Makerere University – Research and Innovations Fund (Mak-RIF) is funding from the Government of the Republic of Uganda to support high-impact Research and Innovations that address national development priorities.
This fund illustrates the increasing importance that the Government attaches to Research and
Innovation as a driver of national transformation. The objective of the fund is to increase the local generation of translatable research and scalable innovations that address key gaps required to drive Uganda’s development agenda.
The fund is thereforeaimed at complimenting available and other potential research
funding (from individuals including alumni and institutions) to address unfunded priorities critical to accelerating development across different sectors of the economy in Uganda.
Each financial year, Makerere University expects to receive at least 30 billion Uganda shillings
(equivalent to US$ 8,100,000) under the Government Research and Innovations Fund (RIF). To this exciting news of funding from the Government of the Republic of Uganda, the University Management responded promptly by
A Framework for Management of the Government Research and Innovation funds was developed and is being implemented since 2019.
A multi-disciplinary Grants Management Committee was appointed by the University after
wide consultations with all the university Colleges. The multidisciplinary funded research and
innovation projects are expected to generate actionable results that speak to national priorities.
Working with internal and external multidisciplinary reviewers, the Grants Management Committee vets, selects, and issues grants to teams that demonstrate a clear link to Government and its implementing partners on key development research gaps.
Over the four financial years, the Funds’ Grants Management Committee has issued 6 major grant calls and 4 needs-based solicitations, attributing to 865 awards. During this financial
year (2022/23), the fund has introduced two new grants: one to support scale up and commercialization of research outputs and the other to support PhD research.