participants from over 70 countries.RMU is one of a small number of centers in Africa that are dedicated, to trainingpersonnel for the maritime industries, such as shipping, port management, and relatedfields. Our school included partici,pants from several other African countries, especiallyNigeria, in 2017, 2018, and 2019.This proposal seeks funding to continue COESS,ING in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Otherfunding sources (primarily NSF) will support some costs of the 2022 and 2023 schools. The requested, funding will allow COESSING to continue to strengthen relationships in West Africa, a strategically important region to the US Navy,. The 2022 and 2024 schools will be held in Nigeria, and will be co-hosted by the University of Lagos and the Nigerian Institute for, Oceanographic and Marine Research (NIOMR). The 2023 school will be held in Ghana, at UG. Thus, the funding proposed here will expan,d the reach of the school to Nigeria, Africa?s most populous country. The work proposed here will expand the curricular reach of the, school into ocean acoustics. We will pay the travel expenses for Dr. Lora Van Uffelen of the University of Rhode Island (URI), an a,coustics expert. Dr. Van Uffelen and her acoustics collaborators at URI will work with our Nigerian and Ghanian colleagues to establ,ish acoustics modules for the summer school. Professors Eunice Asamoah and Andy Agyekumhene of UG will be amongst the African collea,gues who collaborate with us in this endeavor, and they have attended meetings with URI scientists to discuss these collaborations i,n advance. Finally, the work proposed here connects to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. COESS,ING is a UN Decade-endorsed ocean science exchange project, and lies under the umbrella of the Global Ocean Corps and Conveyor (http,s://globaloceancorps.org), an endorsed global programme of the Decade. Ocean Corps aims to promote ocean science exchange projects a,round the world, loosely following the model of the US Peace Corps. The expansion of the school to include acoustics modules also co,nnects with the goals of the UN Decade-endorsed ocean acoustics programme: Ocean Decade Research Programme on the Maritime Acoustic,Environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 13, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212570
Entities
People
- Brian K. Arbic
Organizations
- Board of Regents of the University of Michigan
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy