Blog

Waking up at 6am and heading to the busy, bustling Fiji fish markets was how the majority of my days in Suva began. Walking up and down the seafood stalls, greeted by the different fish mongers who had well and truly begun to recognise me, trying to spot the species I needed for sampling. It was here that I met my namesake or 'yaca' as the Fijian's like to call it... her name was Nina (just like me) and she was my go-to fish ...

"Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community." - the World Health Organisation (WHO) Mental health is now high on the global agenda. Research shows that physical health and susceptibility to disease is exacerbated by a poor ...

With fresh experiences from the HR Global Innovations UK Tour in May 2018 and the resolve to be a HR change agent in higher education, my participation in the 8th ACU HR in HE Community Conference at the University of Waterloo, Canada, provided me with a golden opportunity to share insights from my own university: Kyambogo University in Uganda. Despite delays in acquiring a Canadian visa, I was still able to present one of my ...

Plastic Pollution is a problem that is a result of human activity and is becoming more problematic as new information is made available each year about its associated effects in the environment, and the threat it poses to human health. When people think of plastics, it shouldn't be about pieces of plastics floating around in our ocean, or littered around on our streets. Today, we know that the reach of plastics is so vast that it is ...

Only 4% of plastic pollution research has been carried out on the African continent; that is a pretty serious knowledge gap. Our current global models of plastic movement in the oceans are missing a huge potential source point, so we need to find out how much is originating from Africa as soon as possible. This was the broad basis for my Blue Charter Fellowship, which was hosted by the Sustainable Seas Trust in South Africa earlier ...

I remember eagerly anticipating the email from the ACU in mid-November 2018, which was to let me know whether my application for a Blue Charter Fellowship had been successful or not. When I finally received the email, before I could make sense of the contents, I located the famous congratulatory line 'We are excited to let you know that your application was successful'! I leapt out of my chair and danced around my room in excitement ...

Working around plastics and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is something very new for me. My journey began with the 2018 Summer School hosted by the ACU at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). As a participant, I got the opportunity to explore the wider canvas of debates around sustainability and its importance in the present times. In particular, the engagement with diverse participants from various countries and ...

Name: Idowu Adegbilero-IwariJob title: Scholarly Communications Librarian/Library CoordinatorInstitution: Elizade University, NigeriaCommunity member since: 2018 What do you enjoy about working in libraries/information and what inspires you in your career? Helping people with information needs and imparting information skills. The ability to connect with people across diverse fields through the library space is inspiring! What ...

In the year following the fall of legalised apartheid in South Africa, the country commemorated its first Reconciliation Day on December 16 1995. It was on this day that the first gathering of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was held, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Seeking to make sense of a brutal past by publicly rehearsing the formation of memory, the commission was set up as a space where speaking could begin and ...

Name: Keith JohnstoneJob title: Director of International RelationsInstitution: University of SouthamptonACU Internationalisation Community member since: 2015 How long have you been working in the area of international education? Ten years including at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the University of New South Wales, most recently returning to the UK to work at Southampton. What do you enjoy about your work ...