Supply chain scholars, students, professionals and decision makers are invited to submit papers for CARISCA’s fifth annual Supply Chain Research Summit, to be held May 5-7, 2025. The past summits have been held in Ghana, but in 2025 we are moving the event to Nigeria, which boasts Africa’s largest population.
As in previous years, the 2025 Summit will be a hybrid event. The in-person venue is the Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja. Virtual attendees will participate via Zoom.
The 2025 summit is focused on reimagining how Africa’s supply chains can help propel African countries and their businesses to a more sustainable future. We invite you to share your research, knowledge and insights.
Reimagining Africa’s Supply Chains for a Sustainable Future
Africa’s consumer class and its purchasing power are growing at a fast rate, increasing pressure on supply chains to meet rising demands for commodities, products and services.
But Africa’s supply chain faces multifaceted developmental challenges. These include underdeveloped infrastructure, difficulties in customs, fragmented retail markets, low urbanization rates, and long dwell times in ports.
Beyond these challenges, the continent’s supply chains also contend with poor environmental practices and hazardous work conditions.
A recent African Development Bank report highlights sustainable supply chains as one of the top priority areas for ensuring a sustainable future for Africa. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization further highlights the urgent need for transformation to sustainable production and supply chains.
Reimagining Africa’s supply chains for a sustainable future requires a major forum where scholars, practitioners and policymakers can brainstorm and share their thoughts and research insights. That is our aim for CARISCA’s 2025 Supply Chain Research Summit.
Summit tracks and topics:
Theme Track: Reimagining Africa’s Supply Chains for a Sustainable Future
- Building sustainable supply chains in Africa: opportunities and challenges
- Case studies on sustainable supply chains in Africa
- Sustainability issues in Africa’s supply chains
Track One: General Supply Chains
- Logistics and transportation management
- Procurement, sourcing and supply chain management
- Manufacturing and production management
Track Two: Sectoral Supply Chains
- Health/pharmaceutical supply chain
- Humanitarian operations and disaster management
- Agriculture and commodities supply chain
Track Three: Emerging Issues in Global Supply Chains
- Globalization and supply chains
- Emerging technologies in supply chains including blockchain technology, big data analytics, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence
- Global supply chains and grand challenges
Track Four: Practitioner and Policy Discourse on African Supply Chains
- Supply chain financing
- Health supply chain policy
- Supply chain technology trends in Africa
Submission Deadline:
Please submit your paper by midnight Jan. 3, 2025.
You will be notified by Feb. 7 whether your paper is accepted.
Questions?
Contact Kekeli Adonu at lkadonu@carisca.knust.edu.gh or Barby Grant at barby.grant@asu.edu
About CARISCA
The Center for Applied Research and Innovation in Supply Chain – Africa (CARISCA) is a partnership between the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Arizona State University (ASU) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
CARISCA’s key objective is to support higher education institutions in building the capacity necessary to provide best-in-class degree programs and training, facilitate research translation and utilization, and engage stakeholders in best practices and policy changes that strengthen supply chains.