MAK, Uganda

Makerere University, Uganda

Established in 1922 as a technical school, Makerere University is now one of the oldest and most prestigious Universities in Africa. It is composed of 9 colleges and 1 school offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduate students and 4,000 postgraduate students. MU has assumed the obligation to champion social, political and economic change in society through professional extension services and influencing policy. MU’s Extension and Outreach policy is an interface between research and training and seeks to make the University relevant to societal needs and national development. Extension and Outreach comprise of internships, consultancy, action research and short-term non-academic training programmes. These services are targeted at a multiplicity of stakeholders, including the private sector, farmers, secondary schools, etc. Innovations of various products have been achieved and taken to the community e.g. local building materials, sanitary pads from local materials, paper making from the banana fibre, etc.

The university’s research agenda is similarly focused on societal challenges and developmental needs. With support from Sida/SAREC, MU has undertaken research projects in the Faculties of Social Sciences, Agriculture, Medicine and Technology. The NORAD Institutional Development Programme has supported research projects in Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation and Faculty of Agriculture. At its Directorate of ICT Research, MU operates an incubator in cooperation with IDRC and SPIDER software development projects. Makerere University’s Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is a non-profit biomedical research organization, whose mission is to mitigate disease threats through quality research, health care and disease surveillance. Within this project, MU is collaborating on medical research to test HIV vaccines, vaccine research for Ebola and Marburg viruses, surveillance of influenza and influenza-like viruses and other emerging infections in humans and animals.

Project team 

Dr. Alison Annet Kinengyere is a Medical Librarian and Head of the Albert Cook Medical Library at Makerere University, Uganda. She is also an information literacy trainer and researcher. Dr. Kinengyere has participated in a number of projects including AHEAD, ITOCA and CERES2030. She has published several articles in the field of Library and Information Science. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Library and Information Science, a Master’s Degree in Information Science, and a PhD in Information Science.

Onan Mulumba is an academic Agricultural Librarian and the Head of the Agricultural Libraries at Makerere University. Additionally, he is the co-project manager for AHEAD at Makerere University. He is Country Focal Point of the Technology Bank Project in Uganda. Mr. Mulumba is ex-Research4Life users’ representative on the Executive Council and Winner of Research4Life Unsung Heroes award in 2013. He participated in the implementation of TEEAL-AGORA project activities in Uganda under ITOCA. Mr. Mulumba holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Information Science.

 

Assoc. Prof. Isaac Okullo is the Deputy Principal, College of Health Sciences at Makerere University. He is a Lecturer and expert in Dentistry. He has participated in many national and international projects, and is currently involved in the management of AHEAD project at Makerere University.

Ms. Nina Olivia Rugambwa holds a Master degree in Information Sciences and awaits defense of her PhD thesis. She has served as a part-time Assistant Lecturer for 10 years (2009 to July 2019) at the East African School of Library and Information Sciences at Makerere University. Ms. Rugambwa offers mentorship to students who are academically bright, but from underprivileged backgrounds under the Mastercard project at Makerere University. As a researcher in the AHEAD project, she participated in collecting information on national innovation system in Uganda. Nina also currently teaches at Kabale University as a lecturer in the Faculty of Computing, Library and Information Sciences.