Researchers from different African countries as well as from Europe will present their own research and discuss the transformation of rural-urban relations in Southern Africa with a particular focus on the impact of migration and climate change.
The design of the conference that includes senior researchers and junior researchers is deliberate to cross pollinate the intergeneration ideas of rural-urban interactions. Junior researchers will present what they have been busy with while senior researchers, apart from a few, will act as mentors and moderators.
The conference will also host a dialogue with an expert panel from academia, policy makers, professionals and practitioners who will seek to unpack the issue of how rural-urban actions affect each other and how they are affected by or respond to externalities like Climate Change, Natural and Anthropogenic Disasters, Migration and Social-economic development. The panel will then triangulate how these will contribute to attainment (or not) of SDGs. Recommendations will then be made that can be formulated into position papers, research and/or explored further to influence policy.