Panel discussion entitled ‘African and Jain Philosophies: Indigenous Enlightenment in Peace Building’ organized by MU’s College of Law and Governance, Department of Philosophy and the All India Digamber Jain Heritage Preservation Organization (AIDJHPO) was held at Theatre Hall, Adi-Haki Campus, MU on the 17th and 18th of May, 2017.
The Panel discussion was opened by the welcoming Speech of Mr. Biniam M., Head, Department of Philosophy, MU followed by the opening speech of Dr. Kindeya Gebrehiwot, MU’s President, who accentuated the importance of studying our indigenous philosophies as a sustainable line of thought for development.
An introductory remark and a keynote address were then made by Mr. Nirmal Kumar Sethi Jain, the President of AIDJHPO, and Prof. (Dr.) Rajmal Jain respectively both of whom applauded the organizers of the panel discussion and highlighted the indigeneity and fraternity of the Jain and ancient Ethiopian Philosophies, followed by a keynote address by Mr. Eyasu Bernto from Department of Philosphy, MU.
Part of the panel discussion also was exchange of appreciations and ceremonials between the top managing of MU and representatives of AIDJHPO.
Also present on the conclusion of the panel discussion was H.E. Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia, who made a closing speech reassuring his country’s commitment to work with Ethiopia in areas of importance such as this one.
H.E. Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Ethiopia
Mr. Gebrehiwot Hadush, Dean of MU’s College of Law and Governance, also made similar closing remarks applauding the organizers and underlining the significance looking at our philosophies for a better world.
The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) in its annual call for research grants has awarded 21 competitive projects out of 381 submitted proposals at national level of which 3 Projects (14.3%) were won by MU Researchers.
Dr. Birhanu Hadush and his team from the College of Veterinary Medicine has got a National award of 3,979,591.00. This three-years project on “Development of recombinant and killed multivalent Mannheimia haemolytica and P. multocida antigens for novel vaccine and diagnosis of circulating serotypes of ruminant pneumonic pasteurellosis in Ethiopia” will be done through the collaborative efforts of expertise from MU-CVM (Dr. Birhanu Hadush, Dr. Habtamu Tadelle, Dr. Berihun Afera), Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University (Prof. Dr. Gobena Ameni), Wollo University School of Veterinary Medicine (Dr. Getachew Gugsa and Dr. Nesibu Awol), National Veterinary Institute (Dr. Berecha Bayisa), Oklohama State University, USA (Dr. Ayalew Sahlu), Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium (Prof. Dr. Stijn Deborggraeve) and Oslo University Hospital, Norway (Dr. Shewit Kalayou).
Eng. Hailekiross Abadi Kiros (PI) from Mekelle Institute of Technology-MU has also won a 3-years project entitled “Mobile Phone Based Automated System for Malaria Diagnosis: Detection, species identification, life stage classification and quantification in blood using Image Processing” with a total grant of 2,925,197.00 Ethiopian Birr.
Similarly, Dr. Yohannes Hagos from the College of Veterinary Medicine has won a two-years research project entitled “Production of hyperimmnune yolk and serum for passive immunization against Gumboro Disease and development of in-house diagnostic assay” with a total grant of 2,046,617.8 Eth. Birr.
Ambassador Fatih Ulusoy, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Ethiopia has made a working visit to Mekelle University on May 24, 2017.
The President of Mekelle University Dr. Kindeya G/Hiwot, welcomed the Ambassador and discussed on the potential areas of collaboration and partnership for mutual benefit. The discussion was made in the presence of all deans and directors.
A brief explanation was given regarding activities undertaken on the basis of connections among Mekelle University, the Turkish government and Turkish institutions by Mr. Macit Koc, University Industry Linkage advisor of Mekelle University.
During his visit, H.E. Amb. Fatih also gave a public lecture for staff members and graduating students of the Department of Political Science and Strategic Studies on the topic, “Turkey’s deep rooted relations with Ethiopia: The past and the future.” In his address, he shed lights on the current relationship, the similarities of the two countries and the Turkish investments here in Ethiopia. In addition to this, he also promised to embark on further collaborations with MU in particular and Ethiopia in general.
Institute of Climate and Society (ICS) has given a two days training to faith leaders from Afar and Tigray National Regional States on Climate Change Impacts and Resilience at the meeting Hall of the Institute of Paleo-Environment and Heritage Conservation, Mekelle University from May 16-17, 2017.
The training was organized with the objectives of sensitizing the Faith leaders with regard to climate change science, its mitigation and the policies, strategies and law of the country. Through knowledge acquired from the workshop, leaders are expected to inform their faith followers to be involved in the mitigation activities undertaken in the country.
The workshop participants were welcome by Dr. Amanuel Zenebe, MU-ICS Director and officially opened by Dr. Abdulkader Keder, Academic Vice President of Mekelle University.
The topics discussed during the first day of the training include the nexus between “Climate change, politics, legal, ethical and diplomatic endeavors” by Dr. Tsegay Berhane, College of Law and Governance, MU. Ato Eskedar Awgachew on the other hand dwelt on “Laws and policies of Ethiopia pertaining to Environment and Climate Change”. In the afternoon the session was devoted to presentation and discussion on “Impact of Climate Change and mitigation mechanisms” delivered by Prof. Dr. Mitiku Haile, CoDANR, MU. The mode of delivery for the training was evidence based case studies presented in class complemented by a full day visit to ‘Abreha we Atsebeha’ and ‘Geregera’ watersheds.
