The Ambassador of Sweden to Uganda, H.E Urban Andersson has opened the 2014 Mak-Sida Annual Review Meeting, which brings together Ugandan and Swedish partners to assess the achievements in research and to work towards strengthening synergies in the higher education sector.

Addressing the participants at the Annual Planning Meeting, which started on Monday 6^th October 2014 in the CEDAT Conference Hall, the Ambassador was glad to note that the outcome of the review meeting would enrich the upcoming Research Dissemination Conference.

“This Annual Review will surely feed into the announced International Science Conference in April 2015, in which the results from the last five years of Swedish research collaboration will then be discussed with higher education stakeholders from Uganda and abroad,” said the Ambassador.

His Excellency Andersson also acknowledged the long term friendship between Makerere University and the Royal Government of Sweden and urged both partners to maintain the mutual relationship and collaboration in order to achieve the set goals of the programme.

“The long term goal of this program- improved intellectual capacity -is imperative to determine strategies and solutions for everyday problems affecting the globe. Therefore our concern should focus on how to achieve this goal in an interconnected globalized world,” the Ambassador remarked.

The Vice chancellor of Makerere University Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu, appreciated the significance of the continued support from the Royal Government of Sweden to the realization of the Makerere University Research agenda, improvement of the teaching, learning and research infrastructure, advancement of ICT and library services as well as human resource capacity building.

“This support has been monumental and critical to the realization of our core functions of teaching and learning, research and innovations, and partnership and networking. I am happy to report that since 2000 when our cooperation began, over 150 academic staff have completed their PHD studies and over 30 have completed their Master’s degrees through Sida funding,” the Vice Chancellor reported.

In the same spirit, the Director, Directorate of Research and Graduate Training at Makerere University Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, applauded the Government and people of Sweden for the generous support to Makerere University.  

“There has been three consecutive agreement periods, which have amounted to SEK 495 million (USD71million) these funds have significantly contributed to capacity development through skills acquisition and nurturing of new breed of scientists that hold the candle for Uganda’s development, thereby improving Uganda’s research culture,” Prof. Buyinza remarked.

Prof. Buyinza also highlighted some of the challenges the university was facing in the process of developing research and capacity building.

“The University still faces a number of challenges including inadequate research infrastructure, inadequate research funding and low level of support for basic research, leading to the obstruction of the research-industrial-economic growth nexus,” he added.

The opening ceremony saw H.E Urban Andersson launch a tool developed by the Directorate of ICT Support. The web-based tool will be used to monitor the progress of research of graduate students and monitoring their supervisors.

After the Opening ceremony, the Annual Review Meeting continued with the Mak-Sida Science Day with scientific presentations focusing on the theme, Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development. Staff and students in the College of Natural Sciences whose research is funded under the Mak-Sida Research Cooperation programme, shared with the audience the relevance of their PHD work and research to the respective communities.

Some of the projects shared included:

• Dietary lipid oxidation in fish feeds: effects and use of alternative raw material
• The Pesticides project that investigates the emerging persistent organic pollutants in air and precipitation samples taken in the Ugandan part of the Lake Victoria watershed
• Integration of Nutri-Medicinal Plants as Therapeutics in Health Care Delivery in Uganda
• Phytochemistry and Bioactivity of selected plant species used by Rukararwe and Prometra herbalists in treatment of Malaria in Uganda
• The Green Chemistry Project focusing on coordination chemistry research involving usage of reactants and the products of their reactions, which are as far as possible environmental friendly
• The Environmental Monitoring project aimed at developing and trying out new technologies to restore vegetation in the polluted pyrite soil
• Mathematical modeling Project focused on studying the hydrodynamics of Lake Victoria because of its importance to Uganda and the region

The Makerere University Directorate of Research and Graduate Training and the College of Natural Sciences organized the Mak-Sida 2014 Science Day.