Mr. Mark Kparmak is a Research Manager, with twelve years of leading the research and project administration department of the Office of Research and Development (ORD). He has a graduate degree in Mass Communication and a Master’s in Development Communication from the University of Jos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; He is a certified Pre-Award Research Administrator and Clinical Trial Research Administrator from the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI) and Association of Clinical Research Professionals, (ACRP), USA respectively. He has worked with local and international research investigators to implement cutting-edge research in Nigeria.

The Office of Research and Development was established to promote and manage academic, applied, and sponsored research in the University, including dissemination of research outputs; it is mandated to solicit, obtain and manage funding for research and incidental in line with the regulations of the University on such matters.

Moreover, the Office is expected to organize seminars, workshops, and any course of instruction that will strengthen scientific advancement, societal development, and human security in its various ramifications; the ORD’s mandate also includes partnering with industrial, commercial, financial, and civil society organizations to facilitate and deepen the capacity to translate research into products, services, policies, and programs that will advance societal, human, economic, political and socio-cultural development.

Furthermore, it will undertake any tasks and activities that are incidental to or enhance the achievement of the overall objectives of the Office as well as perform any functions as may from time to time be directed by the Vice-Chancellor, Senate, and Council of the University in line with the main objectives of the University of Jos.

The collaboration between the Global Integrated Education and Volunteer Association (GIEVA) and the ORD is targeted at creating a platform for the engagement of stakeholders on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11: Make Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable. The partnership is in line with both organizations’ mandates. The ORD will facilitate the intellectual engagement with relevant faculties on the various perspectives of SDG 11 while the GIEVA will engage with the communities and government towards the achievement of the goal.

Both organizations will be working to contribute their quota to the implementation of this goal; shares responsibilities and gains to the service of humanity. For the University it is fulfilling its gown-to-town mandate; to GIEVA it is fulfilling its mandate for education and socio-economic development. As a consultative forum member of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and taking up SDG 11 as a focus of intervention, the partnership with the ORD, University of Jos becomes imperative.

The first lecture in 2023, January 31, titled Reinventing Our Cities, has stirred a discussion on town planning, settlements, environmental degradation, waste management, illegal settlements, laws and implementation of people-centered policies are myriad of issues confronting stakeholders who will make the future of our cities, urban and rural settlements, a place on earth, to live in, now and the next generation.

Sustainability of the lecture

In view of the vision of the SDG by the UN, the GIEVA is aligning its vision to the UN in engaging stakeholders on SDG 11, and the University of Jos, which has one of the oldest faculty of environmental sciences, the Nobel prize for climate change was awarded to Dr. Anthony Nyong of the Department of Geography, with Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States; the University instituted an Anthony Nyong Center for Climate Change with multi-disciplinary faculty.

The ORD will sustain this lecture as an annual event in commemorating the ECO-SOC Forum side-event, facilitating with the Faculty of Environmental Sciences.