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Archbishop Rededicates Expanded St. Francis Chapel

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On Sunday 9th July 2017, St. Francis faithful, invited guests and well-wishers assembled at Makerere University to praise, worship and thank the Almighty God for their newly refurbished and expanded sanctuary-the magnificent St. Francis Chapel. The Chapel’s capacity expanded from 450 to 1,350 seats per service.

Uplifted by the wonderful messages in the songs of praise, the congregation that filled both the St. Francis Chapel interior and gardens to capacity listened attentively to the Head-Laity Eng. Moses Kulabako who highlighted that the chapel extension project had lasted 14 months. The report on Chapel Finances, read by the Treasurer indicated that the total collections towards chapel expansion from 2012 to 30th June 2017 was  UGX 2.315billion.

The Chaplain, St. Francis Chapel, Rev. Canon Amos Turyahabwe exalted the Almighty God for the ever growing congregation at St. Francis that resulted in the expansion of the chapel.

The Chaplain, St. Francis Chapel, Rev. Canon Amos Turyahabwe

“For the past many months, the population has been growing, necessitating the introduction of three main English services at 7:00am, 9:00am and 11:00am and one special Lugbara service at 1:00pm. However despite this innovation the capacity of the Chapel was not sufficient to the extent that almost 50% of the congregation could either sit outside in the tent or under the mango tree and upstairs side aisles where they had no view of the existing chapel proceedings,” revealed the Chaplain.

The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali congratulated St. Francis Community and Makerere University upon the successful completion of the Chapel extension project. He prayed to the heavens to bless St. Francis community, Chapel Council, Chaplain and the Makerere University family for generous contribution towards fulfilling God’s work.

“We are here today to celebrate the opening of this extended Chapel. Indeed, this is the day that that Lord has brought to us and we should be glad in it. As we rededicate this church, we need to thank Him for this far He has brought us. This has been greatly possible with your generous contributions. Those who will come after you will know that you did a great work,” he said.

The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali during the service.

Dedicating the expanded chapel to the Almighty God, Archbishop Ntagali said:

“Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, now that we have completed building, let us dedicate this house and rejoice in its holy use, to the glory of God who has called us by grace, to the honour of Jesus Christ who loved us and gave up himself for us; and for the praise of the Holy Spirit who illuminates and sanctifies us…”

Archbishop Ntagali appealed to the St. Francis Community to always make good use of the facility, maintain its magnificent beauty and also remain supportive to the activities of the Church. He thanked Makerere University administration for supporting St. Francis and availing the Church with more space for expansion.

The Guest of Honour, Rt. Hon. Prof. Apolo Nsibambi who was represented by Prof. Edward Kirumira-Principal of the College of Humanities Social Sciences (CHUSS) re-echoed that he enjoyed the spiritual nourishment and grooming from St. Francis Chapel while a student and member of staff at Makerere University. He thanked the current and former chaplains and their pastoral teams for shaping university students into responsible citizens.

Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe together with the -Principal of the College of Humanities Social Sciences (CHUSS Prof. Edward Kirumira) who  represented  the Chief Guest Rt. Hon. Prof. Apolo Nsibambi.

“It is now 56 years ago when I was here at St. Francis Chapel as a student, but also later as a professor of Makerere University. It was good for us because we would sit as a small number and listen to sermons, be mentored and prepared to be leaders of this nation. Now that the Chapel has been expanded to create more space, it is really great work worth celebrating since it will increase on the number of students who participate in church activities.” Prof. Nsibambi wrote.

He expressed his gratitude to the staff of Makerere University and the alumni who after their studies keep coming back to St. Francis as their church. He mentioned that it is their love and generous contributions that have given the Chaplain and the chapel council the morale to plan and be able to come up with structures such as the beautiful sanctuary that was being rededicated to God.

Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Administration) on behalf of the Vice Chancellor Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu congratulated the St. Francis Community upon the wonderful achievement. He thanked the community and well-wishers for their enormous contribution towards the Chapel extension project. Prof. Nawangwe-a professional architect by training, applauded the Chapel technical committee chaired by Eng. Paul Ekirikubinza for coming up with magnificent architectural designs.

A cheerful congregation during the service.

At the same occasion, Prof. Nawangwe who is also the Vice Chancellor-Elect thanked the Members of St. Francis Chapel for praying for him to reach greater heights.  He vowed to selflessly serve the community during his tenure as Vice Chancellor.

The Chapel rededication service was attended by members of clergy, former chaplains of St. Francis Chapel, Makerere University staff, members of St. Francis Community, Makerere University students, invited guests and well-wishers. The colourful service was regularly punctuated by songs of praise from a number of teams including the Children’s Choir.

Rev. Canon Amos Turyahabwe also saluted his predecessors for their vision in running the affairs and the programmes of St. Francis Chapel. “We would like to thank God for them and we pledge our commitment to continue on the firm foundation that they started so that we are able to have a sense of continuity as a body of Christ.”

Article by: Mak Public Relations Office

 

Proscovia Nabatte

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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