General
Kabanyolo hosts first collaborative GMO Biosafety Risk Assessment Training Workshop
It was a sunny Friday afternoon at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University Kampala , Kabanyolo campus where applause accompanied the jovial award ceremony as participants from eleven countries in Africa (including Uganda) received their certificates of participation.
It was a sunny Friday afternoon at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Makerere University Kampala , Kabanyolo campus where applause accompanied the jovial award ceremony as participants from eleven countries in Africa (including Uganda) received their certificates of participation.
The five day workshop running from 19th to 23rd October 2009 under the theme “Introduction to GMO Biosafety Risk Assessment” saw participants cover topics on biosafety in a legal and regulatory context, with emphasis on Africa; the authorization process; risk analysis and problem formulation; assessment and management of identified risks to humans and the environment; agricultural biotechnological techniques; experimental design; and management of quarantine facilities.
The workshop was the result of a collaboration between BiosafeTrain and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB www.icgeb.org). Speaking on behalf of BiosafeTrain, Dr. Gabor L. Lovei, the Project Leader based at Aarhus University, Denmark emphasized that Africa can only be independent of external influence if it has the capacity to develop its own biotechnological capability through equipping scientists working in national research institutions and biosafety regulatory officials with practical skills.
BiosafeTrain (www.biosafetrain.dk) is a DANIDA-funded Enhancement of Research Capacity (ENRECA) project that assists East African countries to make informed, responsible decisions about the adoption of transgenic plants by enhancing their capacity in the area of biosafety and ecological impact assessment. BiosafeTrain collaborates with scientists from the University of Nairobi and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute in Kenya, Makerere University in Uganda, University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and Aarhus and Copenhagen Universities in Denmark.
Dr. Lovei further expounded on the three pillars through which Biosafe Train aims at improving biotechnical capacity
a) To develop and improve infrastructural capacity and upgrade existing biosafety or biotechnology facilities. These facilities will i.e. Green houses and laboratories will have multiple uses and better guarantee from training sustainability even after the project concludes. So far these include
i) Renovation and reequipping of an Insect Proof Laboratory at Kabanyolo
ii) Laboratory and glasshouse construction in Kenya and Tanzania
b) Offer MSc and PhD fellowships in Biosafety with joint African- Danish supervision at local universities and perform relevant research projects locally. The project started in December 2004 and is currently in its second phase. The expected duration is 9-12 years by which time the collaborating countries will have trained personnel, protocols and facilities that enable them to fulfill their obligations under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. So far 19 scholarships have been awarded (13 MSc, 6 PhD) to students from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
c) Offer either general or specialized short-term training courses according to needs identified. So far, the project held 6 such courses in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Niger, for students, scientists, and regulatory organizations.
Dr. Dennis Ndolo Obonyo, a Biosafety Specialist representing ICGEB, and based in its Cape Town component, spelled out the Centre’s philosophy regarding the products of modern biotechnology – which is to provide scientifically- and technically-sound unbiased information to nationals and governments of its Member States.
Last year, the ICGEB was awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help support the development of effective safety and regulatory systems for biotechnology in sub-Saharan Africa. Working primarily out of its new Cape Town facility, the ICGEB-Gates biosafety capacity building project is enhancing national GMO regulatory capacity by using a four-pronged approach:
- Organising practical training workshops, with the recently concluded Kampala chapter being the inaugural one. There are four more such training workshops planned for 2010 and two in 2011.
- Offering 1-year MSc “Risk Assessment of GM Crops” fellowships. So far, six fellowships have been awarded at the University of Aberystwyth (UK) and another five are available for next year. The fellowships target mainly individuals whose roles impact directly on biosafety regulatory systems and scientific advisory committees.
- Offering short-term (1-2 years) research fellowships, which address issues pertinent to the regulation of genetically modified crops on the continent by generating scientific information relevant to regulatory advisory bodies in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Funding the participation of scientists and regulators in regional and international biosafety conferences.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Obonyo emphasised that the project is driven by a bottom-up approach where project activities are responsive to locally-identified needs of scientists and representatives of National Competent Authorities (NCAs) in the region. Therefore, the project is keen to work with key biosafety initiatives in the region and aims at ultimately having a pool of stakeholders well-trained in biosafety aspects of key relevance to the region.
Noting some experiences from the recently concluded training, Dr. Lovei was glad that participants had realized the importance of experimental design and how to handle research data. He also reckoned that it was a good discussion group as it consisted of half students and half trainers with senior experience in the biotechnology field. He also identified the need to modify the training content with each proceeding training course seeing as the biotechnology field is evolving very fast.
Finally, as an ecologist for the last 30 years, Gabor couldn’t help but observe that ecology has an important role to play in the spread of GMOs and biotechnology noting that GMOs will unavoidably have to share an environment with indigenous species.
