Bridging the Academia Industry Divide: Innovation and Industrialisation Perspective using Systems Thinking Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Professor Charles Mbohwa is the University of Zimbabwe Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for Strategic Partnerships and Industrialisation as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg where he was previously a Professor of Sustainability Engineering and Vice Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Research and Innovation and also acted as Dean of the Faculty for 8 months. He previously worked for the National Railways of Zimbabwe and the University of Zimbabwe as a Senior Lecturer where he served as Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering. He has extensively published papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences as well as book chapters and 5 books. He holds a BSc Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Zimbabwe, a Master of Science in Operations Management and Manufacturing Systems from the University of Nottingham and a Doctor of Engineering from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology in Japan. He was a Fulbright Scholar in 2006/2007 at the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute at the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology as well as a Japan Foundation Fellow. He has been a collaborator in projects of the United Nations Environment Programme and involved in research exchange with collaborators in many countries. He was a finalist of the TW Kambule-NSTF Award for research in 2016 and a finalist in Research for Engineering Capacity Development NSTF Awards. He is also a reviewer for more than 20 international journals and is a member of the editorial boards/committees of 5 journals. He has successfully supervised many Master’s and Doctoral students as well as postdoctoral fellows.