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Makerere, Partners Sign MoU for the 6th Edition of Kampala Geopolitics Conference
By Ritah Namisango
On September 11th 2023, Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe signed a memorandum of understanding with the Embassy of France in Uganda, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, UN women and Alliance Française Kampala for the 6th edition of the Kampala Geopolitics Conference scheduled to take place on the 17th and 18th October 2023.
The aim of the Kampala Geopolitics Conference is to stimulate debate and exchange between national and regional actors, the academia, scholars, researchers, civil society, students, media, and interested public, with experts from Eastern Africa and also Europe.
During the signing ceremony, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe re-affirmed the readiness of Makerere University to host the 6th edition of the Kampala Geopolitics conference. Prof. Nawangwe revealed that the conference provides students and the youth an opportunity to participate in high quality debate and intellectual discourse.
“The need to engage our students and youth who will end up taking on various leadership positions in the country with knowledge and a balanced perception as well as appreciation of national and global affairs on the topic of population growth cannot be overstated. It is our hope and prayer this year’s conference will fill our students and the youth with hope and a renewed sense of responsibility to take charge of their future,” he said. He also used the opportunity to welcome Mr. Eric Touzé who arrived in Uganda last week to assume his new role as the Director of Alliance Francaise Kampala.
According to the French Ambassador to Uganda H.E. Xavier Sticker, debate of ideas is a French value that his country cherishes since the era of the Philosophers of Enlightenment. “This embassy commits to continue to organize events to keep debates alive throughout the years with the special highlight taking place during the flagship plenary sessions of the Kampala Geopolitics Conference.”
The Ambassador acknowledged the IRIS (Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques), a French think tank specialized in the studies of geopolitics, which first came up with the idea of organizing, on a yearly basis, in the French city of Nantes, a global conference to debate major contemporary international relations.
Speaking on behalf of Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Director for the Regional Programme Security Dialogue for East Africa, Mr. Nils Wörmer highlighted that the East African region is a geopolitical theatre for great power conflicts and international projection and influence. “As the Western coast of the so-called Indo-Pacific theatre, East Africa plays an important role in the main unfolding geopolitical conflict of the 21st century, namely between China and US. What some experts call the “Red Sea Security Arena” in this regard, is right on our doorsteps and will be one of the topics to be discussed at the conference.”
Mr. Wörmer noted that during the last decade, international relations, for numerous reasons, developed more into the direction of conflict than cooperation. That a new systemic conflict is ever-present and great power rivalries make it difficult for almost any actor to remain in a neutral position, both in Africa and in Europe.
The UN Women Country Representative, Dr. Paulina Chiwangu said the 6th Kampala Geopolitics Conference will provide a platform to discuss the advancement of digital inclusion and economic opportunities for all, particularly in Uganda. “We hope to discuss the challenges in representation in the tech sector and how that has implications in bias in products design – including AI, the need for increasing education for girls in tech, and the need to enhance safety and access as critical for economic growth and inclusive job creation,” she said.
Dr. Paulina Chiwangu further said Kampala Geopolitics Conference is an excellent platform to bring diverse female voices and networks together to foster a culture of academic excellence, critical thinking, and inclusive policy making from the bottom up.
By Moses Lutaaya
The Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) has in collaboration with Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors.
Participants were academic staff from two colleges namely, College of Engineering, Art and Design (CEDAT) and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES).
The three-day training that took place at the Telepresence Centre, Senate Building ended on Friday 20thJune 2025.
In his closing remarks to the participants, the Director of Graduate Training Prof. Julius Kikooma said, “This is the first cohort we are working together with the Center for Teaching and Learning to put together continuous professional development Program so that we are able to enforce the new teaching and learning policy.”
He said that before lecturers are allocated students for supervision, they must first go through this form of formal teaching and learning training to equip them thoroughly with certification required of supervision of graduate students.
“We are coming up with process to ensure that the certificates earned by participants allow you to supervise graduate students. This is the direction of the university and we must ensure that such trainings are concluded and completed successfully by all participants”, Prof. Kikooma.
“We can only have you certified upon completing all the exercises in the training process. This is when you will be eligible to receive the work load for supervision”, He added.
“This training of Supervisors is going to be continuous so that all academic staff in colleges and schools are equipped. This first cohort is going to be our building block to the future trainings in the colleges.”
With such capacity building trainings, Prof. Kikooma said that the university is on the right path to achieving its targets in the new strategic plan of increasing the number of graduate students while progressively reducing the under graduate students.
He further hinted that, “We are in the process of writing a curriculum on this, which will be presented for approval before it is rolled out.”
He echoed all participants to share the knowledge they have acquired adding, “Share all you have learnt, do not keep it. Be open minded, have proper communication channels and the sky will be the limit for you.”
Dr. Robinah N. Kulabako, The Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CEDAT welcomed the training adding, “This training is very pertinent. I have had the opportunity to supervise Masters and PhD students for over 15 years and I must say that the need to be subjected to this training cannot be over emphasized because there is need to learn, unlearn and relearn many aspects involved in the supervision process.”
She added, “We are moving towards knowledge-based supervision rather than experience-based supervision. This means we must be informed and equipped to be able to advise, guide and mentor to be able to lead a successful supervision journey for both supervisor and supervisee.”
Dr. Andrew Gilbert Were – a lecturer at CEDAT and a participant said, “It is important that all supervisors of graduate students receive this certification from Makerere University through a systematic training process that enables them to attain diverse skills to facilitate learning of graduate students from diverse cultures and with unique set of circumstances.”
“This training is long overdue. In fact, it was an oversight that we could be allowed to supervise students without undergoing supervisors’ training.”
Dr. Dorothy Ssebowa, The Director Centre for Teaching and Learning support- CEES said, “The training this time round has had a mix of early career professionals including Lecturers, Supervisors and Professors share experiences. We have learnt a lot more from experienced supervisors who have shared practices on how they have done supervision over the years.”
“The knowledge and experience-based approaches have made this collaboration very active, interactive and learner centered which has resulted into a collaborative learning from the interdisciplinarity of staff from CEDAT and CAES. The issue now is to continue with professional development across all levels.” She added.
The Makerere University Directorate of Graduate Training (DGT) in collaboration with the Centre for Teaching and Learning completed the training of the first cohort of Graduate Supervisors. This activity was supported by the iCARTA – Institutionalization of Advanced Research Training in Africa, a NORHED II Project at Makerere University.
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