BU Research Blog

The 6th Edition of the LIGUE International Conference Poster

6th Edition of the LIGUE Conference, Tunis, 8-9 December 2022

Collaboration between Bournemouth University & University of Manouba

Are Disruptive Transformations Overshadowing or Paving the Way for the SDGs Implementation? Challenges and Opportunities for the Organizations and their Stakeholders

I am very proud of the latest collaboration between Bournemouth University and the University of Manouba on this conference addressing the disruptive transformations organisations and their stakeholders have been experiencing. Such disruptions have strongly influenced their efforts to achieve the UN SDGs. This conference gathered academics from Tunisia, UK, Spain, France, Canada, Morocco, Libya and Sri Lanka, to discuss this essential and timely topic. The conference is in line with Bournemouth University values, mission and strategy and strongly contributes to the UN SDGs. Academics from BU played a key role in the success of this conference in many ways:

Dr Ediz Akcay

Dr Kaouther Kooli

Professor Hamid Bouchachia

1-Professor Hamid Bouchachia, Faculty of Science and Technology, delivered a keynote speech on Data Science and AI as Enablers for Tackling SDGs and asserted that the implementation of the SDGs agenda by governments and societies can only be monitored through credible data and supported by adequate and transparent decision-making mechanisms.

Dr Kaouther Kooli, Keynote speech on establishing a research ethic committee

2-Professor Ameur Cherif, Professor Hamida Skandrani Dr Sean Beer and myself delivered a keynote speech on the challenges of establishing research ethic committee in global south countries. The presentation made impact as it opened a very interesting debate on research ethics and how it is practiced by academics at the University of Manouba.

Dr Ediz Akcay and Dr Kaouther Kooli, workshop with entrepreneurs

3-Dr Ediz Akçay and myself delivered a workshop to entrepreneurs and academics. Five women entrepreneurs exhibited their products and talked about their SMEs. Nurtured by our research and education activities, Dr Ediz Akçay and myself have organised a workshop on how these women entrepreneurs can best take advantage on the opportunities available in their environment e.g. We emphasised how they can be guided by the UN SDGs and how they can achieve these through their collaboration with the University of Manouba. This workshop aimed to promote inclusivity, local communities, organic products. I would like to thank the following brands/entrepreneurs for attending this workshop : Sajnania, JIJI, Emna Wssaoufi, Ommi Daouda, Dry Rose. The workshop has been commended by Professor Samir Trabelsi, Brock University , Canada, as “The best session he attended in the conference”.

Hybrid Conference Presentation by Kithsiri H V Athula on the screen from Sri Lanka, Dr Ediz Akçay and Dr Kaouther Kooli

4-Presenting papers with Dr Ediz Akçay and Kithsiri H V Athula from Sri Lanka. Our presentations made impact and we received very good feedback from colleagues from other universities. As a result, we have been invited to submit one of the papers to a top American journal.

Professor Khaled Huseyni, Portsmouth University and Dr Padmi Nagirikandalage, Nottingham Trent University

5-Guest editing special issues of CABS journals, involving ECRs from Bournemouth University, Nottingham Trent University and from the University of Manouba. We encourage paper submissions from Bournemouth University. Please contact me on: kkooli@bournemouth.ac.uk or Dr Ediz Akcay: eakcay@bournemouth.ac.uk for more information.

Closing ceremony photo

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Hamid Bouchachia, Dr Ediz Akçay and Dr Sean Beer for their invaluable contributions. Also, I would like to thank Professor Hamida Skandrani, Professor Samir Trabelsi from Brock University, Professor Khaled Husseiny from Portsmouth University, Professor Derrick De Kerkhove from the Interdisciplinary Internet Institute, Dr Padmi Nagirikandalage from Nottingham Trent University and all the other participants for engaging with us, providing feedback and commenting about our work.

Bournemouth University collaboration with the University of Manouba started more than five years ago. This collaboration made a difference for the University of Manouba and especially the LIGUE (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Gestion Université Entreprise) that has recently won the ED-ECCOFIGES prize of the best scientific publications. This is a very encouraging and comforting proof of years of hard work organising conferences, guest editing special issues of CABS journals, co-authoring papers, bidding for external funding, etc. This collaboration has been making a strong contribution to Bournemouth University values of excellence, inclusivity, creativity and responsibility and to the Seventeen UN SDGs. It is paving the way for other partnerships for the goals involving institutions from other countries in North Africa and beyond and, therefore, it is placing Bournemouth University in a strong posture in the race for sustainability.