Mubiru Enock Joel, a student from the College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS), is set to be among the thousands of graduates at Makerere University’s 75^th graduation ceremony, scheduled for January 13–17, 2025. He will graduate on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, as the top-performing student in the sciences.

Early Life and Education Journey

Born in 2001 to Mr. Nsubuga Francis and Ms. Nambejja Lydia of Luwafu, Makindye Division, Kampala District, Mubiru’s educational journey began at Canan Primary School in Makindye. He then attended Kabale Ssanje Secondary School in Kyotera District, where he completed his O’ and A’ Level education. At A’ Level, Mubiru excelled in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, earning an impressive 17 points. This achievement secured him a government scholarship to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics at Makerere University.

Despite coming from a humble background, Mubiru’s determination to succeed never wavered. His academic excellence earned him various bursaries, which relieved his parents from the financial burden of school fees. In fact, his parents stopped paying fees when he was in lower primary, as his academic performance ensured he remained well-supported.

Academic Achievements

Mubiru will graduate with a remarkable CGPA of 4.91 in his Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Physics) degree, making him the top-performing student in the sciences at Makerere University this year. His dedication and hard work have paid off, placing him at the forefront of his cohort.

He attributes much of his success to the mentorship and guidance he received from his lecturers, particularly Dr. Saul Nsubuga, a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at CoNAS. Dr. Nsubuga played a pivotal role in Mubiru’s academic and personal growth, providing valuable mentorship and treating him like a son. Dr. Nsubuga also connected him to various opportunities, including his current role at Xeno Investment, where Mubiru has been working as an Operations Analyst since completing his studies in June 2024. In addition, Mubiru offers mathematics tutorials to students from countries such as Uganda, the USA, Italy, and Northern Cyprus.

Gratitude and Future Goals

Mubiru is deeply grateful to his parents for their unwavering support throughout his academic journey. He also expresses his appreciation for the management of CoNAS and Makerere University for creating an environment that facilitated his academic success.

Looking ahead, Mubiru’s immediate goal is to pursue a Master’s degree and a PhD in Mathematics. In the long term, he aims to teach mathematics at various educational levels. Given the dynamic nature of the data science industry, he also hopes to establish one of the most prominent data analytics firms in Uganda.

Advice for Fellow Students

Mubiru believes that excelling in any field requires focus and commitment. Throughout his undergraduate studies, he always set out to be the best, and his efforts have been recognized. His success tips include actively engaging in discussions, regularly consulting with teachers, and dedicating sufficient time to revision. He encourages fellow students at Makerere University to focus from their first year and to actively participate in academic discussions if they aspire to excel.

Appeal for Improved Infrastructure

Given the large number of students at the university, Mubiru appeals to the University Management to invest in improving the learning infrastructure to further support the academic success of all students.

We congratulate Mubiru upon this great success and wish him the best in his future endeavours.

View on CoNAS

Click on this link to register: https://was.org/meeting/code/afraq25

• WORLD AQUACULTURE SAFARI 2025: Biggest Aquaculture Meeting in Africa
• Date: 24^th-27^th June 2025
• Venue: Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda

*****About the Conference

East Africa is the fastest growth node for aquaculture on the African continent. This is predominantly as a result of the farming of tilapia, but several other species contribute to the sector. East Africa is also a world leading region in the farming of seaweed, with exciting developments around several other marine species such as sea cucumber and more.

The EU-funded TRUEFISH Project, which seeks the advancement of aquaculture in the Lake Victoria Basin, showcased the region to the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) Board in 2022, which was well accepted and led to the pinning down of June 2025 as a suitable date for an aquaculture conference in the region. This in turn led to the signing of a hosting agreement between WAS and Landell Mills as an implementing partner of TRUEFISH.

Through Egypt (2022), Zambia (2023) and Tunisia (2024), the African Regional Aquaculture (AFRAQ) Conferences have shown steady growth. It is however important to emphasize that Aquaculture Safari 2025 is a World Aquaculture Conference, incorporating both the continental event and the showcase global event. Undoubtedly, it will address key African topics such as tilapia and catfish production, but the conference will cater to a global audience covering a diverse range of presentations, species, meetings, discussions, workshops and more. Commitments of participation have been received from the likes of the FAO, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, the African Union and others.  The trade show and exhibition promises to assemble the largest selection of aquaculture goods and service providers under one roof, in Africa, to date.

*****Theme and aim of the Conference

Organized under the theme “Aquaculture on the Rise,” World Aquaculture Safari 2025 aims to:

1. Showcase the aquaculture industry in Africa and globally
2. Forge international collaborations and linkages, in areas such as research, development, species sectors, feeds, investments, markets, trade and more.
3. Unify the global aquaculture sector.

*****Expected participants and activities lined up for the Conference

Participants will range from academia to state officials, from technology providers to students, from farmers to fish buyers and exporters, and more. Apart from papers from across the world, plans are also afoot for an extensive farmer’s day, several side events such as aquaculture investment and seaweed workshops, and a field day to visit some of the largest fish farms on Lake Victoria. African countries will also showcase their aquaculture sectors in the trade show, allowing for global networking.

For international visitors the tourism opportunities before and after the conference are limitless. These include trekking for gorillas and chimpanzees (get your permits early!), visiting some of Africa’s famous Big Five game reserves in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, visiting or rafting the Nile River, witnessing the majestic Murchison Falls, seeing Mount Kilimanjaro or experiencing the tropical seas of Zanzibar.

Africa awaits its international aquaculture guests with excitement. Details loading soon. Registration will also open soon on the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) website – https://www.was.org/.

For details on World Aquaculture Safari 2025: https://www.was.org/Magazine/2024/04/38/ 

View on CoNAS

Godwin Anywar, cohort 6, Makerere University, attended the 2024 World Science Forum that took place on November 20 – 23, 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. At the forum, he participated in a side event: ‘Trust in Science’, a workshop for early career researchers organized by the Global Young Academy (GYA) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). 

On November 26 – 28, 2024, he attended the twentieth annual meeting of the African Science Academies (AMASA 2024) and the General Assembly of the Network of African Academies of Sciences (NASAC), in Algiers, Algeria. He presented on ‘Promoting Science Diplomacy for Sustainable Development in Africa’ as one the co-leads of the Science Diplomacy in Africa working group of the Global Young Academy’. 

Godwin also participated in the Uganda Text Book Academic and Non-Fiction Authors Association (UTANA)- hybrid symposium on authorship capacity where he moderated a panel session on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and academic authorship. With the theme ‘Capacity building for academic and nonfiction authorship for Africa’s Transformation’ the symposium took place from November 14 -15, 2024 in Kampala, Uganda. 

Additionally, he attended and moderated a session on the regulation and registration of herbal medicinal products (HMP) in African countries. Organized by the Society for Medicinal Plants and Natural Products Research (GA) in collaboration with PharmaConnect Africa NPC and The Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA), the session was part of an eSeminar series ‘Regulation of Natural Products – a Global Challenge’.

Source: CARTA Newsletter Issue 83