Humanities & Social Sciences

Call For Abstracts: 2025 CHUSS Graduate Symposium

Published

2 months ago

April 23, 2025

Students walk into the Arts Quadrangle, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — Students walk into the Arts Quadrangle, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University.

With funding from Lisa Maskell, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Makerere University has held several symposia targeting PhD students and early career scholars of Historical Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences from Makerere University. The CHUSS 2025 Graduate Symposium is now open to PhD students from Ugandan, regional and PANGeA affiliated universities.

This change in direction is cognisant of the achievements of the Graduate Schools in training the next generation of African scholars in Historical Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences. The interventions have checked the existential threats that these disciplines faced because of the denigration of higher education, especially the Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines, under the aegis of the International Momentary Fund/World Bank Structural Adjustment Policies of the 1990s. Indeed, the Lisa Maskell grants to the universities of Stellenbosch, Makerere, and Ghana have reversed the crisis within these disciplines and ensured their sustainability on the continent. Nonetheless, an organic networked and viable community of continental Historical Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences scholars and practitioners graduating from these universities has not been established. Therefore, CHUSS wishes to contribute towards building this community through this inaugural Graduate Symposium.

In this regard, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Makerere University, invites PhD fellows from Makerere University including those from Ugandan, regional and PANGeA affiliated universities of Yaoundé, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Malawi, Stellenbosch, Ghana at Legon and Botswana to the 2025 CHUSS Graduate Symposium. The 2025 Symposium will congregate PhD fellows into an interactive and networking collaboration besides presenting their work in progress and acquiring requisite scholarly/professional skills for 21^st century Humanities and Social Sciences academics.

Participation and Submission of Abstracts

The CHUSS Graduate Symposium 2025 hereby calls for 250-word abstracts drawn from the fellows’ work in progress such as research proposals, draft theses or research articles for presentation at Makerere University, Kampala from 19 to 21 June 2025. The Symposium will be preceded by a writing workshop that will be curated by Prof. Grace A. Musila (University of Witwatersrand), Dr Peter Wafula Wekesa (Kenyatta University), Dr Amon Ashaba Mwine (Makerere University) and Dr Isaac Tibasiima (Makerere University). The Symposium will start with a keynote address by Prof. Grace A. Musila on “Life after the PhD: Building and Nourishing Supportive Scholarly Communities and Networks”. It will also include a panel discussion on the challenges of graduate studies and mental health.

Funding

The Symposium is fully supported by a Lisa Maskell grant at Makerere University; therefore, participants from Ugandan, regional and PANGeA affiliated universities will not pay conference fees. However, the participants will have to meet their travel and accommodation costs in Kampala.

The Symposium will be held in-person at Makerere University and fellows who plan to attend should submit their abstracts clearly stating their name, affiliation and contact details to: chusssymposium@mak.ac.ug by Friday May 23, 2025. Contributors will be notified of the decisions on their submissions by Friday June 6, 2025.

For further information and inquiry, please write to:

Dr Edgar Nabutanyi: Symposium Convenor Email: edgar.nabutanyi@mak.ac.ug
Dr Levis Mugumya: Symposium Convenor Email: levis.mugumya@mak.ac.ug
Ms. Esther Namitala: Symposium Administrator Email: namitalaesther@gmail.com

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Grace A. Musila University of the Witwatersrand
Grace A. Musila is an Associate Professor of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has taught African Literature at the University of Johannesburg, Stellenbosch University and University of the Witwatersrand. Her research focuses on Anglophone African literature and popular culture, primarily in East and Southern Africa. Her work interrogates how settler colonial history of East and Southern Africa and its twin legacies of epistemic injustice and selective apportionment of humanity continue to shape these regions’ formal institutions and socio-political practices.

Makerere-CHUSS-Symposium-2025-Call-For-Abstracts Download

Up Next

Makerere’s US Studies Centre Hosts First Research Workshop to Kick Off U.S.–Uganda Relations Book Project

Don't Miss

Special University Entry Examinations for the Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

General

Diploma in Performing Arts Admission List 2025/26

Published

2 days ago

July 4, 2025

Mak Editor

The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released the admission list of candidates who passed the special entry examinations for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17^th May, 2025

The following have been admitted by the University’s Admissions Committee on Private Sponsorship for the 2025/26 Academic Year

Mak-Admission-DIPLOMA-IN-PERFORMING-ARTS-PRIVATE-2025-2026-AY Download

General

Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

Published

1 week ago

June 28, 2025

Mak Editor

The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17^th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

Diploma-Performing-Arts-2025-2026 Download

Health

MakSPH, DJC Launch Short Course on Health Communication

Published

2 weeks ago

June 20, 2025

John Okeya

The heads of the Department of Journalism and Communication and the Department of Community Health and Behavioural Sciences (centre) with participants from the first cohort of the Health Communication short course at Makerere University. June 5, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, 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), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

_{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.

Ms. Maureen Kisaakye (in white) during a youth-led community AMR and WASH awareness campaign in informal settlements in Kamwokya, Kampala, on 12th April, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, 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), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — ***Ms. Maureen Kisaakye (in white) during a youth-led community AMR and WASH awareness campaign in informal settlements in Kamwokya, Kampala, on 12th April, 2025.***

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.

Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, underscored the partnership between DJC and MakSPH as a crucial step toward strengthening public health through strategic communication. June 5th, 2025. Intensive one-month course on Health Communication, first cohort June 5 to July 24, 2025, 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), School of Languages, Literature, and Communication (SLLC), co-designed in 2024 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation through Amref Health Africa, Kampala Uganda, East Africa. — Dr. Aisha Nakiwala, Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, underscored the partnership between DJC and MakSPH as a crucial step toward strengthening public health through strategic communication. June 5, 2025.

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.