Participants were very active, responsive and appreciative of the need for such awareness creation forum. They asserted that they have acquired new knowledge and insight on the issues raised. Furthermore, they were engaging themselves in the discussion by giving some observations from their areas. They also pledged that efforts from their sides will be made to transmit the awareness to their faith followers. They indicated that such workshops should also be undertaken at a national level not only to faith leaders but also to other sections of society.
On the second day participants were invited to visit the activities undertaken by the farming community to reverse the anthropogenic factors that induced land degradation. During the discussions on the first day an issue was raised on stone quarries that disfigure the land scape without investors fulfilling their social responsibility. This was demonstrated on the Mesobo plateau where stone quarries are left without remedial work made in the form of tree planting or smoothening the scars.
On a stop at the suspension bridge near Maimekden, participants were informed about the Tufa dam as an indicator of paleo–environment change. In the soils developed behind the Tufa dam researchers from MU, AAU and Roma III university unearthed remains of bones of elephant, giraffe and rhinoceros carbon dated about 5500 BP. This shows the area has been humid and forested during the quaternary.
On arrival in Abreha Atsebeha watershed, participants were received by Ato Gebremicheal Gidey (popularly known as AbaHawi). He guided the visitors through the watershed explaining the processes, implementation and monitoring of the activities of reversing land degradation, water harvesting, small-scale irrigation, trees on farm lands and overall improvement of the environment and integrated livelihood and wealth accumulation by the members of the community (just before some minutes of our arrival Aba Hawi was tour guiding the Vice President of the World Bank, it is to be noted that the WP has revealed in the evening of the visit the pledge that Ethiopia would receive 4.9 Billion USD to support the development efforts for the next three years. We believe she was impressed also by the development works undertaken in the watershed).
The Faith Leaders were impressed by what they observed and verified at the farm level what they were exposed during the class presentations.
After lunch the leaders visited the Birki small scale irrigation scheme that gets its water from the Geregera and other watersheds. At Tabia Hayelom we were received by Ato Niguse Hagazi a researcher from ICRAF. He described in detail about the activities being undertaken in the watershed. The major focus is to rehabilitate and restore the sloping lands by constructing bench terraces that will be changed to produce multi -story trees and vegetables, water harvesting from roofs and bee keeping. It is a large scale demonstration site that is managed by youngsters who have received the plots as individuals but managed as a group to facilitate eventually with supply chains and the market. Other components of the activities undertaken by ICRAF were also discussed. Gully rehabilitation, riverbank rehabilitation with vegetation and supply of fruit tree seedlings. The fruit tree seedlings are supplied by youngsters of the community who have overtaken (legally of course) the tree nursery of the area. They supply, at cost, seedlings to farmers, government and non-government agencies.
The participants shared their experiences and appreciated the efforts made by ICRAF and the community. They promised to share their experiences and the information they got with their fellows.
The visit was concluded with a vote of thanks.
Recommendation from participants
Ø The participants urged MU and the Institute to organize similar sensitizing workshops at the national level to different groups including the media, parliamentarians, mayors, investors, etc.
Ø Put policy briefs and posters for wider circulation in the local languages to reach different stakeholders
Ø Organize panel discussions and debates using local media by inviting different members of the society to obtain their perceptions on climate change and mitigation
Ethiopian Construction Projects Management Institute during the contract signing ceremony held on May 18, 2017 in Getfam Hotel in Addis Abeba has announced that from 37 research proposals sent from the various public universities, 12 projects from seven universities have qualified for funding. Among the twelve research projects, EiT-M has won four of them which make it the highest qualifier.
The four research projects signed by Dr. Aregaw Asha, Acting Director of Ethiopian Construction Projects Management Institute and Dr. Haddush Goitom Scientific Director, EiT-M are as shown in Table below,
| Sr. No | Project Title | Research Principal Investigator | School |
| 1 | Mobile and Automated Concrete block Machine | Filimon Gidey | School of Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| 2 | A Web-based Geotechnical database for Ethiopian Construction Sector | Gebray Habtu | School of Civil Engineering |
| 3 | Design and development of automatic machine for production of low cost roofing | Alula Gebresas | School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering |
| 4 | Study of Quality management system in building construction projects in Ethiopia | Gebrehiwet Teklemriam | School of Civil Engineering |
Research Projects Signing Ceremony between the EiT-M and ECPMI
After signing the contracts for the four research projects, Dr. Haddush forward his view by appreciating the Ethiopian Construction Projects Management Institute for making the milestone in undertaking construction focused research calls and providing required fund.
Dr. Haddush, EiT-M Scientific Director Delivering a Speech on the Signing of the Research Projects
Furthermore, he has also mentioned that EiT-M is delighted and proud of the performances of its staff on securing four of the twelve projects; he has also guaranteed that EiT-M management and community will extend maximum support to the success of these research projects.