The Sustainable Research and Innovation (SRI) Conferences are the successors to the Departmental Annual Seminars which were previously organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. The first seminar was held in 1995, under the theme: The Role of Mechanical Engineering in Changing Industry.” Thereafter, seven seminars were held annually until 2001. After a few years’ break, the annual seminars resumed in 2006 with the 8th series titled “Sustainable Research in Innovation”. The Departmental Seminar was scaled to an annual international conference in 2010, organized by the School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Materials Engineering. Since 2014, the SRI conference has been organized by the College of Engineering and Technology. The conference has continued to grow and gain an international profile with submissions and keynote speeches from within and outside the country.
Previous Conferences
2021 SRI Conference
The 2021 International Conference on Sustainable Research and Innovation (SRI) was held virtually on October 6 – 7, 2021 under the theme “Sustainable Development through Innovation, Technology and Industry Linkage”. The event was graced by the Chief Guest, Mr. Thuo Gacheru, who is the Managing Director of City Radiators in Kenya. Prof. Eyitayo Olatunde Olakanmi of Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) gave a keynote speech entitled “Education for laser-based manufacturing (ELbM) in Africa: Current status, challenges and future prospects”. Other keynote speeches were given by Prof. Ahmed Abdel Moneim from the Egypt Japan University of Science and Technology, (E-JUST) and Dr. Nguyen Van Trang of Ho Chi Mihn City University of Technology and Education, Vietnam.
2020 SRI Conference
The 2020 International Conference on Sustainable Research and Innovation (SRI) was held virtually on October 6 – 7, 2020 under the theme “Linking Industry with Academia through Engineering Research and Innovation”. The Chief Technical Officer at Gulf Energy Ltd, Mr. Benson Njiru, was the Chief Guest. Prof. Tomonori Sato of Hokkaido University, a Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Earth Science at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan gave a keynote speech highlighting methods of mitigating climate change. The Chairman, Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK), Eng. Erastus Mwongera stressed the need for engineers to market their skills as pillars of all other professions in his keynote speech.
2019 SRI Conference
The 2019 Sustainable Research and Innovation conference was held on November 14 – 15, 2019, under the theme: Leveraging on Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development. The Guest of Honour was Prof. Adel Nofal, Central Metallurgical R&D Institute, (Egypt) and the Head of the World Foundry Organization (WFO) technical committee. Keynote speeches were made by: Prof. Ochieng Aoyi, Director of Research and Development, Botswana International University of Science and Technology; Prof. Jinsoo Park is an Emeritus Professor in the College of Maritime Sciences of Korea Maritime and Ocean University.