Humanities & Social Sciences
CHUSS PhD students retooled on DRGT Guidelines
About 40 PhD students from the College of Humanities & Social Sciences(CHUSS) were on 16th May 2022 retooled on the guidelines and expectations from the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training (DRGT).
Besides reviewing guidelines and timelines to funded students, DRGT requirements and expectations, the graduate workshop was also aimed at equipping students with knowledge on how to organise proposals and dissertations electronically as they navigate through their graduate studies.
The blended workshop held physically and virtually at the Makerere University CHUSS Smart Room was compulsory to all the Gerda-Henkel and Andrew W Mellon Fellows who have not yet submitted their dissertations for examination.
“One of the major items is to remind them of the DRGT regulations of doing research. Sometimes in the excitement of admission, they do not read the joining rules very closely, and they go missing certain timelines. For instance, there is a provision in the rules which says that they have to provide progress reports every six months and most of them don’t and we meet challenges when they complete. They are supposed to register every year but most of them do not care.
The other part of the training is how to manage their work using online tools like managing references and quotations. It has been a challenge that they get a book or referencing in year one as they are about to submit, they do not have the details of the book and the quotation”, The Projects Coordinator CHUSS, Dr. Nabutanyi, explained.
Dr. Nabutanyi said the college wants to support the students to be able to do their work effectively and without the challenges they would incur while doing it on their own. He also appealed to all students to attend all college and university wide workshops to gain skills useful to their studies and their future life as academics.
Orienting students on the DRGT requirements and expectation, the CHUSS Coordinator for graduate programs Dr. Zaid Sekito noted that PhD programs in the college are conducted by research, hence the need for such workshops to help students get grounded in policies, approaches and all mechanism that are required of them to ensure successful and timely completion of their studies.
“I reminded them of the DRGT requirements and expectations which are embedded in the revised Graduate manual 2021.The students did not know many of these things. All PhD students should always endeavor to attend these workshops otherwise they will continue to lose out and they should practice what they have practically learnt”, Dr. Sekito said.
He outlined some of the key DRGT requirements including registration, possession of all required certified academic transcripts and certificates, progress reports, the ethical requirements and the examination itself involving the submission of the Dissertation and the viva voce.
During the hands on session, Dr. Jjingo Caesar, guided students on how to organize proposals and dissertations electronically. The graduate manual specifies how dissertations are supposed to be structured.
“Previously, students were not uploading their dissertations online but now, it is a requirement for a student to graduate. If you look at the uploaded dissertations on the portal, they have so many errors that can be easily minimized. Most of the students are not good at the process, but when introduced to the process, they can easily adapt and learn and do as required.
Given that I have shown them the process, let them put in practice what they have learnt today. We need to have these kind of training regularly so that we do not put the students away from the process, it has to be a recurring and continuous process as the way forward”. Dr. Jjingo advised.
Dr. Jjingo practically worked with students and demonstrated issues to do with page setup, formatting marker and navigation panel, inserting blank pages, page numbers, chapter headings and styles. Others were inserting section headings and styles, tables, figures and captions, cross referencing, hyperlinks and inserting table of contents.
By Okeya John and Primrose Nabankema
The intensive one-month course, running for the first time from June 5 to July 24, 2025, is jointly offered by Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)’s Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (CHBS) and the Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC) at the School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa.
It seeks to equip healthcare providers at the community level, public health and environmental health practitioners, communication specialists, health educators, community development officers, social scientists, and policy makers, among others, with strategic communication skills to improve public health messaging, strengthen community engagement, and support evidence-based interventions, ultimately empowering participants to effectively engage communities and improve population health outcomes across Uganda and the region.
Launching the course, the heads of the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences noted that participants who complete the short course will gain practical tools to influence behaviour change, build trust, and deliver timely, accurate, and relevant health information to the communities they serve. The first cohort attracted more than 60 applicants, with 36 reporting for the opening in-person session on June 5, 2025, at MakSPH in Mulago. Between now and July, participants will undergo a hands-on, multidisciplinary learning experience within the Certificate in Health Communication and Community Engagement program, which combines theory and practice.
Among the participants in the first cohort of the certificate course, designed as a pilot for the anticipated Master of Health Promotion and Communication to be jointly offered by the two departments at Makerere University, is Ms. Maureen Kisaakye, a medical laboratory technologist specialising in microbiology and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and currently pursuing a Master’s in Immunology and Clinical Microbiology at Makerere. She is driven by a passion to help reverse the rising tide of AMR, a growing global health threat where drugs that once worked are no longer effective. Kisaakye is particularly concerned about common infections, like urinary tract infections, becoming increasingly resistant and harder to treat.
“I enrolled in this course because I’m an advocate against antimicrobial resistance, and it came at a time when I needed to deepen my knowledge on how to implement our projects more effectively and engage with communities. The experience has broadened my understanding of AMR and its impact on society, and strengthened my passion for community-driven health initiatives and advocacy,” Kisaakye said, explaining why she enrolled for the short course.
Kisaakye’s work in antimicrobial resistance extends beyond the lab. Having earned her degree in medical laboratory science from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, she founded Impala Tech Research in 2024 to drive impact and save lives. She has led grassroots AMR campaigns that integrate antimicrobial stewardship with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) education in underserved urban communities, including the informal settlements in Kampala. She also has since designed peer-led initiatives that empower university students as AMR Champions, building a network of informed youth advocates. Kisaakye believes the health communication course will sharpen her ability to design and deliver impactful, community-centred interventions in response to the growing threat of drug resistance.
“The department collaborates with many partners within and beyond the University, including the School of Public Health, where we are working to develop the subfield of health communication and promotion. Our goal is to train specialists in this area and build a community of practice, something we have each been doing in our own spaces. There’s a lot of work ahead, and COVID-19 showed us just how urgently we need a generation trained to do this kind of work, and to do it very well,” said Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, during the opening of the short course on June 5.
She assured participants they were in good hands and underscored the importance of the partnership between the Department of Journalism and Communication and the School of Public Health, describing it as a vital collaboration that brings together strategic communication and public health expertise. This dynamic, multidisciplinary approach, she noted, is essential to developing practical solutions that empower communities, strengthen health systems, and ultimately improve livelihoods.
The course offers a hands-on, multidisciplinary learning experience, with participants intended to explore key modules including Health Communication and Promotion, Risk Communication, Smart Advocacy, Community Mapping, Community Mobilisation and Empowerment, and Strategies for Community Engagement. The course combines theory with real-world application, and its assessment includes a field-based project and a final exam.
“You are our first cohort. We are seeing the fruits of our efforts in bringing this short course to life. It was born out of a joint initiative to develop a Master’s programme in Health Promotion and Communication,” said Dr. Christine Nalwadda, Head of the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences. “We carried out extensive consultations with our different key stakeholders during the process and discovered a real need for such a course. It was the stakeholders who even named it; this course name didn’t come from us.”
For Kisaakye, by the end of the course in July, she hopes to have sharpened her skills in health promotion and strategic communication, particularly in crafting targeted messages that help individuals and communities effectively respond to threats such as antimicrobial resistance. She also aims to gain practical experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating community health initiatives that can strengthen her advocacy and drive lasting impact.
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