As part of IPS’ Understanding Africa project, a session of ‘Brainstorming Research Ideas’ was held with the M.Phil. students of the Department of International Relations, University of Management and Technology (UMT), Lahore, on August 25, 2021. The session was facilitated by IPS LEAD – the Learning, Excellence and Development program of IPS, under its ‘Indigenizing Policy Research in Pakistan’ initiative.
The students partaking the session discussed their research papers on Africa – assigned to them by their faculties – with IPS’ panel comprising former Ambassador Tajammul Altaf, senior research associate IPS, Dr Tughral Yamin, associate dean, CIPS-NUST, Naufil Shahrukh, GM operations, IPS, and Kulsoom Belal, research officer at IPS.
Tajammul Altaf, in response, gave a brief overview of Africa; its geography, culture, society, and politico-economic situation prevailing in the African continent. He shed light on the role Pakistan played in peace-keeping missions and decolonization in Africa, and also identified opportunities and challenges for Pakistan on how to build strong ties with African countries in geo-strategic, geo economic and public diplomacy domain.
Dr Tughral Yamin stressed the need for narrowing down the ideas of assigned topics, and urged students to refine research questions and methodology of their projects.
The panel advised the students to keep their topics aligned with the vision of Pakistan for Africa under its ‘Engage Africa’ policy, highlighting opportunities and challenges lying ahead for Pakistan accordingly.
