A three-day seminar for doctoral students has commenced at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) to create a platform for the students to register and pursue the doctoral programmes with ease while respecting the existing regulations in each institution. It is under the auspices of the Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies (IUCDS), in collaboration with the departments offering Doctor pf Philosophy (PhD) programmes and the School of Graduate Studies. The IUCDS is an academic body and partnership with composed framework of sister institutions in Ghana and the West African sub-region made up of public and private universities. The conference is also to create a pool of experts for supervision and assessments of doctoral thesis/dissertations to enhance staff development through facilitation of movement of researchers from the various member institutions, among others. This is to help address the acute shortage of motivated and well trained academic staff in partner institutions and universiti es, including the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology-Kumasi, University of Cape Coast, UEW, University of Lagos, Akoka-Nigeria, and Universite' Charles Louis de Montesquieu Abidjan. The rest are Universite' de Lome-Togo; Universite' du Faso, Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso; Kano University of Science and Technology, Kano Nigeria; lgnatius Ajura University of Education Port Harcourt-Nigeria; University of Liberia, Monrovia; and Universite' Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Abidjan-Cote d' Ivoire. Prof Victor Antwi, Pro -Vice Chancellor, UEW, in a welcome remark, noted that the conference marked a significant milestone in the universities collective journey towards academic excellence, innovation and collaborative research. 'We are reminded that doctoral studies play important role in advancing knowledge, fostering critical thinking in addressing the complex challenges of our time,' he stated. Doctoral research was the bedrock upon which new theories were built, innovative solutions devi sed, and transformative changes initiated, and therefore, it was prudent they came together to celebrate, share and critically examine their scholarly works, he said. Prof M. A. IIupeju, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos and Head of Scientific Unit, IUCDs, gave a summary on activities of the Journal of doctoral studies, while Prof Dominic S. Y Amuzu, Executive Secretary of the Conference, took participants through the conference activities. Source: Ghana News Agency