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Mak-RIF Inaugurates New Grants Management Committee Members

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By Harriet Adong

On Wednesday August 3rd, 2022, Makerere University’s Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Henry Alinaitwe presided over the inauguration of the new Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (Mak-RIF) Grants Management Committee (GMC) Members. Prof. Alinaitwe was representing Makerere University’s Vice Chancellor; Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe at this engagement. The engagement took place at the Mak-RIF gardens; Quarry Road Plot 70, Makerere University. It was attended by the Mak-RIF Grants Management Committee Members including Prof. Umar Kakumba, Makerere University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor In-Charge of Academic Affairs, Head and Staff of the Makerere University Grants Administration and Management Support Unit, Directorate of Research and Graduate Training and Mak-RIF staff.

The New Mak-RIF GMC Members include the following;

1.Prof. Fred Masagazi MasaaziChairperson
2.Dr. Sabrina Bakeera KitakaVice – Chair Person
3.Assoc-Prof. Isa KabengeMember
4.Dr. Zahara NampewoMember
5.Prof. Frank MwiineMember
6.Dr. Robert WamalaMember
7.Dr. Roy Mayega WilliamMember
8.Dr. Michael OworMember
9.Dr. Stephen WanderaMember
10.Dr. Mercy AmiyoMember
11.Dr. Hellen NkabalaMember
12.Dr. Dorothy Kabagaju OkelloMember
13.Dr. Eddy WalakiraMember
14.Prof. Umar KakumbaMember
15.Mr. Yusuf KirandaMember
Mak-RIF GMC Members ready to serve humanity.
Mak-RIF GMC Members ready to serve humanity.

Prof. Masagazi Masaazi, Mak-RIF Chairperson welcomed all participants to the engagement noting that Mak-RIF is now implementing Year 4 activities and throughout the period, several achievements had been registered. He said, among these achievements was the fact that;

  • Multidisciplinary stakeholders had been and have continued to be engaged by the Mak-RIF Secretariat, researchers and innovators.
  • Many groups of individuals including faculty and students had benefited from Capacity Building sessions on Research Project Management, Finance and Administration, Accountability, Communication, Dissemination including Policy and Knowledge Briefs development, Intellectual Property Rights acquisition processes among others.
  • In addition, currently over 700 multidisciplinary research and innovation projects are being funded and supported by the Government of the republic of Uganda through Mak-RIF. “Join me to sincerely thank the Government of the Republic of Uganda for funding research and innovations at Makerere University. This funding has yielded spillover effects since the researchers and innovators partner with individuals in and from other institutions including Universities, Ministries, Community Based Organizations and Private Sector among others”, Prof. Masagazi said.
  • He also noted that the Mak-RIF round 4 call for proposals attracted 296 applications and these had been cleaned and sent out to a pool of multidisciplinary internal and external reviewers.
Prof. Masagazi Masaazi, Mak-RIF Chair welcoming participants to the engagement.
Prof. Masagazi Masaazi, Mak-RIF Chair welcoming participants to the engagement.

Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor In-Charge of Finance and Administration at Makerere University speaking on behalf of the Vice Chancellor thanked the new GMC members for accepting to serve and thanked the formerly serving members for a job well done. He also thanked the Government of the Republic of Uganda for the continued support noting that it is such initiatives like Mak-RIF which are contributing to Makerere University’s efforts to move towards being research led university. He also thanked Prof. William Bazeyo, the former Mak-RIF Chairperson (even if he was not part of this engagement) for diligently serving Makerere University, other institutions and Uganda. He noted that Prof. Bazeyo’s commitment to looking out for resources to support research, innovations and other aspects of the university and country at large were immensely felt and cannot go unrecognized. He also thanked the University Management for creating and ensuring that there is an enabling environment for research and innovations to flourish at Makerere University.

