Use Research to Improve People’s Lives – PM Urges

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has urged academics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), to continue their research but also challenged them to ensure that their work is eventually used to improve the lives of people. He was speaking at the recent launch of Research Day at the UWI, Mona campus.
“Any kind of research is a tool that must be used to achieve greater satisfaction of the wants and desires of our people. The university community must lead the way. It must be assertive, it must be bold. It must be feisty. The job is not done until we have transferred that research from the laboratory and the classroom to the workplace, to the home and to the everyday activities in which we are engaged”, he said.
The Prime Minister noted that there was urgency for stronger connections to exist between the researchers and the society at this time as research is a major driving force for prosperity.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (right) converses with Chairman, Campus Council UWI Mona, Dr. Marshall Hall at the opening of the University of the West Indies Research Day activities on January 29 which was held under the theme, Research for Development. The Prime Minister congratulated the UWI Mona for increasing its enrollment in the faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences by 7%, saying that research in science and technology was essential for Jamaica to take advantage of changes that will emerge in global economic arrangements.

“We need a strategic partnership between the academicians and the community. When the economic crisis has passed, we are going to see a world that is defined by economic relations that are going to be different. There are some far-reaching, fundamental changes that are going to be made and it is going to be important that we do everything possible to position ourselves”, Mr. Golding said.
The Prime Minister noted that the pace at which technology is moving made it very important to educate young people and get them interested in science. He congratulated the UWI for its success in increasing the number of students who are enrolled in the Pure and Applied sciences by 7% over the previous year, noting that science and technology will make the difference in the prosperity of Jamaica.
“The breakthroughs that are taking place are happening with much more rapidity than ten and twenty years ago. The pace of those discoveries and the rhythm of research is going to quicken with each succeeding generation. It is important that we engage our young people”, Mr. Golding noted.