Makerere University has expanded her collaboration with the Nottingham Trent University (NTU), United Kingdom, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions on Friday, 4th May 2018. Prior to the signing of the MoU, NTU had previously collaborated with the School of Public Health (MakSPH), College of Health Sciences (CHS) for close to 10 years, on the basis of renewable 3 year agreements.

“Our collaboration with NTU started under the leadership of Prof. William Bazeyo and Dr. David Musoke has been the lead between the School and NTU. As MakSPH, we are excited that this collaboration is now expanding to the rest of the University” remarked Assoc. Prof. Rhoda Wanyenze, Dean MakSPH who succeeded Prof. Bazeyo.

“MakSPH is already benefitting from her collaboration with NTU through a 6million Euros project conducting research on cardiovascular disease prevention” continued Assoc. Prof. Wanyenze before adding, “NTU has already expressed interest in expanding collaboration to the disciplines of Law as well as Gender Studies and in this regard, the Dean, Assoc. Prof. Sarah Ssali visited NTU on 3rd May 2018.”

The Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (SPICES) project at MakSPH currently offers doctoral scholarships to candidates with a minimum of a Masters degree in Medicine, Social Sciences, Environmental Health, Public Health, or any health-related degree. The SPICES Consortium is made up of 6 Universities including Mak and NTU.

In his remarks, Prof. William Bazeyo the former Dean, MakSPH and current Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Finance and Administration) thanked NTU for the support extended to the School in general and Dr. David Musoke in particular. “This collaboration started with only GBP5,000 and since then, we have been looking at expanding it. Thanks to this collaboration, David is one of the best young scientists at MakSPH and we equally thank him for working hard to drive this expansion forward. Having the NTU Pro-Vice Chancellor join us here today to sign this MoU is a great achievement.”

Prof. Cillian Ryan is a wearer of many hats at NTU. He is not only the Pro-Vice Chancellor International (head of NTU’s International activity) but also the Head of the College of Business, Law, and Social Sciences. He is additionally in charge of Sport at NTU and offers strategic advice on its provision.

“We are extremely privileged to be here today, as Makerere University has been one of our most outstanding partnerships. To date we have trained or are training 5 Masters students and 1PhD student” remarked the Pro-Vice Chancellor.

He was happy to note that Makerere, just like NTU, recognises the importance of working for the wellbeing of community. He added that NTU conducts a lot of research on challenges common to societies both in Europe and Africa such as wastewater management, food safety and protection and how to break free and be successfully rehabilitated from addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling.

“As a result of our extensive research, three years ago (in 2015), we earned the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, which is the highest national honour given to universities in the UK” remarked Prof. Ryan. He further shared that NTU has made several strides in medical patenting and has recently produced an entire artificial human body that can be used, instead of cadavers, for teaching medical students.

“Research foundations are really important when coming up with memoranda of understanding and we would therefore want to identify more areas of research partnership with Makerere University” concluded Prof. Ryan.

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe warmly welcomed Prof. Ryan and his two colleagues; Mr. Stephen Williams, Director NTU Global and Ms. Teresa Dymond, Regional Partnership Coordinator-EAAA NTU to Makerere University. “Thank you for honouring us by wearing the Mak necktie.”

Prof. Nawangwe also paid tribute to NTU and the MakSPH leadership for the close to 10 years of fruitful collaboration. “The School of Public Health is our flagship in research and we thank them for forging this fruitful partnership with NTU. I also thank them for not being selfish but identifying other disciplines through which this collaboration can be broadened” he added.

The Vice Chancellor emphasized that Makerere University is always on the lookout for partnerships and expressed happiness at signing an MoU where activities were already being undertaken “This is a remarkable exception” he noted.

“We have grown in research and are currently ranked among the best in Africa, thanks to funding from our partners, NTU being among them. Our focus is to become truly research-led and be counted among the top research institutions in the world” added Prof. Nawangwe.

Prof. Nawangwe further shared that Makerere is a world-renowned leader in HIV/AIDS research and is also home to a fully fledged Infectious Diseases Institute, with preparations underway to establish a Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) centre as well. “We have also contributed a lot to ensuring food security in the Nation and our Refugee Law Project under the School of Law as well as other centres have played vital roles in research on peace and conflict resolution” he added.

The Vice Chancellor once again thanked Dr. David Musoke for being a good Ambassador of Makerere to NTU and expressed the University Management’s commitment to ensuring that the new collaboration is further strengthened. He thereafter handed over Mak souvenirs to the visiting NTU delegation. In reciprocity, Prof. Ryan handed over a framed lace made by English designer Sarah Burton, who also designed the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress. Nottingham has a rich history of lace-making and was once the lace making capital of the world.

Article by Public Relations Office