Engineering, Art & Tech
72nd Graduation: Doctoral Citations – CEDAT
LWANYAGA Joseph Ddumba
Application of process technologies for improved salt production from Lake Katwe, Uganda
Eng. LWANYAGA Joseph Ddumba designed a process that selectively extracts salt from the brines of Lake Katwe coupled with a techno-economic analysis to foster commercial exploitation of the Salt Lake. Through thermodynamic modelling, the study revealed that the mineral precipitation sequence mainly started with sulfate followed by chlorides and lastly carbonates with halite as the most abundant mineral. His study further revealed that the salt pan should be as shallow as practically possible with an optimal depth of 0.1 m. Results from the techno-economic analysis showed that halite of purity >99% was produced after the flotation of burkeite and trona. Additionally, soda ash and sodium sulfate were produced by a combination of flotation, carbonation and calcination techniques. The unit production cost of halite was 0.2629 and 0.4724 $/kg with a NPV of $2,447,853 and -12,085,796 of the solar salt and mechanical evaporation processes respectively. As a result, the solar salt extraction process proved feasible from both engineering and economic standpoints and thus can be scaled up to a pilot scale using conventional industrial equipment. The study was funded by SIDA and was supervised by Prof. John Baptist Kirabira and Dr. Hillary Kasedde.
MAKABAYI Brian
Ground Deformation Modelling Based On Causal Factors in Landslide-Prone Areas. A Case Study of Bududa District, Uganda.
Mr. MAKABAYI Brian undertook a study to model ground deformation in Bududa landslide-prone area. He developed a model for predicting ground deformation hence the occurrence of landslides resulting from a number of casual factors such as rainfall, soil, slope and infiltration. He tested the model using two space technologies namely Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques. This model can be used by stakeholders such as the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees and local authorities to predict ground deformation as a precursor to landslides. This study was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and supervised by Prof Moses Musinguzi and Dr John Richard Otukei.
MAZIMWE Allan
Pattern Driven Data interoperability in situation awareness systems. A case of the disaster management community in Uganda
Mr. MAZIMWE Allan studied how to manage semantic barriers to data sharing and integration in disaster situation awareness systems for early warning purposes. Such barriers arise from the fact that stakeholders manage information using different policies and interfaces while at the same time describing data using different vocabularies and conceptualisations. As a solution, the study adopts the use of patterns (best practices) as building blocks for interoperable architectures that address semantic barriers in line with Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) principles. The study examines the extent to which vocabularies and related best practices for organising data in the disaster risk community are FAIR. A pattern-driven architecture for organising disaster risk knowledge is developed based on existing data-sharing challenges in the disaster community. As a proof of concept, the drought risk-informed response prototype was developed to illustrate the use patterns as building blocks for managing data interoperability in disaster situation awareness systems. The study was funded by SIDA and supervised by Prof. Imed Hammouda and Assoc. Prof Anthony Gidudu.
NAKISANZE Sarah
Social Sustainability and the Ugandan Haute Couture Visual Aesthetic: Articulating The Contemporary Value of Past Tradition
Ms. NAKISANZE Sarah interrogated haute couture artefacts which exhibit Uganda’s traditional cultural heritage fused with aspects of contemporary dress to produce haute couture as a visual language representing social sustainability. Sarah was intrigued by the stride backwards to move forward amidst modern fashion aesthetic innovations, and has established and articulated the value of the traditional aesthetic in the present. The traditional aesthetic is an engender of sustainable development; and haute couture shaped by the aesthetic is an inclusive knowledge dissemination platform. In addition, the past traditions are an agential tool that facilitate agents’ negotiation of contemporary global stage dynamics. The study recommends that the traditional aesthetic is developed beyond traditional culture heritage, but as an aesthetic with contemporary socio-economic sustainability value towards the development of the creative industry and safe environments. The study was jointly funded by the researcher and Makerere University, and supervised by Dr. Nakazibwe Venny and Dr. Ssengendo May.
WADEMBERE M. Ismail
A Localized Geometrical Alignment Technique for updating Geo-Spatial Databases
Mr. WADEMBERE Mugumbu Ismail developed a Localized Geometrical Alignment Technique (LGAT) for Updating Geo-spatial databases. The innovative technique uses differences between corresponding objects so that only the changed parts are updated than copying entire objects between geodatabases. This helps to minimize geometrical errors emanating from openings or overlaps of objects. This technique will facilitate efficient data update within the Uganda national spatial data infrastructures. It will also exploit the potential presented by the Internet computing paradigm in terms of data sharing, utilization of Volunteered Geographic Information, and lead to more use of spatial information in decision-making. This study was funded by Kyambogo University, Makerere University, and Nuffic Project of Dutch Ministry of Development Cooperation; and was supervised by Prof. Patrick Ogao and Prof. Moses Musinguzi.
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Engineering, Art & Tech
Makerere & Partners Kick Off FLOWERS Project to Turn Restaurant Waste into a Regenerative Resource
Makerere University on 10th September 2026 hosted partners and government stakeholders at Kampala Fairway Hotel for the official high-level kick-off meeting of the Facilitating Local Organic Waste Exchange for Regenerative Systems (FLOWERS) Project. The two-year research initiative (2026–2028) is funded by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and implemented by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Makerere University, End Plastic Pollution and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).
