For the 1st time American University Cairo holds annual conference for research, creativity convention virtually

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Fri, 26 Mar 2021 - 03:35 GMT

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Fri, 26 Mar 2021 - 03:35 GMT

File: Michele Miller.

File: Michele Miller.

 

CAIRO - 26 March 2021: For the first time, the American University in Cairo (AUC) holds the fourth edition of the Annual Conference for Research and Creativity Convention (RCC) virtually and invites the public to attend the conference’s events and discussions.
 
 
The conference will be held from March 28 to April 1.
 
 
AUC Research and Creativity Convention is a collective event that brings together diverse research, design, entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity activities that have demonstrated growth and success over the years. It aims to enhance knowledge-sharing, interdisciplinary research collaboration, and projects of community or economic value. 
 
 
AUC faculty and students, both graduate and undergraduate, showcase and share original research and creativity outcomes in the sciences, humanities, social sciences, business, and the arts.
 
 
They demonstrate the breadth and depth of the institution’s research mission.
 
 
 
The AUC Research and Creativity Convention is a celebration of excellence in university research, entrepreneurship, and creative achievement.
 
 
This year, students from Indiana University will also participate in the events. 
The public will be allowed to attend the conference sessions and discussions through AUC’s digital platform, free of charge. 
 
 
The conference will discuss 174 research papers that have been submitted this year. 
 
 
 
Alaa Idris, professor of practice and associate provost for research, innovation, and creativity, said: "I am honored to welcome all participants, speakers and guests to this special event, the Virtual RCC 2021. I am proud of the team that worked tirelessly to put together a full-fledged online RCC during this challenging time.” 
 
 
 
 
RCC was first launched in 2017 as the Research Week and has continued since then to grow and include more participants and activities. 
 
 
 
Idris added, “This year, despite all obstacles, we are hosting The conference for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Entrepreneurship, and Creative Achievement (EURECA). The conference features presentations by our outstanding students, who will showcase their academic work. Our faculty will participate in two competitions, Research Pitch and Courses Futurization. We continue to run our Design Thinking Camp, Science Slam, and an E-version of the Graduate Poster Competition.” 
 
AUC welcomes, this year, many distinguished keynote speakers and participants from different universities and competition judges from all over the world. 
 
 
This year, German Martin Wezowski will participate as a keynote speaker in the opening ceremony on March 28. Martin Wezowski works as a chief futurist for SAP’s technology and innovation.
 
 
He is a faculty member of Futur/IO, a European future institute, and lectures in other education programs.
  
Wezowski will discuss the mechanics and dynamics of change. How fast is it? What it means to be an innovator and strategist is transforming faster than before, from classic product definition and styling of the superficial to systemic connections of everything, including social and political systems, deeply rooted in the space of challenges and promises between cutting edge tech and humanism.
 
 
 
Regarding his vision, Wezowski said: “I want to innovate what we call work out-of our lives via empathic symbiosis between human ingenuity and machine intelligence.” 
 
 
 
The E- Graduate Poster Competition, will take place on the second day of the RCC, where graduate students will present their research using digital posters.
 
 
The research idea should be self-explanatory so that a viewer would understand the poster, even in the absence of a presenter.
 
 
This year, contestants are challenged to showcase their research online in a visually-appealing display accompanied by a voiceover for broadcast.
 
 
The first winner of the competition will receive EGP10,000, the second winner will receive EGP 7,000, and the third will receive EGP5,000.
 
 
 
Heba Sheta, director of community initiatives and cooperation at AUC, said: “Contrary to what we expected, this year we have a great digital turnout from researchers, faculty and students in all activities.
 
 
Also, the number of participants increased remarkably as the deadline for submission approached."
 
"We have participants who are keen to be part of this virtual experience, and we have received research projects that discuss the global pandemic from different perspectives," she added.
 
The conference’s digital nature required this year different planning as Sheta explained: “We provided training sessions for the contestants and participants. The global pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges, but we are embracing such challenges and excited about holding the RCC digitally.” She said: “Such digital presence, will not only allow for more participation from different parts of the world, but will ensure that we have a great ."
 
Idris believes this year’s conference will attract the public to attend the various sessions and competitions. “The efforts we exerted this year should compensate for the lack of face-to-face interactions. I look forward to seeing all the participants and guests online this year and on-campus next year."
 
RCC’s Liberal Arts Symposium brings together the scholarship of all faculty who have a vested interest in incorporating Liberal Arts ideals into their teaching, whether they teach in the Liberal Arts or not. The symposium, which will take on March 30, will be held under Doris Jones’s supervision,  senior instructor II at the Department of Rhetoric and Composition and the director of the Common Reading Program at the Academy of Liberal Arts at AUC. Michael Miller, a president’s distinguished teaching fellow and professor of psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University will deliver a lecture titled: "Development Online Minds in a Changing World: Lessons Learned and Looking to the Future,” 
 
In her talk, Miller will discuss the outcomes of teaching in the time of a global pandemic. She will discuss how faculty members transform their core strengths through online teaching, articulating problems, and suggesting solutions. She while also be shedding light on the expected transformation in higher education in the post-pandemic world.

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