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Mak Attracts Two USD12million World Bank-Funded African Centres of Excellence

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Makerere University has successfully secured a grant worth USD12 million from World Bank to run two African Centres of Excellence. Estimated to cost USD 6million each, the Africa Centre of Excellence in Material Product Development and Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO) and Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI) will be geared towards supporting capacity building and research development at this great institution.  

During the monthly media briefing held on Monday 30th October 2017, the Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said that the centres shall support high quality research and innovation at the University with the aim of finding pertinent solutions to challenges that affect the African continent.

“We are not only enhancing our competitiveness in Africa and the world, but addressing pertinent issues in Africa. Food security is becoming an issue to look at if we are to drive the continent out of poverty.   We need to also think about how we can save the continent from the epidemics that break out due to poor hygiene and contaminated water,” said the Vice Chancellor.

Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe at the Media Briefing

Africa’s Centres for Excellence Grant is part of a larger World Bank initiative that supports the development of Centres of Excellences for higher education in the African Region. Its purpose is to promote regional specialisation among participating universities in the areas that address particular challenges in regional development, and strengthen the capacity of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research.

The project  focuses on  meeting  the demand of skills required for the Africa’s development in areas  such agriculture, energy, extractive industries, while strengthening the innovative capacity of the best African institution for Higher education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM)  and other relevant disciplines.

This period World Bank released USD148million towards the creation 46 Centres of Excellence across the African Continent.  Twenty two of these Centres of Excellence will be established in West Africa while twenty four will be established in Central and East Africa focusing on 16 countries and ten priority sectors.

Speaking to journalists on Monday 30th October 2017, Dr. Michael Lubwama, a Lecturer at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) said that the establishment of the Africa Centre of Excellence in Material Product Development and Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO ACE) at Makerere University will strengthen research in thematic areas of materials science and engineering, nanotechnology and Nano medicine and also develop human resource capacity in applied science and engineering disciplines.

Dr. Michael Lubwama made the presentation on behalf of MAPRONANO

“The centre is supported by the World Bank to the tune of USD6million for the period of 5 years. This money will be used to furnish laboratories as well as offer Masters and PhD scholarships. The Centre will also offer highly specialised short courses in in welding technology, health safety engineering, oil & gas, monoclonal and nanobodies generation, bioinformatics and next generation sequencing techniques,” he said.

On the other hand, the Director, Makerere University Regional Centre of Excellence in Crop Improvement (MaRCCI) Dr. Richard Edema said that the centre is set to provide the nations of Eastern and Southern Africa with industry-ready plant breeders who are equipped to use cutting edge science to develop and deliver new varieties of food crops.

“These breeders are urgently needed in order to improve the food security, nutrition and rural incomes and to address poverty and economic development throughout the region,” Dr. Edema said.

MaRCCI is an expansion of current activities under Makerere University’s Regional Graduate Programme in Plant Breeding.  The main goals will be to strengthen the programme’s PhD in Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, the MSc in Plant Breeding and Seed Systems, applied research in various crops, and outreach activities.

The Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaCCRI) and the Africa Centre of Excellence in Material Product Development and Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO ACE) and will be launched on 13th and 16th November 2017 respectively.

Article by Public Relations Office

Mark Wamai

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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.

Mak Editor

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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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