He noted that to-date, it is fulfilling that no funds or resources have disappeared or have not been accounted for. Indeed, the activities of the Mak-RIF GMC and Secretariat help in galvanizing Makerere University towards research led university. In addition to this, the knowledge generation and transfer happening plus the partnerships created and being created as a result of Mak-RIF cannot go un mentioned. “Thank you, colleagues at Mak-RIF, for contributing to products, processes among others to positively impact our communities” he added.


Prof. Alinaitwe also said, “Now that you are in your own home and enjoying a good working environment, we urge you to succinctly think about commercialization of the research and innovation outputs from the ongoing work. You should also pay keen attention to accountability related issues and ensure to account both physically with tangible outputs and otherwise. In addition to this, please work together with the team at DRGT to secure patents for the products coming out of this good work”.  He once again congratulated the Mak-RIF leadership and staff for acquiring a befitting home which also houses the Makerere University Grants Administration and Management Support Unit.

To the incoming Mak-RIF GMC members, he said “I urge you to serve diligently, remain transparent at all times and ensure that all stakeholders are satisfied with what we are doing as a university.

To the outgoing Mak-RIF GMC members, Prof. Alinaitwe said “Please do not shy away from taking on more and other responsibilities including assignments once you are called upon. You did so well and the university relies heavily on efforts and abilities like yours. Thank you so much for offering yourselves to serve when you were called upon to do so”.

Prof. Alinaitwe speaking on behalf of Prof. Nawangwe at the engagement.
Prof. Alinaitwe speaking on behalf of Prof. Nawangwe at the engagement.

The incoming GMC members then took on the oath committing to serve without fear and favor and calling upon God to help them.

“We wish all the new Mak-RIF GMC Members the very best as they embark on serving humanity and we are grateful to all the previously serving GMC Members for the work well done” noted Prof. Fred Masagazi Masaazi, Mak-RIF Chairperson.

More photos are shared on https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BBm3g6mOHbQ-Lq0zl7Nevv41RbdobQdf

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Directorate of Graduate Training concludes 9-day Phd Cross Cutting Training

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By: Moses Lutaaya

The Directorate of Graduate Training has completed a 9- day PhD crosscutting training course, inducting three groups of PhD students. The groups of students included those in Cohort 1, Cohort 2 and the Non Cohort PhD students. The number of PhD student participants were over 300 students learning via both face to face and online.

The training that started on Monday 2nd June 2025, took place in the New Library Building.

In his closing remarks, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma encouraged the PhD students to put up a spirited fight that would see them remain in the cohort up to the end of the three years of their doctoral studies.

“Get organized, show seriousness in your doctoral pursuit, stay together, make use of your supervisors as and when you need them. We will fully support you in your Doctoral academic journey.” Prof. Kikooma said.

Prof. Kikooma emphasized the need for PhD graduate training saying, “We need more research for the University and Country. This cannot be achieved without increasing the number of graduate students especially PhDs.”

At their different stages of PhD doctoral training, Prof. Kikooma encouraged the students to give feedback to the Directorate and the supervisors so that they are served seamlessly.

Prof. Kikooma further informed the students that going forward, they must cover all the three mandatory cross cutting courses meant to be taught under the three-year program of their doctoral studies.

“All three foundation courses including Scholarly Writing, Advanced Research Methods and Philosophy of Methods will be covered. Tighten your belts. We want to ensure that all these structured programs prepare you for the foundations you need for next two years of research. Success becomes easy when you undertake foundations.”

He challenged the students to use the program in guiding their research directions, making informed decision, improving their critical thinking and consumption of knowledge.

Dr. Dixon Knanakulya, one of the trainers of the doctoral students said, “At PhD level, it is no longer a normal research. It is at a level of knowledge production. The students must understand the main philosophical assumption behind the research methods they use and they must consider the ethical implications of their research. Philosophy of Methods enables them to go through that.”

“PhD students must be creative, innovative and start at the level of researching in the mind. This challenges them to think differently.” He added.

He further said that Philosophy of Methods helps in researches done at the different aspects of the national development plan. “Usually, the students question how the National plans are come up with and support improvement of government policies.”

