At the press conference held on 12 July 2016, the Chairperson of the 11th ZIRS Organising Committee, Dr Garwe gave an overview of progress made in preparing for the symposium.  To date the Research Council of Zimbabwe has formed the 11th ZIRS Organising Committee following Nominations from Government Institutions /Departments, Research Institutions, Academia and the Private sector. The Committee has 31 members subdivided into 4 Sub-committees, namely: Finance & Administration Sub-Committee, Awards Sub-Committee, Publications, Adjudication and Reviewers Sub-Committee and Publicity and Resource Mobilisation

IMG_0013A Call for abstracts was advertised in the local press and using various online platforms, as a result 134 Abstracts were received after the First Call. A Second Call was sent out to local and foreign Institutions, to boost International delegates’ participation and increase the number of papers in the pure and applied sciences. The Call for Nominations for Awards is in the process of being publicised.  The venue for the event has already been secured and engagement of potential sponsors and exhibitors are in progress.

Dr Garwe indicated a lot of publicity activities are planned for the 11th ZIRS and the Press Conference was one of the many activities planned.  The media was urged to support this important national event through the power of the pen.