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Kampala Geopolitics Conference 2019 Programme Released

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The partners organising the Second Kampala Geopolitics Conference on Wednesday 2nd October, 2019 officially released the programme for the two-day event scheduled to take place on 17th and 18th October 2019. The release follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony on 31st July 2019 between partners; the Embassy of France in Uganda, Makerere University, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Uganda and South Sudan, UN Women Uganda, Alliance Francaise de Kampala and Reach A Hand Uganda.

Addressing the press conference ahead of the event, the Ambassador of France to Uganda H.E Jules-Armand Aniambossou could not hide his joy at once again visiting the famous Makerere University, which he described as “my second home in Kampala.” He noted that this year’s Kampala Geopolitics Conference will not only ride on the roaring success of the first edition but also seek to make it bigger and better.

“The Kampala Geopolitics Conference will for the first time incorporate the Student Debate featuring students from Makerere University. This is all aimed at training the young generation to embrace and promote the culture of academic debate at a global level,” added the Ambassador.

H.E. Aniambossou further noted that the world today is confronted by multifaceted challenges in the form of Climate Change, Insecurity, Global Health Challenges, as well as all those that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to address. These challenges, he said, were unfortunately being addressed by two radically opposing approaches of disintegration; where parties withdraw into their smaller national or sub-national alliances and illusion; where parties are oblivious of the dangers posed.

Ambassador of France to Uganda H.E Jules-Armand Aniambossou (Left) addresses the press conference as Dr. Muhammad Kiggundu Musoke (Right) listens

“Our role as partners of the Kampala Geopolitics Conference is to introduce a third approach through bringing leading academics from Africa and the world together with diplomats, students and the public to reflect, debate and through disruption come up with a right solution” explained H.E. Aniambossou.

Speaking on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the Manager Communication and International Relations, Dr. Muhammad Kiggundu Musoke thanked the partners for choosing Makerere University to host the successful Inaugural Kampala Geopolitics Conference in 2018. He added that this year’s event will host 18 roundtables and further exchange platforms on a variety of topics relating to; Global Challenges, Regional Trends, SDGs, Culture and Society.

Makerere University is no longer the Ivory Tower where knowledge is generated and consumed internally. Through events such as Kampala Geopolitics Conference, we are reviving the spirit of debate and opening our gates to create an interactive and dynamic platform for dialogue and free exchange of ideas cutting across contemporary, local and international geopolitics” remarked Dr. Kiggundu-Musoke.

Mr. Mathias Kamp the Country Representative, KAS Uganda and South Sudan shared that the 2nd Kampala Geopolitics Conference is a fulfilment by the partners to Prof. Nawangwe and Makerere University that event would not be a one-off.

Mathias Kamp the Country Representative, KAS Uganda and South Sudan (Left) and Winnie Watera, Reach a Hand Uganda listen to proceedings during the Press Conference

“In my view, the Kampala Geopolitics Conference is not just an event but an institution on its own already. This is the number one flagship event for KAS and the largest on our annual calendar. It provides us with the rare opportunity to bring the full force of our Think Tank Network from around the world to Makerere University to freely exchange ideas and debate various topics related to geopolitics” he shared.

Mr. Kamp added that the choice of Makerere University as host is a vote of confidence in its reputation as a Centre of Excellence in not only teaching, research and knowledge transfer but also in Academic Discourse and Debate. “I therefore urge us all to have a disruptive engagement at the Kampala Geopolitics Conference 2019 because the ideas that move the world are often born in universities.”

In his remarks, the UN Women Country Representative to Uganda, Dr. Maxime Houinato, shared that one of his biggest regrets is never having secured his PhD from Makerere University, an icon of academic excellence in Africa. He nevertheless congratulated Makerere upon the strong resolve to tackle head-on the vice of sexual harassment among students and staff.

UN Women Country Representative to Uganda, Dr. Maxime Houinato (Right) addresses the press conference as Alliance Francaise de Kampala's Cultural Director, Gerald Odil (Left) listens

He stated that the advent of the SDGs in 2015 marked a shift of the UN strategy from inward looking standalone solutions to outbound, broad based and interdependent approaches to making the world a better place by 2030.

“As such, partnership through platforms like the Kampala Geopolitics Conference and strategic thinking are critical to fuel discussion and development both globally and in Africa,” stated Dr. Houinato.

The UN Women Country Representative further challenged the media to raise the bar in terms of the conversation on geopolitics and carry the message beyond the immediate audience in Makerere University. “I know that the media is meant to be independent but in the face of extreme poverty, injustice and discrimination, the media needs to take sides in order to address inequality.”

The two-day event is set to be held in the Main Hall and Senior Common Room in the Main Building as well as the Freedom Square. It will be graced by a number of Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Uganda, in addition to the partner Ambassador, H.E Jules-Armand Aniambossou. These will include; the German Ambassador-H.E. Albrecht Conze, US Ambassador-H.E. Deborah Malac and the EU Ambassador-H.E. Attilio Pacific.

Please see Downloads for Conference Programme and Concept Note.

 

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.

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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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