Call for Applications
Application Deadline: Wednesday 11th November 2026
Notification of successful applicants: Sunday 15th November 2026
The National Organizing Committee (NOC) is pleased to announce some exciting training and networking events which will take place prior to the 4th International GORILLA conference in Kampala, Uganda. The pre-conference training and networking events target a variety of participants and institutions. Brief descriptions are provided below while details are found at the conference website.
Award: A certificate of participation will be awarded to the successful participants
Cost for participation: There is no cost for participation for those who are registered for the GORILLA conference. Non-conference participants may pay a fee of $50. The non-conference participants who are unable to afford $50 may contact the organizers to help.
How to apply
Interested persons can apply at: Register your Intention to participate
1. Geospatial Techniques for Water Diplomacy
Globally most continents are covered by transboundary water basin (particularly river basins) comprising of different countries with differing development plans for the use and management of the water resources (Figure 1) of which the largest part of the continental Africa (the Sub-Saharan region) forms part of the main river basins of Africa. Yet there are complexities in managing and use of these transboundary water sources hence need for diplomacy, where the use of diplomatic instruments, negotiations and multi-track dialogues are required to prevent, mitigate, and resolve conflicts over shared, transboundary water resources. In order to navigate smoothly through these complexities with the diplomatic endeavours, there is need for spatially explicit evidence at various scales that provides the necessary information regarding the state of play of these transboundary water resources, hence application of the geospatial analytics tools.
This course will provide the necessary skills and geospatial tools necessary for water diplomacy and negotiations leading to sustainable utilization and management of the transboundary water sources. The course consists of action-packed 5 modules, featuring lectures and practical sessions by numerous prominent and seasoned experts in legal and geospatial analytics, transboundary water sources and use, as well as water diplomacy. The training will increase the participants understanding of what geospatial analytics, transboundary water sources management and how these water resources can be used without conflicts, the legal and diplomacy issues in transboundary or trans community water resources use. The participants will learn more about conflict and cooperation over transboundary water sources, as well as international law and water diplomacy in shared water resources. The participants will be exposed to geospatial analytics and learn how to use these tools for obtaining the necessary spatial information needed for diplomatic negotiations. In the last modules, you will learn about negotiations and dispute resolution regarding transboundary water resources and uses.
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2. Scaling SDG Societal Actions and Shaping the Post-2030 Sustainability Agenda
Makerere University and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) are pleased to announce a planned two-day workshop on “Scaling SDG Societal Actions and Shaping the Post-2030 Sustainability Agenda”. SDGs provide a shared global framework for addressing interconnected environmental, economic and social challenges. Implementation SDGs is closely linked to international frameworks including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015), and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Together, these frameworks provide a foundation for advancing sustainable development, strengthening resilience and inclusive societal transformation. Although the SDGs have been widely embraced by governments and other development actors, their achievement requires a “whole-of-society approach” involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), higher education institutions (HEIs), civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, development partners and local communities.
Evidence presented in the Sustainable Development Report 2025 indicates uneven progress towards the SDGs globally, with many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries continuing to face significant challenges. These circumstances underscore the need to strengthen locally grounded, evidence-informed and collaborative approaches that can accelerate SDG implementation and support the transition towards a more sustainable and resilient future. Higher education Institutions (HEIs) are important knowledge brokers and agents of societal transformation. However, the effectiveness and wider societal impacts of HEIs contributions on SDGs remain insufficiently understood. Building on lessons emerging from NORAD-funded projects, this workshop will examine how HEIs contribute to SDG achievements at scale. The workshop is a great platform to share successes registered, lessons learnt and challenges experienced. The workshop will also facilitate shaping priorities for the post-2030 sustainability agenda. Thus, we invite researchers, academics, policymakers, practitioners, civil society organizations, development partners, private sector representatives, students and community actors to participate in the planned two day SDG Workshop.
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3. Geospatial Artificial Intelligence Climate Resilience
Geospatial Artificial Intelligence has gained increasing importance as a robust tool for propelling resilience. The optimal utility of GeoAI can help to resolve a range of issues in the biodiversity arena culminating into resilient socioecological systems. Despite the inherent potential of GeoAI to address issues of biodiversity, its utility is just emerging and currently suboptimal especially in Sub Saharan Africa. An investigation of the causative factor for the low utility of GeoAI techniques for biodiversity conservation in especially in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) points to a low pool of human capacities where capabilities and competencies are largely lacking. The gist of this pre-GORILLA conference training is to equip the expected participants with novel skills of GeoAI as applied for Climate Resilience.
4. Harnessing artificial intelligence for scholarly writing and scientific publication
The scientific outputs from Africa remain dismally low at less than 5% despite enormous research that is conducted on the continent. The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could held to positively change the situation, especially with generative AI and language models. Artificial Intelligence can ethically be deployed across the entire research cycle and value chain to enhance scientific analysis and writing to accelerate delivery of key outputs. While AI presents a great opportunity to strengthen research capacity and scholarly productivity, its potential has not been fully harnessed especially in insttutions based in Africa. Thus, this pre-conference training is geared at enhancing capacities and capabilities especially of early career scientists and emerging scholars in maximizing AI for scholarly writing and scientific publications. Masters, PhD and Postdoctoral students are welcome to apply to join the training. Participants will not only understand how to use AI tools effectively, but also how to evaluate their outputs, verify sources. The training is expected to contribute to improved manuscript quality and stronger publication readiness.