Images courtesy of BiosafeTrain
The Senior Program Director, Higher Education and Research in Africa, International Program, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Prof. Omotade Akin Aina on 23rd May 2025 visited Makerere University during his short trip to Kampala. Prof. Aina was received on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe by Prof. Tony Oyana, Principal of the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
During his visit, Prof. Aina met with the Project Implementation Committee, representatives from the Consolidating Early Career Academics Programme (CECAP) phase I Fellowship Cohort, and current Fellows of phase II. The meeting discussed the progress of CECAP II, which focuses on fostering academic development and research among early-career academics.
CECAP II is being implemented by Makerere University in collaboration with four other Ugandan public universities, including; Busitema University, Gulu University, Kyambogo University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Prof. Mukadasi Buyinza, the Project Principal Investigator was represented at the meeting by the Director of Graduate Training, Prof. Julius Kikooma.
By Moses Lutaaya
The Directorate of Graduate Training at Makerere University has equipped several Senior ranking lecturers with expert knowledge in a Training of Trainers’ workshop on “Philosophy of Methods”.
In his remarks at the opening of a 3-day training workshop at Level4 Conference Hall – Senate Building, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “The teaching of Philosophy of Methods gives all participants the fundamentals to extend knowledge to other learners, hence its importance in upholding the Makerere University values.”
Kikooma urged and challenged the participants to also attend and actively participate in the follow up of learners’ training of students, stating that the PhD students need support as the directorate continues to coordinate the curriculum of PhD by-research that was approved by the senate recently.
“To holistically implement the senate approved PhD curriculum, we are coordinating capacity building trainings of all stake holders in a structured approach with the different units of the University. Many more trainings including Training of Trainers in advanced research methods course are on the way.”
He further urged the participants to be intentional in their teaching profession and in whatever they were doing, adding “Apart from focusing on practices as teachers and researchers, we can engage in wider philosophical debates in our research areas so that we are relevant in the society and in the empowerment of PhD research students.”
The participants for the Philosophy of Methods training were from College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education and External Studies, Makerere University Business School among others.
During the same training, Dr. Dickson Kanakulya stressed the need to train senior lecturers in the Philosophy of Methods, saying, “The biggest connection is that societal problems require concrete research to find solutions. Our challenge in Africa is that we employ a short barrow approach to find solutions to problems. This cannot work. We need consistent researchers to solve problems. Lasting solutions to societal issues can only be got through training such as Philosophy of Methods, where researchers come up with new models for societal solutions.”
Dr. Kanakulya said that Makerere University remains the biggest research University in Africa and philosophy of Methods helps to come up with good research tools that produce good research outputs. “Research has shown that the higher the number of PhD researchers in any given country, the higher the levels of development of that country e.g. the USA, China etc., adding that research is not limited to only medicinal or agricultural related issues.”
He said philosophy of methods, encourages philosophical creativity in research, “It is meant to bring out philosophical generation of concepts, theories and ideas. It is meant to encourage students to question the existing philosophical assumptions and status quo in a given field of knowledge such that new philosophical concepts are created.”
For successful rollout of government programs like the National Development Plan 4, Dr. Kanakulya said that Philosophy of Methods training needs to be integrated into such systems. “Philosophy of Methods focuses on ethical thinking aspects. For example, for a better rollout of the Parish Development Model, we need implementers to be ethical.” He added.
Prof. Sulait Tumwiine, the associate Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at MUBS said, “This is a discussion where new ideas are shared to guide and gauge applicability in the current knowledge diversity coupled with lots of technological development including Artificial Intelligence and Chat GPT.”
He added, “As professors of Universities, we need to understand how we leverage on what comes up so that it does not take our space, but also appreciate how we can support growth of knowledge. The Philosophy of Methods training is the answer.”
Dr. Jim Spire Ssentongo highlighted that Philosophy uses more of the critical mind than Science. He added that philosophy is more of speculation of the mind.
“Sustainability of philosophy Education encourages us to continue training. Philosophy being the oldest discipline retained special status in the academia as a pinnacle of pursuit of knowledge. All disciplines have major elements of philosophy citing examples in the philosophy of Mathematics and Physics.
Dr. Spire added, “If you do not understand philosophy, you cannot deeply investigate anything because philosophy is the reality of understanding everything. Philosophy is the basis of understanding what knowledge is and how it is arrived at.”
Also participating in the workshop was Prof. Joseph Ntaayi from MUBS, in his remarks he said PhD students need the philosophy of methods training to understand how to best to create knowledge. He added that ontological and epistemological questions that lead to good research design methods can only be answered by this training.
Dr. Robert Kakuru, a Lecturer in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences said that the Philosophy of Methods training is needed by every graduate student as well as supervisors to critically determine the choice of methods to use in academic research. For example, “If one wants to use a questionnaire as an interview approach, one should understand, why that approach and yet without this training, the why cannot be answered.” He added.
The Philosophy of Methods training was organized by Directorate of Graduate Training with funding support from the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA).
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