The Ghana Scholarly Society has opened submissions for its 2026 International Conference on African Development, scheduled for June 17 to 19, 2026, at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. The event focuses on green transitions and inclusive industrialization, attempting to bridge what organizers see as a persistent gap between research and Africa’s actual development needs.
This year’s conference carries the theme “Green Transitions and Inclusive Industrialisation in Africa: Theory to Policy and Practice,” bringing together academics, policymakers, industry professionals, and development partners to explore sustainable pathways for Africa’s economic transformation. It’s the society’s third annual conference, following gatherings at the University of Bradford in 2024 and Aston Business School in Birmingham in June 2025.
The event is organized in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University, the British Council Ghana, Ghana High Commission in the UK, UK Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Ghana International Bank, Taptap Send, OMAXX, First Klass Shipping, and ExcelPlus Education. That partnership roster suggests the organizers are attempting to bring together academic, governmental, and commercial interests rather than hosting yet another purely academic gathering.
Submissions officially opened on August 18, 2025, and close on March 31, 2026. Researchers and practitioners can submit extended abstracts running 2 to 4 pages or full papers up to 12 pages via the Ghana Scholarly Society website at www.ghscholars.com. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by April 10, 2026, followed by early bird registration opening.
All accepted papers will appear in the British Library Conference Proceedings, which carries Print ISSN 3033-523X and Online ISSN 3033-5248. Selected high quality papers may be published in leading journals including Thunderbird International Business Review, Africa Journal of Management, Business Strategy and Development, African Affairs, and Journal of African Business. That publication pathway offers genuine incentive for serious scholars to participate rather than just treating it as another conference line on their CV.
The three day event features seven thematic tracks covering different aspects of African development. Business and Management focuses on entrepreneurship, ESG principles, and climate aligned growth strategies. Economics, Finance, and Accounting examines green transitions and sustainable infrastructure investment. AI, Data, and Digital Technologies explores building human capital for a green economy, recognizing that technological transformation requires skilled workers.
Health and Medicine addresses public health and socioeconomic inclusion, acknowledging that development requires healthy populations. Engineering and Construction covers green engineering and sustainable innovations in built environment. Law and Society examines rights, accountability, and sustainable transitions, recognizing that legal frameworks shape what’s possible. Urban Futures looks at transformations, sustainability, and everyday challenges facing Africa’s rapidly growing cities.
Each track will feature keynote presentations, academic papers, and policy dialogues with leading scholars from UK and African institutions. The policy dialogue component matters particularly, as conferences often produce papers that never influence actual policy decisions. Whether this event bridges that gap better than most remains to be seen.
iCAD 2026 will host a PhD and Emerging Scholars Colloquium on June 17, providing space for early career researchers to present work and receive feedback. An Industry and Practitioners Workshop aims to showcase real world solutions for Africa’s green industrialization, attempting to connect academic theory with practical implementation.
The Ghana Scholarly Society Annual Awards will honor excellence in research, innovation, and practice. Categories include Outstanding Innovation Award, Industry Innovation Award, Emerging Scholar Award, and Best Paper Award. These recognition mechanisms help incentivize quality submissions and participation.
Early bird registration closes May 19, 2026, with fees set at £175.04 for UK and Europe participants and £255.04 for overseas attendees. Late registration remains open until June 10, 2026, presumably at higher rates though those aren’t specified in the announcement. The conference includes a networking reception on June 18 and a gala dinner on June 19 featuring Afro Music and cultural performances.
Delegates are encouraged to book accommodation early at partner hotels in Cambridge including Clayton Hotel, Hilton City Centre, University Arms Hotel, and Travelodge Cambridge Central. Cambridge accommodation during university term can be expensive and scarce, so early booking makes practical sense.
The organizers position iCAD 2026 as a platform for African researchers and professionals to lead the continent’s development dialogue rather than having development agendas set primarily by external actors. They note that despite decades of external support, Africa’s development outcomes remain below expectations, suggesting that home grown solutions through research, dialogue, and innovation might prove more effective.
That framing resonates with broader debates about African agency in development planning. Too often, development conferences about Africa happen without substantial African participation in setting agendas or defining priorities. The Ghana Scholarly Society, established on July 22, 2021, explicitly aims to mobilize global Ghanaian academics to turn research into action, bridging gaps between scholarly excellence and Africa’s real development needs.
Whether this conference achieves those ambitious goals depends on several factors. First, who actually attends and presents? If it’s mostly diaspora academics talking to each other, the impact will be limited. If it successfully brings together researchers based in Africa, policymakers with decision making authority, and private sector actors with resources to implement solutions, it could generate meaningful outcomes.
Second, what happens after the conference? Academic gatherings often produce interesting papers and stimulating conversations that then fade away without influencing actual policy or practice. The test of iCAD’s success will be whether discussions in Cambridge lead to policy changes in Accra, Lagos, or Nairobi, and whether connections made there catalyze actual projects.
The focus on green transitions and inclusive industrialization addresses urgent questions facing African economies. The continent needs industrialization to create jobs and generate prosperity, but doing so using the carbon intensive pathways that earlier industrializers followed would be environmentally disastrous. Finding ways to industrialize while minimizing environmental damage requires innovation in technology, policy, and financing.
Inclusive industrialization matters equally. Too often, economic development in Africa has generated benefits that accrue mainly to elites while leaving majority populations behind. Industrial growth that doesn’t create widespread employment or improve living standards for ordinary people isn’t sustainable politically or socially. The conference’s emphasis on inclusion acknowledges this reality.
The seven thematic tracks cover remarkably ambitious ground, perhaps too ambitious. Conferences attempting to address everything from AI and digital technologies to health and medicine to urban futures risk becoming so broad that they lack focus. Depth matters as much as breadth when trying to generate actionable insights.
Still, the attempt to connect theory, policy, and practice deserves credit. Academic conferences often excel at theory while remaining disconnected from policy realities and implementation challenges. Industry events focus on practice but sometimes lack theoretical grounding. Events attempting to bridge those gaps, even imperfectly, serve useful purposes.
The Ghana Scholarly Society’s broader mission of mobilizing global Ghanaian academics addresses a real challenge. Ghana produces talented scholars who often build careers abroad because opportunities at home remain limited. Harnessing that diaspora talent for Ghana’s and Africa’s development requires creating platforms for engagement. Whether annual conferences suffice for that task or whether more sustained mechanisms are needed remains an open question.
For researchers considering submission, the combination of conference proceedings publication and potential journal placements offers solid incentives. The registration fees seem reasonable compared to many international conferences, though they’re not trivial for scholars from African institutions with limited travel budgets. The Cambridge location provides prestige but also creates barriers for Africa based participants who face visa complications and expensive travel.
As Africa grapples with how to achieve sustainable, inclusive development in an era of climate change and rapid technological transformation, events like iCAD 2026 contribute to necessary conversations. Whether they contribute enough to justify the investment of time, money, and attention they demand will become clear as the conference approaches and afterwards as its impacts, if any, materialize.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
