More women urged to enroll for PhD programmes

Makerere University has urged more women to enroll for PhD programmes, under the new Swedish Research Cooperation with Uganda.

This five year partnership signed between Makerere University and the Swedish Government is aimed at support research training at Makerere University.

The partnership which is to end in 2020 is to cost $35m (about sh113bn) funded by the Swedish Government.

Speaking at the Makerere University Annual Research and Innovations review meeting at the university, the director, Directorate of Research and Graduate Training, Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi said every time they invite people for PhD programmes, very few women apply.

"We think when many complete their first and second degrees, they get married. So we think they get challenges ranging from family affairs and financial constraints at times," he said.

Buyinza said out of about 1,000 PhDs holders in the country, 700 are at Makerere University with about 300 female PhDs holders.

"We want to encourage and promote female research training in all our public universities. We believe there is no reason why the gender terrain cannot improve. After all, the best research ethics is done by women," he added.

The research collaboration includes other four public universities; Kyambogo, Busitema, Gulu and Mbarara university of Social Sciences and Technology with shared responsibilities.The programme targets 335 students at different levels; PHD (125), Maters (147), postal doctoral fellowships (65). So far 240 have been recruited and inducted in the programme.

Buyinza also noted that Makerere University also has 155 Associate Professors who need to publish more of their work to become full professors.

The research cooperation agreement involves research capacity in a holistic sense, human resource development by way of training at PhD and Masters level, infrastructure in terms OF ICT and library, promotes mobility and research uptake event where anyone wants to go for international conferences to disseminate their research findings in the universities.

The programme is to support multi-disciplinary teams including; health sciences, agriculture and environmental sciences, computing and information science and social sciences.

"We want to promote expertise to be able to solve our own challenges with minimal resources, than relying on development experts from World Bank and elsewhere," Buyinza noted

The university's vice chancellor, Prof. John Ddumba Ssentamu thanked the Swedish Government for continued support in research at the University.

"We are happy that the current agreement has facilitated collaboration with other public universities. We are also happy to partner with other Swedish institutions and together we are working towards building a body of experts that will formulate problems and create knowledge to suit our different contexts," he noted.

The Swedish Ambassador to Uganda, Per Lindgarde promised continued support from his government to strengthen research to help in addressing social challenges in the country.