The morning opening ceremony was presided over by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), Prof. Sarah N. Ssali, who was represented by the Director of Research, Innovations and Partnerships (DRIP), Prof. Robert Wamala. Prof. Ssali later attended the afternoon proceedings and officially closed the kick-off meeting.
Research That Treats Waste as a Resource
In the opening remarks delivered on her behalf by Prof. Wamala, Prof. Ssali noted that the rapid growth of the food-service sector in many sub-Saharan African cities has concentrated large volumes of food waste in urban areas. When this waste is poorly managed, she said, it drives pollution and nutrient loss while leaving unused an opportunity to rebuild soil fertility and support more circular food systems.
“Rather than viewing restaurant organic waste simply as a disposal problem, the project seeks to examine how it can become a resource within a regenerative system, returning nutrients to agricultural production through appropriate mechanisms for recycling and reuse,” the Deputy Vice Chancellor stated.
She described FLOWERS as timely for Kampala, where population growth, changing consumption and expansion of restaurants and food vendors are placing new pressure on municipal waste systems. She urged the team to produce evidence that can inform policy, practice and investment, and to keep a clear line of sight from research excellence to societal impact, including relevance to Sustainable Development Goal 12 on Responsible Consumption and Production.
Prof. Ssali further encouraged partners to clarify roles, engage actors along the food-waste value chain, and ask from the outset what institutional arrangements, incentives and business models would be required if a tested intervention is to move beyond the pilot.
A Partnership Anchored at CEDAT
Makerere’s Local Principal Investigator is Assoc. Prof. Charles B. Niwagaba from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT). In a session on evidence-to-policy lessons from earlier work, he argued that municipal solid waste management is too large a challenge for any single institution and that the city itself should be treated as a living laboratory—generating knowledge through research, students and laboratories; piloting innovations; and supporting KCCA to institutionalise what works.
The project overview was presented by Dr. Daniela Peguero, with next steps outlined by Gioia Francesca of the international team. Camille Tahon delivered welcome remarks on behalf of CCAC. The programme also featured presentations from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) on the Strategy of Organic Waste developed under the SOWU project; Mr. Julius Mughuma Masereka of the Ministry of Local Government on national waste-management policy; and Dr. Sarah K. Zalwango of KCCA on the current status and future plans for solid waste management in Kampala.
What FLOWERS Will Do in Kampala
FLOWERS addresses a documented gap: despite informal systems that already move some restaurant leftovers and peelings to farms, there is limited empirical evidence on how food waste actually flows in African cities, and whether a targeted supply-chain intervention can increase recycling and reuse.
The Uganda phase of work will: map and analyse urban food-waste flows in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area; and experimentally assess an intervention designed to redirect a greater share of source-separated restaurant waste to farmers, tracking both mass and financial flows along the chain.
Methods to be deployed include panel surveys of restaurant managers, farmers and waste traders; two intensive waste-measurement campaigns supported by trained restaurant staff; six months of GPS tracking on waste traders’ bicycles; and a staggered, randomised matching of restaurants with traders. Makerere will contribute to three of the project’s four work packages, including waste, financial and carbon-balance mapping; market assessment of products from anaerobic digestion, composting and black soldier fly (BSF) treatment; and national dissemination.
Assoc. Prof. Niwagaba told partners that Makerere’s immediate tasks include ethical approval, support to map licensed restaurants, recruitment and training of enumerators, and close coordination with ETH doctoral researchers. Field data collection is planned to run from September to December 2026.
Informal Traders, Technology and Policy Uptake
An afternoon session by Piotr Barczak examined waste transformation through black soldier fly farming as a circular-economy option. A panel on integration of informal waste traders in restaurant waste exchange brought together the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Ministry of Local Government, KCCA as well as private operators MTSL Energies and End Plastic Pollution.
The panel reflected a central design choice of FLOWERS: not to replace an existing informal chain, but to understand it, strengthen it where it works, and generate evidence that national and city authorities can use. Project documents note that KCCA, municipalities in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, NEMA, the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Water and Environment already recognise booking of restaurant food waste as a low-emission reuse strategy.
The research is intended to give that recognition an empirical base—waste-flow and financial-flow maps, a methane balance, and results from a field experiment rather than anecdote.
Prof. Wamala, whose Directorate coordinates research partnerships across the University, framed the kick-off as consistent with Makerere’s mission to generate knowledge for societal transformation. Makerere, he indicated, would contribute research capacity, students, innovation platforms and knowledge translation and transfer power so that findings do not remain in publications alone.
From Kick-off to Implementation
Assoc. Prof. Niwagaba at the conclusion of deliberations summarised the next steps: finalise institutional support letters required for ethics review, update restaurant and farmer sampling frames with KCCA, train field teams, and keep policy actors engaged throughout data collection rather than only at dissemination.
In closing, Prof. Ssali commended CCAC for funding the project and thanked ETH Zürich, Eawag, End Plastic Pollution, KCCA, NEMA, the Ministry of Local Government and participating private and civil-society actors for a collaboration that treats Kampala’s restaurant waste not merely as a municipal burden, but as a nutrient stream that can support farms, livelihoods and cleaner air.
Engineering, Art & Tech
Makerere’s CEDAT Hosts Groundbreaking LIVWA Workshop on Advanced Climate Modelling for Lake Victoria Water Level Management
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