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School of Science and Technology (SST) Faculty Member, Norbert Edomah, Wins a UKRI-GCRF Grant for Energy Transitions Research in Africa

UKRI-GCRF Energy Democracy and the Politics of Energy Transition in African Countries

Dr. Norbert Edomah, a faculty member of the School of Science and Technology (SST), together with colleagues from partner institutions, has received a £1.33 million grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), to conduct a study on Energy Transition in African Countries. The grant is awarded under the United Kingdom Research & Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

The ESRC funded three-year research project titled “Energy Democracy and the Politics of Energy Transition in African Countries” will explore the dynamics at play and the local forces on-the-ground that shape energy decisions for centralized and decentralized electricity sources, and how they impact on the type of energy infrastructure we end up with. With this project, we intend to explore, document and develop policy tools for effective electricity system governance across selected African countries that will be studied.  The findings of this study will be published as they emerge.

Principal investigators for this project include: Dr. Xavier Lemaire, University College London; Dr. Norbert Edomah, Pan-Atlantic University; Professor Peter Connor, University of Exeter; Dr. Mamello Nchake, National University of Lesotho; Dr. Elusiyan Eludoyin, University College London; Dr. Bridget Woodman, University of Exeter; Dr. Jonathan Cloke, Loughborough University; and Dr. Bernard Tembo, Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research – ZIPAR.

Dr. Edomah, while commenting on the potential impact of the project says “this project is of utmost importance as it targets to increase awareness about innovative inclusive policies and regulation that has a potential to impact on energy transition. It will also inform stakeholders on issues surrounding poverty, structural inequalities, unemployment, and multi-level responses to manage and care about energy democracy when implementing clean energy transition”.

Dr. Edomah is an expert on energy policy and electricity planning. He has researched and published extensively on the Nigerian energy transition. This research is in line with the university’s commitment to developing solutions that address local problems.

On Thursday 2^nd of July 2020 PAU received a donation of 10 HP laptops from the Charity Edwards Trust for use by its students whose capacity to study had been hampered as result of the switch to online-only studies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Receiving the gifts on behalf of the University, Mr Franklin Wiggle, Director of University Relations & Development expressed the University’s gratitude on behalf of the students who would be direct beneficiaries of the largesse. Speaking to Mr Dimeji Edwards, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Charity Edwards Trust, he said, “your contribution means that some of our students, especially the ones on PAU’s Scholarship Fund, will now have better working tools as a result of your generosity. Imagine the look on their respective faces when they receive the laptops you have generously donated. It equally means you would have perpetually contributed to their successful university education at Pan-Atlantic University as a result of your gift when they eventually graduate”.

At the beginning of the lock-down, PAU immediately moved her students to the University’s e-learning platform. Within two weeks, they were receiving their full complement of classes online. Over time however, it became clear  that the benefit of this has not been evenly spread: a number of our students (particularly those on scholarship – about 15% of the undergraduate student population) have been struggling since they don’t own personal computers. While they were on campus, this was not really a challenge as the University has a number of computer labs. Off-campus however, many of them have been struggling to follow the classes online using their mobile phones”.

The donation, would help tackle this challenge and the University hopes that other well meaning individuals and organisation will contribute to this effort.

Beginning from Monday, 11 May, every student of Pan Atlantic University has received a gift of 3 gigabytes of data a week to enable them access lectures as the University declared its intention to continue with online tutorials in the wake of uncertainty around Covid-19 pandemic.

PAU’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Juan Manuel Elegido announced the decision of the University to continue online instruction for the remainder of the 2019/2020 academic year as well as the 2020/2021 session, hoping to commence October 2020.  The University fully intends to “teach, learn, collaborate and work online” in the days ahead.

Prior to the lockdown announced by the Lagos State Government, the University had already closed its lecture halls and required students to vacate the main campus. It then switched students to online tutorials as it continued lectures for the second semester of the 2019/2020 session.

Before the across-the-board 3Gb data offer, PAU offered an allowance of N1,500 weekly to students on full-scholarship. It also provided for download slides and recordings of all zoom lectures. PAU stated, “It requires up to 80 percent less data to download a pre-recorded session than to participant in it live and the download can be done even if one’s internet connection is unstable.”

In a letter to all students on Friday, May 7, the PAU Vice Chancellor disclosed the decision of the University Management Council that the school would also conduct its examinations online subject to the approval of the Senate, continue compulsory internships required for graduation by appealing to companies to consider allowing students to do them online and plan ahead for the new session along the new paradigm. It would not pursue voluntary internships during this period. 

Prof Elegido added, “As for the next academic session, much depends on decisions by the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC). However, if we are not prevented from doing so by these regulators, we are fully committed to starting the 2020/21 session in early October, as we have done every year. Whether we can do so physically or will have to start the session working fully or partially online will depend on the public health situation by then.”

Learning On-going Across PAU

At Pan-Atlantic University, we understand the importance of continuous learning and personal development, and that is why despite these unprecedented times, we still keep our students and executive education participants engaged via all our e-learning platforms and other mediums that support online lectures.

For the degree programmes, as earlier announce, the e-learning platforms of the different schools have actively engaged students from the beginning of this situation, making sure students are actively engaged in learning required by their respective curricular.

Executive/professional education participants have likewise been engaged in online learning fora. Details of these can be found at the websites of the respective schools:

• Lagos Business School
• Enterprise Development Centre
• School of Media and Communication

Furthermore, applications into postgraduate and undergraduate programmes are still ongoing.

Call 07088641465 or 07017825427 or email  admissions@pau.edu.ng if you need any assistance.

The University has been monitoring recent developments with the Coronavirus pandemic and with the upsurge in the number of identified cases in Nigeria, it has become imperative to shut down the campus temporarily for the health and safety of our staff members.

This shut down takes immediate effect from Tuesday, 24th March 2020, for a period of about two weeks in the first instance.

This is in addition to the measures announced last Friday.

More updates will be provided as they arise.

Wuhan Virus Response Update – Changes on Main Campus

As a consequence of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, the University has made decisions on some changes designed to limit exposure and ensure the health and safety of staff and students on the main campus. Some of them are as follows:

• With effect from Monday, 23 March 2020, academic activities on campus will cease indefinitely for at least one month and students will be asked to vacate the halls of residence
• Restriction of visitors by staff members on campus until further notice
• Staff members are advised to conduct tele/video conferencing with clients as opposed to physical meetings
• The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Arts will be closed to external visitors until otherwise communicated
• The Admissions Department will hold meetings with potential parents and students via Skype and other online channels
• Trips and attendance to fairs/meetings are hereby suspended until further notice

These are unprecedented times and we will be assessing the situation. We will provide timely updates to members of the University community as the need arises.

For changes at the Lekki Campus kindly visit the respective websites of the Lagos Business School and the Enterprise Development Centre for more details.