Dr. Kanakulya added that the research output can be used by government for improvement because it is done by highly skilled researchers. Adding, “They come with very good insights which can be taken on to improve implementation of government programs such as Emyoga and Parish Development Model (PDM).”

He further said that policies are not enough without the social conditions and mindset of the people, saying that PhD scholars can help government know the social conditions and apply policies better.

The Cohort 1 PhD students’ president Mr. Wanyakoko Ebiru Moses said, “This training is extremely important for each student under taking doctoral studies and without it, they cannot acquire the fundamental skills they need to become independent researchers.”

He added that with the knowledge acquired in the Philosophy of Methods training, they will focus on research that aims to resolve societal and community problems.

Dr. Robert Kakuru, the President of Makerere University Academic Staff Association said that Philosophy of Methods is an important pillar in the doctoral journey of every PhD student.

“The Course, Philosophy of Method provides a critical foundation and Philosophical grounding for research methods that doctoral students use to undertake their respective studies. The course further underlines other critical issues that graduate students ought to know, integrate, adopt or adapt in their doctoral journeys.” He said.

Dr. Jim Spire Ssentongo, a senior lecturer and coordinator of the training said, “Philosophy of Methods builds a mass of critical researchers who are able to look at the world not from a narrow point of view but a holistic and broad based sense of understanding reality.”

He added, “Students understand how they can imagine the world to be. They take into account assumptions which inform the methods of research used, how they conduct themselves during research and how they approach respondents during the research process. Such assumptions are laid bear in this training and it helps participants to understand the things they have always held at the back of their minds without deliberately knowing that these are the assumptions they hold and this is how they affect and influence studies.”  

Dr. Ssentongo further said that once PhD students are engaged in reality in its broadness with right assumptions, they are then better placed as researchers to investigate such realities and that whatever they investigate, be it related to the National Development Plan and National Development Initiatives like Emyoga and Parish Development Model. This training positions, them at a more critical level as researchers not only in terms of assumptions but also being thinkers.

The Philosophy of Methods training was supported by the ICARTA – Institutionalization of Advanced Research Training in Africa, a NORHED II Project at Makerere University.

Mak Editor

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CARTA Early Career Researchers in Action

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A photo montage of Dr. Godwin Anywar at the project ‘Traditional medicine in Transition (TMT)’ at the Institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany (ISEB) and Botanical Garden, University of Zurich, Switzerland. 4th-12th June 2025. Photo: LinkedIn/Dr. Godwin Anywar

Godwin Anywar, cohort 6, facilitated a brainstorming session on grant writing and application during the research planning and conceptualization workshop and exhibition from a cooperative research and exhibition project, ‘Traditional Medicine in Transition,’ at the Institute of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany (ISEB) and Botanical Garden, University of Zurich, from June 4 to 12, 2025.

Within the month, Godwin also joined the Rising Scholars as a mentor. Formerly known as AuthorAID, Rising Scholars is a global network offering free support, mentorship, training, and resources to researchers across the Global South.

Source: CARTA Newsletter Issue 90

Mark Wamai

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Advancing Regional Health Priorities Through the CARTA Research Hubs

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Training of pre-service cadres in outbreak investigation. Photo: CARTA

Strengthening Research Capacity to Tackle Emerging Infectious Diseases in East Africa

Africa continues to shoulder over 80% of the global infectious disease burden, with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs and REIDs) like Ebola, COVID-19, tuberculosis, and Rift Valley fever posing serious threats to health systems, economies, and regional security. In biologically fragile regions like East Africa, home to dense populations, climate-sensitive ecosystems, and porous borders, multidisciplinary, cross-border responses are essential. 

To tackle this, the Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (TERID) Research Hub has been established under CARTA and is hosted at Makerere University. Led by CARTA graduate Charles Kato, TERID brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers to fill critical gaps in disease surveillance, policy, prevention, and rapid response, strengthening regional capacity through high-impact, locally relevant science. Learn more

Source: CARTA Newsletter Issue 90

Mark Wamai

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