Across two meetings, I met with institute and university staff and management to raise awareness for low-cost research opportunities. Over the past five years, both developing low-cost sensor systems and conducting research with students (student science) has given me access to many hours of data and some publications at little cost in the field of air pollution. I strongly believe that the same can be conducted in other fields.
At April 5, 2024, the meeting participants included lecturers and deans of the Arba Minch Water Technology Institute, as well as its scientific director (Dr. Bogale Gebremariam). With Dr. Tesfaye Habtemariam (Executive Director for Research of Arba Minch University) also joining us, we could have a fruitful discussion on opportunities and challenges with all layers of the university. This meeting was followed up with a meeting on April 11, 2024, where the university president (Dr. Damtew Darza), vice president of academics (Dr. Alemayehu Chufamo) and vice president of research (Behailu Merdekios) participated. Some of my students were present to show the instruments with which they conducted measurements. The locally developed soil-moisture sensor system was also on display.
The meetings raised awareness for low-cost research opportunities and integrating research with education. Below slides show the presentation and minutes of the challenges and solutions raised across the two meetings.