Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza

MAKERERE UNIVERSITYDeveloping and Nurturing the Next Generation of Academics: Focus on emerging scholarsA presentationBY` Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza

Context Office of DVC (AA) developed a programme geared towards nurturing the next generation of academia Sub-programme: Ph.D Dissemination Seminar Series

Appointments and Promotion Policy Ph.D is a prerequisite for lecturer position Over all, 713 of the 1413 academic staff (close 50.4%) are Ph.D holders 168 (23.5%) of Ph.D holders are women

Retention • Many African universities are facing critical need to replenish their academic ranks • How to retain the highly trained staff • What are the significant constraints facing Mak in her efforts to develop and retain the next generation of academics • What are the constraints faced by young scholars as they attempt to build a career in academia?

Promising Approaches From intellectual vibrancy to isolation Leaders must Facilitate the building of a community/communities of scholars Need to develop mentoring mechanisms

Seminar: Opportunity • Individual scholar to share research findings with the university community • Know who is engaged in particular areas of research

Seminar Series Enhance networking among intellectuals, contribute towards the building of communities of scholars Opportunity to form Research Networks/Teams

Interdisciplinary Research: a global trend Societal problems often require understanding of diverse disciplines to solve – epidemiology of AIDS; Global Warming, women’s studies, land use Studies that use methods and insights of several established disciplines or traditional fields of study Goal is to connect and integrate several academic disciplines in pursuit of common task Researchers from 2 or more disciplines pool their approaches and modify them so that they are better suited to the problem at hand

Post –Doctoral Research Series may facilitate formation of inter-disciplinary research networks Need to encourage inter-disciplinary research at post-doctoral level

Beyond Seminars: Skills Enhancement • Public Speech and Presentation • Communication beyond one’s field of expertise • Popular Briefs • Communication to policy makers • Scholarly writing and publication

Skills • Use of IT in knowledge delivery (E-learning) • Use of inter-net as source of intellectual material • Power point presentation • How to form research teams • How to conduct inter-disciplinary research

Dissemination • Accountability to the University Community • Opportunity for members of the university community to hear about the research that is going on within the community.

Value to External Stakeholders Accountability to the Nation: What is the relevance of Makerere? Opportunity for members of the general public to access information about the latest findings and developments in the particular presenter’s area of expertise.

Leading research institution – premier university • Keenly aware that in our 2009-2019 Strategic Plan, we have vowed to be a research led university

Knowledge Creation • Knowledge creation –Ph.D Training invaluable source

Creation - Dissemination • Beyond peer reviewed journals and offer ourselves to broader audiences (such as happens in Public Seminars), so as to capture the ears of policy makers, practitioners and indeed the general public which we have a duty to educate. • We must as intellectuals, be part of public debate. • `

Con’t…. • An intellectual’s mission is to advance human knowledge, and to engage with the changing issues of society. • As such, we intellectuals have enormous power to influence and change society. • `

Public Intellectual • An intellectual should combine research, teaching and activism to facilitate social change. • Today’s Intellectual expects her ideas to form the basis of influence and action in the public sphere. • As members of a premier university in Africa, Makerere University Academia must instigate public discourse on issues of public concern

Value of public intellectuals • As Faculty of a premier University; the academia at Makerere have a duty to take the lead and in fact enrich public debate on issues of National Import. • Indeed I opine that the academia have a duty to play as leading public intellectuals while at the same time maintaining rigorous commitment to traditional scholarship.

The relevance of Makerere? • A Visible Public Intellectual reminds the public of the role of institutions of higher learning and research: It is this that Makerere is associating with in the seminar series. • Makerere University has a duty to take lead in discussing issues crucial to National Devt and Human Rights – partnership with Ministry of Health

Con’t Regardless of the field of expertise, the role of the public intellectual is to address and respond to the problems of her society, Thus, she functions as the voice of the people with neither the ability, nor the opportunity, to address such problems in the public fora – such are the great majority of Ugandan citizens .

Mak-Media Partnership • Popular briefs for the media • Why the Media?

Con’t Media reporting on HE provides a platform for debate and reflection on issues of public concern – are universities relevant? Media connects researchers and people interested in research Channel thru which consumers of research can be informed Complements more formal channels of research dissemination

Mak-Ministry Partnership • Mak aware of the National Health Policy 2009 • Theme: Reducing Poverty thru promoting people’s Health • Acknowledges that issues of National Devt can only be answered through rigorous research • Research for policy impact.

National Health Policy(NHP) • Policy acknowledges the value of research and vows to give high priority to research in next decade • Research to support evidence based policy and intervention formulation • For Identification of critical factors for special needs for vulnerable groups esp women and children

NHP states • Particular attention will be given to how research can be used to guide development and implementation of health promotion

NHP • Identifies challenges: - Shortage of human resource - Failure to translate research findings into policy - Failure to disseminate findings

NHP • NHP recognises universities as active participants in conducting health research

Mak • Most viable partner of the Uganda National Health Research Organisation • Strong resolve not only to create new ideas, but also reflect on how we can translate them into policy and action. • Link research to policy

Thank YOU

Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza