Where will the conference be held?

The conference will be held in Wa, GHA.

When does the conference take place?

The conference is scheduled from September 23rd to September 25th.

6th Research and Development Conference

Sep 23–25, 2026Wa, GhanaIn-person

The 6th Research and Development Conference, hosted in Wa, GHA, is a significant academic gathering focused on the critical role of research and development in addressing contemporary global and local challenges. This event brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to share insights and foster collaborations that drive innovation and sustainable development. The conference will take place from September 23rd to September 25th.

Committees & topics

Topics
Economic Governance and Macroeconomic Policy (SDG 8, 10) · Agricultural Transformation and Food Security (SDG 1, 2, 13) · Energy, Extractives, and Natural Resource Governance (SDG 7, 12, 13) · Strengthening Infrastructure, Transport, and Housing Policies through Evidence (SDG 9, 11, 13) · Educational Policy and Systems Transformation (SDG 4) · Health Governance and Evidence-Informed Policy (SDG 3, 10, 13) · Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action (SDG 12, 13, 15) · Social Protection and Inclusive Development (SDG 1, 5, 10)

Why it matters

This conference is particularly relevant given the increasing complexity of global issues, from climate change to public health crises, which demand innovative solutions rooted in robust research. By convening experts in a collaborative environment, the event aims to bridge the gap between academic inquiry and practical application, ensuring that research findings translate into tangible benefits for communities. The focus on both global and local challenges underscores the interconnectedness of development efforts, highlighting how localized research can contribute to broader international objectives.

The event's location in GHA provides a unique vantage point for discussions on development in the African context. It offers an opportunity to showcase research relevant to the region's specific needs and to explore how local innovations can be scaled up or adapted for other developing nations. This regional focus enriches the global discourse on research and development, ensuring that diverse perspectives and experiences are integrated into the broader conversation. The conference serves as a platform for fostering partnerships that can lead to impactful research initiatives and policy recommendations.

How to prepare

Delegates preparing for this conference should focus on understanding the multifaceted nature of research and development, particularly its intersection with policy and practical implementation. Reviewing concepts such as "Engagement Strategies" and "Dynamic Analysis" will be beneficial for comprehending how research findings can effectively influence decision-making and drive change. Participants should also consider the broader implications of their work, thinking about how local research initiatives can contribute to global development goals.

Given the emphasis on both global and local challenges, it is crucial to prepare by considering the diverse perspectives that will be present. Understanding "Gender Dynamics Across Cultures" and engaging in "Stakeholder Mapping Workshop" can help delegates appreciate the various interests and needs that shape research priorities and outcomes. Furthermore, exploring the concept of "Hidden Stakeholders" can provide valuable insights into identifying and engaging all relevant parties in research and development efforts, ensuring more comprehensive and equitable solutions.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Ghana

As the host nation, GHA emphasizes the importance of localized research and development to address its specific socio-economic and environmental challenges.

Role in topic

GHA serves as a crucial hub for discussions on sustainable development in Africa, showcasing its own research advancements and providing a platform for regional collaboration.

United States

The USA supports international research collaborations and capacity building in developing nations, viewing R&D as vital for global stability and economic growth.

Role in topic

The USA often contributes to research funding and technical expertise, particularly in areas like public health, agriculture, and technological innovation, through various bilateral and multilateral initiatives.

China

CHN advocates for South-South cooperation in research and development, focusing on sharing expertise and resources with developing countries.

Role in topic

CHN is a significant investor in infrastructure and technological development across Africa, and its research institutions are increasingly collaborating on projects related to sustainable development and technological transfer.

Germany

DEU champions evidence-based policymaking and sustainable development, investing in research that addresses global challenges like climate change and food security.

Role in topic

DEU provides substantial development aid and supports research partnerships with African institutions, focusing on areas such as renewable energy, environmental protection, and vocational training.

South Africa

ZAF is a leading research powerhouse in Africa, committed to fostering scientific innovation and addressing continental challenges through collaborative R&D.

Role in topic

ZAF actively participates in and leads various regional research initiatives, contributing significantly to scientific publications and technological advancements relevant to the African continent.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Economic Governance and Macroeconomic Policy (SDG 8, 10)

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, debates over macroeconomic governance have shifted from a narrow focus on price stability and fiscal discipline toward broader concerns about inequality, jobless growth, and the resilience of national economies to external shocks. The COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent inflationary surge, and tightening cycles by major central banks exposed how vulnerable low- and middle-income economies remain to capital flow volatility, currency depreciation, and rising debt-service costs. SDG 8 (decent work and inclusive growth) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) anchor the contemporary policy debate, with the IMF, World Bank, and UN DESA increasingly acknowledging that orthodox prescriptions have not delivered convergence between rich and poor economies. The core dispute centers on policy space: how much latitude developing countries should have to use capital controls, industrial policy, progressive taxation, and counter-cyclical spending without provoking market or institutional backlash. The G20 Common Framework for debt treatment has moved slowly, while calls for a UN-led sovereign debt mechanism, reform of the international tax architecture (including the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation adopted in 2024), and rechanneling of IMF Special Drawing Rights have gained momentum. The 2025 Financing for Development conference (FfD4) in Seville reinforced demands for a more representative global economic governance system. Today, the agenda turns on translating evidence into policy: how research and development funding, data systems, and analytical capacity can support governments in designing fiscal, monetary, and labor market policies that simultaneously promote growth and reduce inequality. Evidence-informed approaches to minimum wages, social transfers, and industrial strategy are increasingly tested in middle-income economies seeking alternatives to austerity-based adjustment.

Key players

Agricultural Transformation and Food Security (SDG 1, 2, 13)

Global food systems have entered a period of sustained stress. The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine's disruption of grain and fertilizer markets, and intensifying climate shocks pushed the number of people facing acute food insecurity above 280 million by 2024, according to the Global Report on Food Crises. Long-standing structural weaknesses — smallholder underinvestment, fragile rural infrastructure, concentrated input markets, and a heavy dependence on a narrow set of staple crops — have been compounded by extreme weather in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, South Asia, and Central America. Progress on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) has stalled or reversed in many regions. The central policy debate concerns how to transform agriculture so that it simultaneously raises productivity, reduces poverty among rural producers, and lowers emissions and land-use pressure. The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and its 2023 stocktaking moment established national pathways, but financing remains far below requirements; CGIAR and national agricultural research systems are chronically underfunded. Debates persist between agroecological approaches favored by parts of civil society and high-input, climate-smart intensification championed by some donors and agribusiness, with genuine evidence gaps on what works at scale in different agro-ecologies. Current negotiations focus on aligning agricultural subsidies (estimated at over USD 600 billion annually) with climate and nutrition goals, scaling adaptation finance under the UNFCCC's Sharm el-Sheikh joint work on agriculture, and strengthening early warning and social protection systems against food crises. Evidence-based policy — from randomized trials of input subsidies to satellite-based yield monitoring — is central to the committee's mandate.

Key players

Energy, Extractives, and Natural Resource Governance (SDG 7, 12, 13)

The global energy transition has reshaped the politics of extractives. As demand surges for lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and rare earths to power electrification, resource-rich developing countries are seeking to capture more value domestically rather than exporting raw ores. Indonesia's nickel export ban, Chile and Bolivia's lithium nationalization efforts, and the African Union's Green Minerals Strategy reflect a wider push for beneficiation and industrial policy. At the same time, roughly 675 million people still lack access to electricity (IEA 2024), and clean cooking access lags badly, underscoring that SDG 7 remains far off track. The core disputes are threefold. First, how to balance rapid fossil fuel phase-down — the COP28 'transition away' language and methane pledges — with energy security, affordability, and the development needs of low-emitting economies. Second, how to govern critical minerals supply chains transparently and equitably under frameworks such as the EITI, the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals (2024), and emerging due diligence regulations. Third, how to mobilize the trillions in annual investment required, given that the bulk of clean energy spending today is concentrated in advanced economies and China. Current policy debates emphasize evidence-based resource governance: rigorous geological and socio-economic data, contract transparency, environmental impact assessments, and revenue management frameworks (sovereign wealth funds, fiscal regimes). The committee will consider how research and development can support both producing and consuming countries in aligning extractives policy with climate and equity objectives.

Key players

Strengthening Infrastructure, Transport, and Housing Policies through Evidence (SDG 9, 11, 13)

Infrastructure deficits remain among the most persistent obstacles to inclusive development. The Global Infrastructure Hub estimates a cumulative investment gap of roughly USD 15 trillion to 2040, concentrated in transport, energy, water, and digital connectivity. Rapid urbanization — UN-Habitat projects that 68% of the global population will live in cities by 2050 — has outpaced the capacity of municipalities to deliver affordable housing, mass transit, and resilient public services. Informal settlements house over one billion people, and housing affordability crises have spread from emerging cities to advanced economies. The core policy dispute centers on how infrastructure decisions are made and financed. Megaproject pipelines, public-private partnerships, and Belt and Road–style external financing have delivered mixed results, with frequent cost overruns, environmental harm, and debt-sustainability concerns. Meanwhile, the climate agenda — embodied in the New Urban Agenda (Quito, 2016) and the COP decisions on adaptation — requires retrofitting existing stock, embedding resilience standards, and shifting transport toward low-carbon modes. Evidence on what works (e.g., bus rapid transit, site-and-services housing, congestion pricing) is uneven across contexts. The committee's focus on 'evidence' reflects a growing push within multilateral development banks and national planning ministries to ground infrastructure choices in rigorous appraisal, ex-post evaluation, and open data on costs and outcomes. Debates will address how to scale up climate-resilient infrastructure finance under the Bridgetown Initiative and MDB reform agenda, and how to embed housing affordability in national urban policies.

