Mutambara was addressing delegates at the 9th Research Council of Zimbabwe International Research Symposium on Thursday at a Harare hotel.
This year, the symposium was held under the theme “Driving Socioeconomic Development Through Research Output”.
“Let us ensure we have more women doing research. We need more women in science and technology. When women go into research, they bring insights and skills that men do not have, so productivity will go up,” said Mutambara.
Mutambara said research institutions should capitalise on the vast skills of women saying the development would lead to increased diversity in the field of science and technology.
“When you empower women doing research, you will be doing yourself a favour as a research institution…because of the capacity that women have as well as the diversity they would bring to the research institutions,” said Mutambara, who called for collaborations among researchers and government.
“Let us push for an ecosystem approach in which researchers and government are working together. Scientists must have a say in government policy. We need to make sure we have formal structures where the President and the Prime Minister are advised formally on science by specialists,” said Mutambara.
Speaking at the same function, the Acting Minister of Science and Technology, Nelson Chamisa, said scientific research played a pivotal role in the development of the country, hence the need to capacitate individuals involved in the field.
“We need to capacitate intellects and researchers. We acknowledge the value of research and we need to make sure that as government, we begin to give due reward and acknowledgement to those who are contributing positively to (humanity),” said Chamisa.
Post published in: News