Key players

Educational Policy and Systems Transformation (SDG 4)

Global education systems are confronting what UNESCO and the World Bank have called a 'learning crisis.' Even before COVID-19, an estimated 57% of ten-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries could not read a simple text; pandemic school closures, which lasted on average 4.5 months globally and far longer in parts of Latin America and South Asia, deepened learning losses, widened inequalities, and pushed millions of children — disproportionately girls — out of school permanently. The 2022 Transforming Education Summit acknowledged that SDG 4 is sharply off track, and that incremental reform will not be enough. The core debate concerns systems transformation: how to move beyond access metrics toward foundational learning, equity, and the renewal of the teaching profession. Issues include curriculum reform for digital and climate literacy, the integration of education technology (with sharp debates after evidence of mixed results from large-scale ed-tech deployments), the role of private and low-fee schools, financing gaps (UNESCO estimates an annual gap of around USD 100 billion in low- and lower-middle-income countries), and the rights of refugees and internally displaced learners. Current policy work emphasizes evidence — through bodies such as the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel — to identify cost-effective interventions (structured pedagogy, targeted instruction, teacher coaching) and embed them at scale. The committee will examine how research and development infrastructure can support ministries of education in adopting, adapting, and evaluating reforms.

Key players

Health Governance and Evidence-Informed Policy (SDG 3, 10, 13)

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep fragilities in global health governance: inequitable vaccine access, weak primary health systems, fragmented surveillance, and contested authority between WHO, national governments, and private actors. Adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025 and parallel amendments to the International Health Regulations marked a significant institutional response, though core disputes — over pathogen access and benefit sharing, technology transfer, and financing — continue into implementation. At the same time, non-communicable diseases now account for roughly 74% of global deaths, and climate change is reshaping disease ecology, heat mortality, and health-system demand. The central policy debate is how to move from emergency response to resilient, equitable health systems built around universal health coverage and primary care. Key questions include how to finance health (domestic resource mobilization vs. external aid in an era of donor retrenchment), how to regulate digital health and AI in clinical decision-making, how to integrate climate and health planning (per the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health), and how to address persistent inequities both between and within countries. Evidence-informed policy — through health technology assessment, real-world data, and rigorous evaluation of service delivery models — has become a focal point of WHO's work and of national policy units. The committee will consider how research and development capacity can be strengthened in low- and middle-income countries, including local manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics, and how international cooperation can support evidence uptake.

Key players

Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action (SDG 12, 13, 15)

The international environmental agenda has entered a phase defined by implementation gaps. The Paris Agreement's 1.5°C threshold is, on current trajectories, expected to be breached within the next decade; UNEP's 2024 Emissions Gap Report concludes that even full implementation of current NDCs would lead to roughly 2.6–3.1°C of warming. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) set a 30x30 target and adopted a target on harmful subsidy reform, but national biodiversity strategies and finance commitments remain insufficient. Pollution — particularly plastics, where INC negotiations on a binding treaty continued through 2024–2025 — has emerged as the 'third planetary crisis.' Core disputes concern the pace and equity of action. Loss and damage financing, operationalized through the Fund agreed at COP27 and COP28, faces persistent shortfalls. Disagreements continue over carbon markets (Article 6), fossil fuel transition pathways, trade measures such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the just transition for workers and resource-dependent economies. On biodiversity, the new Cali Fund for digital sequence information benefit-sharing and debates over indigenous peoples' role in conservation are reshaping policy. Evidence-based policy — informed by IPCC, IPBES, and national observation systems — is increasingly central to the design of carbon pricing, land-use planning, circular economy regulations, and resilience investments. The committee will consider how research and development funding, monitoring, reporting, and verification systems, and capacity building can close the gap between commitments and outcomes.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for 6th Research and Development Conference.

Recent reporting to ground your prep

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Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Policy Brief Writing

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Conflict Resolution

Ghana September 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

6th Research and Development Conference

Sep 23–25, 2026Wa, GhanaIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Economic Governance and Macroeconomic Policy (SDG 8, 10) · Agricultural Transformation and Food Security (SDG 1, 2, 13) · Energy, Extractives, and Natural Resource Governance (SDG 7, 12, 13) · Strengthening Infrastructure, Transport, and Housing Policies through Evidence (SDG 9, 11, 13) · Educational Policy and Systems Transformation (SDG 4) · Health Governance and Evidence-Informed Policy (SDG 3, 10, 13) · Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action (SDG 12, 13, 15) · Social Protection and Inclusive Development (SDG 1, 5, 10)

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Ghana

As the host nation, GHA emphasizes the importance of localized research and development to address its specific socio-economic and environmental challenges.

Role in topic

GHA serves as a crucial hub for discussions on sustainable development in Africa, showcasing its own research advancements and providing a platform for regional collaboration.

United States

The USA supports international research collaborations and capacity building in developing nations, viewing R&D as vital for global stability and economic growth.

Role in topic

China

CHN advocates for South-South cooperation in research and development, focusing on sharing expertise and resources with developing countries.

Role in topic

Germany

DEU champions evidence-based policymaking and sustainable development, investing in research that addresses global challenges like climate change and food security.

Role in topic

DEU provides substantial development aid and supports research partnerships with African institutions, focusing on areas such as renewable energy, environmental protection, and vocational training.

South Africa

ZAF is a leading research powerhouse in Africa, committed to fostering scientific innovation and addressing continental challenges through collaborative R&D.

Role in topic

ZAF actively participates in and leads various regional research initiatives, contributing significantly to scientific publications and technological advancements relevant to the African continent.